Braces Review (before and after)

YEEEEAH. Braces off today!! Well...the top part anyways.

With...

Without!!

     Side by side comparison

I was disappointed with my results...'cause I thought my teeth would look like this after I take my braces off but noooo. DISAPPOINTED. Le sigh.

..But then again, I didn't get braces in the first place hoping for teeth like these, I just merely asked my dentist to fix my overbite!

My journey

*Please note that the procedure of every dentist is different, this is just how mine did it*

I got braces in November 2012 and now it's April 2014, so I had them on for 1 year and 5 months.

This process may seem very long but the thing is, I pulled out 4 tooth and so I had to take my time to heal! 

I had an overbite and there was no space at all to push back my teeth to get it straight, so I had to take 4 tooth out, 2 at the top and 2 at the bottom. This is a must--if you take 2 tooth out on the top, you have to take 2 tooth out on the bottom (for the balance). 

I got them on when I was a sophomore. I was hesitant to get it at first because I thought braces and high school just don't mix well together...you know? But then I was like, seriously girl? Who even cares about the people in high school? You are going to graduate and you'll never see them again, you have to do this for yourself!

I realized that the people I'll meet later on in life would be much much more important than those in high school and so, you know what, I decided I will get braces, because I want to present myself with a decent smile to my future boss. Haha. 

For the first 2 months of getting them, my dentist just changed the wire. He went from normal to thick(the wire). He said this was to 'loosen up' my teeth.

In January 2013, I pulled 4 tooth out (pics later). You don't take 4 tooth out altogether at once! You take out 2 at a time: one on the bottom, one on top, and both on the same side. Then a week later you take out the other 2 on the other side. This is done so that you can chew and eat. If you take 4 tooth out at once...you won't be able to chew.  Maybe if you want to lose weight, you can ask your dentist to take out 4 tooth at once? You can just drink for the whole week and lose like 10kg hahaha. 

This process is almost painless; the injections done on my gum did not hurt(to numb your nerve). They just looked nerve-wrecking. Once the injections are done, you won't be able to feel a thing when they pull out your tooth!

You will not be able to feel your lips or be able to control them afterwards because of the injections; so I say stay home after this is done! Your mouth will be all bloody and your saliva will just drool out of your mouth. So, stay home!

For the next few months, I visited my dentist once a month just to simply renew the super-strength elastic band that's on my braces (they are what's pulling my teeth together, closing the gap, and pulling my overbite in). 

It took 1 year and a 4 months for my gap to completely close and I kept them for 1 more month just to stable the position of my teeth. 

I know people fear of the pain braces will cause. For me, after every visit, the maximum days my teeth would hurt for are 4 days. Usually I'd just feel pain for 3 days!

Here are the 3 main issues I've experienced with braces and they are in order from the most hated one to the least hated one....please know that just because it may be the 'least hated' I still pretty much really hate it. Ok?

1. The gap. I absolutely loathed having gaps between my teeth! They do not take out teeth from the back of your mouth, but in the front(because all the teeth at the back of your mouth are very important, you need them to chew)! Ok, not the very front, but yes, front-side (pics later). The gaps were so visible and wide, I was horrified people could see the inside of my mouth. So whenever I smile...I would never show my teeth. For more than a year, I wouldn't smile or laugh without lifting a hand to cover my mouth. (Once the gap got tiny, that's when I had stopped covering my mouth. But this was after 1 year.)
2. Food stuck in your braces. Seriously....need I explain more? You know what, after I got my braces off today I went to eat sushi. I bit it and ahh. It felt so good! For the past few months I had to cut my sushi in half and stuff it at the back of my mouth with chopsticks. Now I just bite! I went to the restroom afterwards to check for rice that might have gotten stuck between my teeth but na-da. Oh yes. 
3. The cavity. If you are not careful, you will get cavities. After I took my braces off, my dentist told me I had 4 cavities. One is at the back of my teeth (I don't usually brush this part throughly...) and the other 3 are in the space between my teeth; I was pretty pissed because I floss every day and brush my teeth everyday and yet I still got them?! I hate getting cavities because filling them is quite...painful? Have you ever seen those sharp needle things at the dentist? Well, they need to stick that in your cavity to clean it. Let me tell you, cavities make your teeth very sensitive. Can you imagine digging a needle in your sensitive, rotten teeth? Ow! 

That's all!! Here is my before and after picture. 

The left side is before I got my braces. I had a serious overbite!   

On my teeth:
Straight line mark=They were the ones that got pulled out (on the top, 2 more on the bottom).

Circle mark=My dentist pulled them back first. I kept pulling those 2 back for 8 months before I did anything else.

After 8 months, that's when I began pulling those 4 unmarked teeth back altogether. This took another 8 months.
I'm not sure why my dentist didn't pull all of them back altogether...but whatever, what's done is already done!

Ta-da!

If you are someone with really 'flexible' teeth, maybe this "pull-back" process will take you a lot less! Mine moved kinda slow I guess. But I don't mind, what's the hurry? 

Overall, I'm super happy I followed my gut and got braces! Sure, braces detract but then also mean that teeth will be (more) perfect later on. It will distort your smile a little but...who cares? Once you get your teeth fixed you will be the one feeling smug hahaha so....why not? 

xx