Hi everyone,

I had my top braces put on in May, and the bottoms just recently. I
was finally getting comfortable with the top ones and had seen a lot
of improvement in a short time. I had an incisor which was set very
high and was completely pulled in line with the others within 5
months. Someone suggested the fast movement might be a result of my
weak/unhealthy teeth and not-so-great bone structure... I wonder if
that's the case?

Since getting the bottom braces on in mid-October I've been in
agony. I have a cross-bite and it's worse right now (temporarily) -
I only have 2 molars on each side that match up for chewing. It's
quite complicated and time consuming to eat without causing myself a
lot of pain, and I have a perpetual headache and extreme jaw pain.
(Note that TMJ issues were one of the key reasons I went ahead with
braces... moreso than cosmetic improvement.) I haven't been sleeping
well at all due to pain, which is starting to affect me at work
during the day. I'm also losing weight because I'm not eating enough
each day (positive side effect ;)

Lastly, my back bottom brackets are touching my gums so I have huge
swollen sores which sting and bleed. My ortho is not even using the
back brackets right now but said he might in the future (right now my
wires only go back to the second last molars). Because the back of
the bracket is scraping the gums (because my tooth surface is very
small), wax doesn't 100% help but I'm going through a heck of a lot
of it.

So I'm miserable, stressed and frustrated, and very much hoping that
this awful period I'm going through passes soon. Does everyone go
through all of this? If I don't get a full night's sleep soon I'm
going to tear my hair out!

~Kathy

--- In adultswithbraces@yahoogroups.com, "knitz" <keep@...> wrote:
>
> Seven months in - watching the gaps move around :-)
>
> Seems like my face will have a totally different look if the front
teeth are pulled back enough to match the lowers...and then there is
the stress of thinking about what (brown) color they will be after
not bleaching them for a couple of years...
>
> Other than that it isn't bad :-)
>
> erica raspberry
> http://Knit1Bead2.com
> http://Knittinggeek.com
> Jerome, Arizona
>