Orthodontic treatment - first adjustment

Its taken a while to get around to writing about my 2nd appointment which was in January.  This is the first time I'd have had an adjustment so it was still relatively new ground.

Having abstained from anything that might stain the ligatures (you are given quite a list of food and drink to avoid) I decided that since they were gong to be changed anyway I would treat myself to a curry.  Horror stories abound as to how this will ruin the look of your braces but I knew I'd only have to live with them for a couple of days.

I'd not been avoiding tea and coffee (that would be a step too far for me!) and so a small amount  of staining was inevitable but curry was reported to be one of the biggest potential dangers.

I'm not a lover of searingly hot curies but I do like them to be tasty rather than creamy.  Hence my curry of choice for this experiment was a Chicken Jalfrezi.  This threatened to be doubly bad as cooked tomato is also on the list of serious stainers.

I was pleasantly surprised that the damage was minimal.

Apologies for the curry remnants still stuck in the brace (these went once I'd brushed) but you can see that apart from a small amount of yellowing I got away unscathed.  The worst affected was the power chain (both sides between lower 3 & 5) which went quite yellow.

Overall, it doesn't look too bad until you compare it with the new ligs lower down.

This was a shop purchased ready meal curry and, since I've another appointment this week to have my second adjustment, I've recently had a proper restaurant takeaway Chicken balti.  As well as being much nicer it also turned everything a day-glo yellow for 24 hours before subsiding to a similar residual stain.

Anyhow, my opinion is to not worry too much about the food stains, they aren't as bad or as noticeable as you fear when you contemplate a year without your favourite foods.

So, in late January I had my first adjustment.  "Adjustment" conjures up images of tightening and moving etc but in reality all they do is have a look at how its going and change the arch wire for a different size, or in the case of my lower arch, refit the same wire with new ligs and power chain.

I'd been in for a quick 5 minute "emergency appointment" to have the lower wire trimmed as it was sticking out of the back and the end was incredibly sharp and uncomfortable.  Literally a 2 minute procedure and instant relief.

The Vitis orthodontic products had continued to give relief and in stark comparison with my wife's experience I had suffered from no mouth ulcers at all even when teh wire was protruding and catching on my cheek.  I can't guarantee it was etirely down teo the Vitis products but I believe it certainly helped a lot.

My top arch went up to a 0.16 NiTi but, as I say, the lower arch was deemed to be still able to benefit from the original 0.14 NiTi so it was refitted.

It was a new experience as when the first arch wires were fitted I had been completely numb from the extractions 5 minutes before.  It didn't hurt as such but you can feel the orthodontist pulling on the lig to stretch it over the bracket.  Once its done all of your teeth feel tightly tied in, surprisingly even the ones where the wire wasn't changed.

Power chain was again attached LL3-7 to try to stand my canines up and move them back into the space left by the extraction.  I had hoped they'd be there by now but that is just my over optimistic impatience.  Darren wasn't expecting that and said they were on track.

Shiny new ligs and power chain and a new upper arch wire.  All set for another 6 weeks but the difference is showing already.

If you missed the previous blog you can read it here.  Three weeks in and I'm getting used to them