24 Jul Six Month Smiles – Fitting

Well, today was fitting day for my Six Month Smiles adult braces. I was quite nervous, but not sure why really.

There was some prep to do before the braces could be fitted. Some of my front teeth needed some IPR (interproximal reduction)…for those of us (me included) that have no idea what that means, it’s simply filing some of my teeth at each side to make space. Matt filed a couple of my lower front teeth, using something that resembled a nail file. It was painless. Apparently there’s only a millimetre or less filed from each tooth taken so it’s not even noticeable, but it will make a difference when my teeth are moving and need the space to move in to.

Getting the braces on didn’t take very long, once the brackets were in position, Matt then needed to put the wires on. Once everything was in place, my bite was checked and unfortunately for me, when biting I was hitting one of the lower brackets with one of my top teeth. The way to ‘fix’ this was to give me bite guards. This was just a green composite material that was put on a couple of my upper and lower teeth to stop me biting together too much.

So, brace fitted, bite guards on and I’m done. It felt strange, very strange. It felt like my top lip was sticking out (like a character from The Simpsons), I was talking with a lisp and it felt ‘tight’ on my teeth. It was of course just a case of getting used to it which after a few hours I had done, lisp disappeared and I was already getting quite used to having it on.

Overall, quick and painless, but took a bit of getting used to talking (I practiced in the car, talking to myself on the way home!).

Choosing a ribeye steak to eat as my first meal with the braces on probably wasn’t the best decision I’ve ever made.
I’m quite an impatient person, so after only having them on a few hours I was already checking in the mirror to see if anything had moved!

So, my Six Month Smiles journey is underway now. I’ll post another update soon.

Kerry 🙂