Extraction Day

15th October 2013 was extraction day.

The dental nurse picked me up from reception to take me through and I said 'noooooo im not ready' my dentist was really excited that ive decided to go ahead with the braces.  I told her id been obsessing over the whole thing all weekend and she said ive just got to think about the end result and how happy I will be.

I agreed, we put on my MC Hammer glasses and back we went.... I actually felt the pierce of the needle when the numbing stuff went in and I think this was the worst of it.... you can ask for some numbimg gel before yhe injections if you dont think youll like the pain.  

As we waited for the numb to set in my dentist showed me before and after pics of one of her patients who had finished treatment that day... then they started the reclining of the chair... no turning back!

The whole thing took about 20 mins because my bottom tooth didnt want to leave, no pain though.

I cant tell you what I looked like after... my mouth was stuffed with cotton to stop the bleeding and help clots form in the extraction areas.  I walked home with a droopy numb mouth!  I bet my other half was pleased that there was a bit of peace and quiet for a few hours! ;) Bless him though, he'd been to the shop and bought me yoghurts. :)  Not sure if I appreciated him singing 'Holey Moley' - all in jest though. 

Chilled out on the sofa bed for the rest if the day. 

Heres some pics the day after.  

Extractions for Braces

Ok so being told that you need 4 healthy teeth extracted is a lot scary!

To me I thought this was unheard of but having 'googled' it it turns out its quite common.  My other half said he also had extractions for his braces when he was younger.

So... I read an article and watched a youtube clip about a dentist who insists that extractions will ruin your face.  He referenced twins who had dental treatment as children,  one had extractions the other didn't.  They are now comparing their facial structures as adults and consider the brother whonhad extractions as the less fortunate looking one.

I also came across a lady who has been blogging on youtube about her extractions (10 years ago) who feels her face changed because of it. 

This totally freaked me out as it probably would tons of others BUT what you have to take into consideration is that this was treatment that was done 10+ years ago when dentists were pulling out teeth will - nilly regardless of the proposed outcome.  Practise has probably changed since then and in some cases (typically where overjets are concerned) extractions are necessary to get the end results we require.  We all have different sized teeth and mouths and I guess we just have to put our faith in our orthos to do what they know best.

Dont get me wrong, I still question and wonder what changes will occur to my face as there obviously will be some change when my teeth move but I wont know until the end...

Dentists Diagnosis

So.... my first approach with my dentist was that I wanted Invisalign braces... my dentist at the time told me she would shave my teeth down to make gaps for the teeth to move backwards and that I would probably be looking to wear the Invislign for 9 months.

I wanted to get a second opinion so called another surgery in the area that looked decent... it was a private clinic so I knew it was going to be quite costly.

Heres what the dentist said... Invisalign will not fix my overjet as its designed to fix smiles that maybe have teeth out of line and if I wanted to correct my overjet I would have to consider fixed braces and it was a choice between metal and ceramic  and Id be looking at 1 year.  Exactly what I didnt want to hear but hey-ho if I want to do this one year out of my life isnt much is it?  Ill take the ceramic please!

Apparantly I have small facial features so my teeth look quite agressive. :-/

She sent me through to the orthodontist... who measured the overjet (7mm) and she said that me lower jaw doesnt sit with my upper jaw properly and in some circumstances they would consider jaw surgery to extend the bottom jaw... if that was my only choice I would have declined but it wasn't (phew) she said I would have to have 4 extractions 2 premolars from the top and 2 from the bottom.  Quite a scary thing to think about so I said Id go away and think about it.

I went home and made lots of smiley faces in the mirror to test just how obvious those gaps would be... the answer is extremely! *sigh*