Drum Roll Please!!!! My New "Naked" Smile

First pic of my new smile!

Ok so the debracing is finish! My teeth are officially free! It wasn't too bad. I mean it was a bit uncomfortable, but nothing terrible, and it was quick so I hardly noticed. Well that is except for the band on my upper left molar. The one that has been uncomfortable the whole time I had my braces. Well of course it would not play nice and just come of easily...Nope! it required cutting, and then some yanking, and then some more cutting, and bending, and more yanking, the whole time I'm sitting there wincing in pain. It was over relatively quickly though so I guess it was ok. Once we were finished with that the doctor had to grind all the glue off my teeth. I was worried about this part but it really wasn't bad at all. I mean short of listening to the sound of the drill, it went quick, and honestly I did not feel much of anything at all. Then we took impressions on the top and bottom and my lower bonded retainer was bent and fit for positioning. Right when the ortho was going to do this he discovered a cavity on my lower canine. So...I got ended up getting an upper and lower Essix for 1 month until I can get the cavity fixed, then on my next visit they will put my bonded retainer on and get rid of the lower essix. As for my top tooth flaring I was right, but the doctor made some modifications and it is being moved in with the retainer. My teeth are screaming all over again as the retainer is rather tight, and is pulling in the back to close up my molar band spaces, and move my front tooth into proper alignment..I took several pics of the whole thing and they are in this web album

Up Close Views
I then headed to the dentist for a cleaning (I do not recommend doing this on debracing day, unless you are like me and into getting all your pain at once) My teeth were very sore and sensitive and cleaning was not very fun. When I arrived at the dentist I had to remove my retainers. I did not practice this at the ortho's office because it was sortof tough, and a bit uncomfortable getting them to snap onto my teeth. I figured getting them off would not be pleasant so I didn't do it. At the dentists office I had a really hard time getting them off. I thought I was going to have to ask for help, when they finally popped off. The hygenist didn't have to do much scraping thank goodness, and said that my teeth were amazingly clean for someone just being debraced. Said she could tell that I have been doing a really good job at keeping them clean (that made me feel good.) My dentist came in and took a look around the new mouth and said that I had a Hollywood smile now. We chatted for awhile about my surgeries and scheduled an appointment to fill my small cavity in a couple of weeks. When I was finished I went out to the car and put my retainers back on. It had not been more then 45 minutes without them. Suffice it to say that putting them back on was not enjoyable at all. My teeth were really achey and had already done a bit of migrating. I have also come to the conclusion that for the next few days, eating is going to be a challenge.
I have to take my retainers off everytime I eat, or to brush my teeth, other then that I"m supposed to wear them 24/7for the next month. I'm also not supposed to drink anything but water with them in, otherwise I risk discoloring of them, or could cause decay by trapping fluid against my teeth that could have sugar in it etc. Since it hurts to pop them back on, I don't even want to take them off to eat. I cheated and went to Fruitland and got a large Chai Tea with protein in it, then rinsed my mouth really good with water. I need to take some Advil when I get home. That may help, but at the moment, I'm just starving, but would rather be hungry then take these suckers out and and eat! HOW BAD IS THAT!











Another view of my new smile

Me holding the bag of candy the ortho gave me