If you have read Part One of my blog, you will know I am a dentist at Straight Teeth Suite, who has treated thousands of patients in Nottingham and I have now decided to have braces to straighten my own teeth.
I have now had my Damon braces fitted but what a performance. Because I’m heavily pregnant and due to give birth in the next few weeks, I wasn’t able to lie flat on the dentist’s chair. My beautiful bump got in the way. I had to have the procedure done slightly sitting up which was rather awkward. As a result, Ana and I decided just to do only the bottom teeth, delaying the braces on my top teeth, so the baby and I wouldn’t be too uncomfortable for too long.
As you can see in this delightful selfie, I’ve got braces on all of my bottom teeth. They are Damon braces, and they look rather strange. The braces themselves don’t feel too uncomfortable but it is undeniably strange having something alien in my mouth.
The only thing that was an unexpected experience and is probably more of a learning curve is having the bite blocks. To explain, bite block are little build ups that, in my case, we put on the back molars, to open up my bite and not being able to close my teeth as before will take some getting used to. Can you see the bite blocks in my picture? What this means is that now I am only biting on those two teeth right at the back and, by opening my bite, we’re doing two things.
Firstly, we are protecting the braces so I don’t bite onto them and they don’t come off. Secondly, at the same time, we are allowing the teeth to move freely because, if I didn’t have these bite blocks, the bottom teeth would become trapped under the top ones, and they wouldn’t be able to move. That could be so embarrassing if I got my wires entangled and couldn’t open my mouth to shout for help. The bite blocks are very important, and that’s the reason we put them on all our patients.
As I said, the braces don’t seem to be too uncomfortable or irritating. The rubbing on the inside of my cheeks is not too bad and dental wax helps. There is no pain, just a slight discomfort, a slight pressure. Nothing more or less than I expected after feedback from my patients. It’s the bite blocks that are going to take a while to get used to, but I will review that again in a few days. I need to give myself time to relax and get used to all the new sensations.
I can speak as normal, but eating is a bit more challenging because trying to bite down and chew is really weird and unexpected. With the bite blocks, chewing is awkward and is a little bit more time consuming. However, soups are nourishing and, on the upside I’m hoping it might help with the weight loss after my baby comes.So far, so good but if I can’t chew I will be sharing pureed baby food with the newborn.
We’ve decided to wait until after I have had my baby to have the rest of the treatment and the braces fitted to my upper teeth just because it makes it easier. I am going to have a lot to do in the next few weeks and my hands full. I will have my top braces fitted and the bottom ones adjusted in about 5 to 6 weeks and in Part Three of this blog, I will tell you how I get on, with my braces that is. I am not about to regale you with baby stories!
To find out if you’re suitable for Damon Braces in Nottingham why not contact us
