My Braces Journey (Change of Outlet)

Hi I'm back with my braces update! Anyway there are several gory pictures in this post so skip this if you don't wanna see it 😀

05 May 2017 - $240. Switched over to Capital Tower (same dentist), no change of wire, but inserted 2 white blocks behind my two front teeth to correct my overbite. \

**Not sure why the monthly installment increased, will reconfirm with counter

30 May 2017 - $240. Changed both the upper and lower wire during the same session for the first time
30 Jun 2017 - $220 + $60 scaling. Third X-Ray and scaling, changed the bottom wire
28 Jul 2017 - $240. Changed upper wire
25 Aug 2017 - $220. Realignment of bracket, change wire(?)

29 Sep 2017 - $190. Changed top and bottom wire *I honestly do not know how they calculate my monthly installment and why they charge me a different price everytime.

**30 Sep 2017 -  The day after I was brushing teeth in the morning and I felt this foreign object in my mouth. I spat it out to realise that one of my brackets dropped off. Not sure what to do with the bracket, I washed it and kept it in a ziploc in case the dentist needs it. Called to schedule another appointment on the next working day and got it fixed on 02 Oct. Thankfully I kept the bracket as I would be charged for bracket replacement if I were to lose/misplace the bracket. I think that sometimes when the dentist does the realignment of bracket it is not glued properly so it came off when there is too much abrasion on the bracket.

The dentist inserted this tiny little hooks on some of the brackets for me to attach the rubberbands on it to align my bite. I am supposed to wear them everyday except eating/ brushing teeth. Initially I was hardworking and will wear them almost 24/7. After that I grew lazy and only wear them when I was sleeping, and the period after I had breakfast and took them out when I was about to have lunch. Oops. The dentist gave me 2 packs of the rubberbands which were more than enough to last me till the next visit. 

10 Nov 2017 - $220. Wire change + rubberband phase

*11 Nov - The same bracket dropped off again :/ Scheduled an appointment on the 16 Nov back at the outlet at Northpoint after work as the dentist won't be at Capital Tower on that day. After the appointment I had this feeling that my bracket was touching the upper teeth whenever I close my jaw and this made me feel that the bracket is gonna come off again.

**17 Nov - Yes that same bracket dropped off again. This time I decided not to head back to the dentist as heading back and forth to the clinic can be quite a hassle during my lunchtime no matter how convenient it is to my workplace. I also know that if I don't go back to the dentist to get it fixed the whole braces process might get delayed. And it wasn't my fault that the bracket kept dropping off. I do not know if bracket dropping off is common while putting on braces but I know I should not doubt the dentist's professionalism. So I delayed the fixing of the bracket till the next appointment.

The dentist secured slightly transparent-yellowish rubberbands on my 4 front teeth at the upper row to close the gap. I also returned the dentist the bracket. The bottom wire was shortened and she inserted something in between 2 of my teeth (one of them is with the missing bracket) and I was told to go back a week later for her to insert a band around it. The dentist passed me 2 more packets of rubberbands as well.

(For a moment I thought the tooth was free of braces but apparently it was gonna be in real pain the week after)

As for my front teeth... they were super sore and sensitive the next few days. But I am glad that the results look good :) 

Photo below is taken one day after the trip to the dentist. You can see the gap in between my 2 front teeth had closed up significantly. Having the rubberbands is very inconvenient. Food keeps getting stuck underneath the brackets which is so gross. Can anyone with gen 1 braces tell me if they suffer from this?

18 Dec 2017 - $190. Tightening of the 4 front teeth. Also checked with the counter for the price difference between capital tower and northpoint. Counter staff called up northpoint, but apparently she said the internet at northpoint is down, hence they can't check. But they assured me that the total amount payable would remain the same. Seems like I got to jot down the expenses, luckily I do keep all the receipts with me.

26 Dec 2017 - FREE but damn painful! The dentist inserted this metal band (aka ring) around the tooth with the missing bracket 

Gory photo ahead, please beware.

As you can see there is a bracket-like thing on the inner side of my teeth as well. So the layout is basically "side of mouth - bracket - tooth - bracket - tongue". Both sides of the tooth are hurting my tongue and inner lip at the same time. I developed a super huge ulcer because of it. I think this is more painful than the fixing of rubberbands on my front teeth for the previous dental visit. The side of the mouth hurts as well as the dentist kept pulling my side of the mouth open to fix that band. This is also the first time I put the most wax as my bottom lip hurts so bad. Ulcer died down in a day but I feel that the ulcer will return if I remove the wax.

On a sidenote, the rubberband phase is over! (maybe?)

06 Feb 2018 - $190. Normal tightening, change of wires. Dentist asked if I would like my teeth to be further in.
06 Mar 2018 - $190. Change of upper wire, back to rubber band phase again.
During the weekend one of the brackets became loose and I was able to shift the bracket around.

Anyways I didn't record much of the next few appointments as they are rather the same as the previous ones. But I did record the dates when I went back for my appointments. Basically I just stick to whatever dates I am allocated with, unless I have work appointments on that day.

09/04/2018 - 190$
28/05/2018 - 80$ + $30 ring bracket replacement as I broke it
25/06/2018 - 80$
23/07/2018 - FREE + $30 bracket replacement (tube) as I broke it while biting
21/08/2018 - FREE
01/10/2018 - FREE + $70 scaling (and also finally took out the ring braket!)
23/10/2018 - FREE

13/11/2018-14/11/2018 - FREE. I went down on 2 consecutive days because I was supposed to bring the dropped bracket along with me on my regular tightening procedure but I forgot to bring. As such we rescheduled the following day at Northpoint to get it fixed. Also this time the dentist asked me if I wanted to have my wisdom teeth removed as it was impacting my braces. Have I thought about it since the previous time she told me? She was speaking in a much harsher and rather impatient tone but I was clueless to what she was saying.. and I couldn't speak much with all the tools going on in my mouth. Not sure what she meant was the first few appointments she told me about my growing wisdom teeth and I refused to do something about it OR she just got fed up she had to see me on consecutively two days. Anyways she told me I could think about it and inform her again during the next appointment. After removal of the wisdom teeth, the estimated time to correct the tooth right at the back would take about 6 months.

14/12/2018 - FREE. So today I told her that I am keen in removing the wisdom tooth (actually it was due to hygiene reasons as there is not much pain in my mouth right now). So she told me I'll be undergoing local anaesthesia preferably at the clinic itself (as I already have existing x-rays with them). However she said the surgery will be done by another dentist and I will have 5 days of MC.

14/01/2019 - WISDOM TOOTH SURGERY!!! I will be posting updates about the surgery as I am still recovering from it. Stay tuned!