Braces at 30 | What happened at my 5th tightening appointment

Posted on 3:22pm Sunday 20th Nov 2016

Gosh I seem to be flying through these tightenings. They come around so quickly. This was the fifth tightening for my top brace, but the very first tightening for my bottom brace. It seemed the easiest yet. In and out in around ten minutes, even though there were two to tighten this time.

My biting blocks had worn all the way down, so more were put in. Goodbye biting teeth together again, well at least for a month or so. I was given the choice of whether I wanted them, but as they can make the teeth move quicker then I’m happy to do it and put up with the awkwardness. Especially as I’ve not really noticed much movement since the last appointment at the top and the gap for the false teeth isn’t big enough yet.

I’ve not noticed anything change with the bottom teeth, so hopefully now there’s a thicker wire things will begin to happen. I can tell the wire is zig zagging and not perfectly straight like the top wire.

I’ve found my inner gums more affected this time round. They are often quite sore and I do something weird in my sleep, like sucking my inner mouth towards the gum. I can tell I’ve been doing it when I wake up and my gums feel funny like they’ve been rubbing on the brace all night.

One of the ends of the wire has also been left too long. It’s sticking out a good 3mm or so and catching my mouth, especially if I try to smile. It’s only 4 weeks between this appointment and my next, so I’m just going to bear with it until she changes the wire in December. Hopefully there will be some big improvements next time when I have the third thickest wire.