HEY HEY IT’S REMOVAL DAY

To say I was excited was an understatement but it was marred by me feeling really sick on the day.  So sick that usually I would have but cancelled by there was NO WAY that I was going to miss getting my braces off.  I drugged up on some health food store supplements and soldiered on.  It was a fairly lengthy appointment though – almost 2 hours so I left my son at home.  Thankfully, I just rested in the chair the whole time, it was all pretty easy.  Unfortunately as I wasn’t well, my memory of the whole process is a little vague so hopefully I’m getting things in the correct order.

It was really cute to see that they had blown up these balloons and stuck them to the chair to celebrate the occasion of getting my braces off.  I felt like we were all excited together.

Melanie explained that usually, they leave everything intact and “glue” (there’s likely a far more dental like term) the fine silver wire in behind your front teeth.  The idea is to ensure your teeth don’t move at all and the wire is able to be inserted into the exact right spot.  However, as I had mentioned I was still a little disappointed about that tiny overlapping tooth (which was seriously very minor). Melanie suggested that she would place gentle pressure on the tooth to move it into place while glueing the wire.  She warned me that it may not work but that as the teeth are more flexible during orthodontic treatment it was worth a try as the overlap was so minimal.  She removed the bands, powerchain and wire and it was a little tricky for her and Lainey her dental assistant to fix the silver wire and manoeuvre the front tooth into the right spot at the same time.  I felt pressure but no pain.  To set the glue, I could see a little light being placed in my mouth and I assume it’s kind of like the light that sets the gel when you get your nails done as it had the same glow.  When everything was done, I was given a mirror and my smile was as wide as anything.  The overlap was gone – hooray!!  If I could have pinned a world’s best dentist badge onto Melanie’s coat  – I would have! Then the wire was glued behind my lower teeth and the bands and wire removed.

Then came removal of the actual brackets.  I had been extremely lucky or as I like to tell Janine at reception – a gold star patient .  I didn’t have any issues with brackets during my treatment time so I never experienced a bracket coming off or having to have it replaced.  I am a bit of a stickler for rules though so stayed away from the foods to avoid list I was warned about.  I hadn’t really given much thought to how the brackets would be removed and when Melanie pulled out a plier looking tool, I was a little apprehensive.  She calmly explained that they just loosen the brackets and they pop off easily. Turns out it wasn’t painful at all.

Melanie then explained she needed to remove the cement (again probably not the dental term) from my teeth that had been holding the brackets and also the little mountains that she had built up on my back teeth to stop my jaw from crunching down on the braces and biting them off.  It basically felt like it does when you are getting your teeth cleaned except they stayed away from the gums. I pretty much just dozed off during this time as there wasn’t much for me to do and the machine was fairly noisy so I couldn’t really hear what was going on.

When that was all done – I got to take a look and run my tongue across my teeth.  It was amazing.  My teeth looked better than I could ever have imagined.  They were so white!  They had to take more moulds of my teeth so that the removeable retainers could be made.  As part of the QST process, you are given retainers that you need to wear at night.  I am not bothered by this at all and actually feel comforted as I don’t want anything messing up my new dazzling smile.  The retainers will take another 3 weeks to make so I booked another appointment for a few weeks time.

Hilariously, and also disappointingly, many people didn’t even notice that I had my braces off.  Even when I smiled really widely and obviously they just said “what?” self-consciously and waited for me to tell them some exciting news instead of that I had my braces off.  Their explanation was that they really didn’t notice the braces that much which was a really good thing but it did make me feel a bit sad at the end.  I can’t have it both ways though and if I had to choose I would so totally choose to have invisible braces during the process and no one realise I’ve had them off.  I am absolutely loving my smile and my straight teeth.  Even though my entire treatment took 7 months, I know that in reality, that time could have been shortened as I did muck around with some appointments.  I feel very confident recommending Oracle Dental and the entire QST process – in fact, one of my favourite friends is around halfway through her treatment with Melanie and her team and her results are nothing short of amazing.  I am in shock every time I see her and whenever I see the pictures of her, the whole QST process is almost too good to be true.

Oracledental, Broadbeach, Gold Coast

Continue reading…
My Quick Straight Teeth Journey – Part 1
My Quick Straight Teeth Journey – Part 2
My Quick Straight Teeth Journey – Part 3
My Quick Straight Teeth Journey – Part 4

Related Tag: Dental Crowns Gold Coast | Gold Coast Dentist

IT’S ALL MY FAULT AND NOW IT’S MARCH

The wheels fell off a bit for the next few months and it was all my fault.  I was sick, my family was sick and we had 2 sad events happen close together.  I cancelled a couple of appointments and by then it was school holidays so trying to book a last minute appointment was more difficult and braces were honestly not my priority.  So nothing much happened for a couple of months.

March came around and we were back on track.  Melanie told me about this amazing thing which will honestly go down as the highlight of my entire QST experience –  POWERCHAIN.  I have since joked with her that if I was a dentist doing QST my entire approach to orthodontics would be powerchain as I think it is that amazing.  Firstly, the old wire and bands were removed – my teeth were given a little clean and more interproximal stripping.  Then – the powerchain was put on the top front teeth.  It’s basically like a whole heap of the clear bands joined together and looks like a bit of a train track.  The wire and bands were placed on top of the powerchain and it felt tight.  I was excited because it felt like it was working.  For the first couple of months, the movement was noticeable but since then, I have felt like nothing has really been happening.  Melanie has shown my progress photos so I know and can see from them that there’s been improvement but it hasn’t been dramatic enough for me to notice on a day to day basis.  The powerchain going on coincided with a juice cleanse that I had decided to do which was lucky as I don’t think I would have been able to eat anyway.  My entire mouth hurt more than it had before during the entire process.  Nurofen eased things but as I said, I don’t think I could have eaten anything other than soft food.  The 3 days of pain was worth it though because that tooth moved so much.  I was thrilled!

My Sixth Review

I almost skipped into the Oracle Dental rooms knowing that today was most probably going to be the day that we made the decision to take the braces off.  Melanie was so fantastic.  She told me if I was happy with the results we would proceed to take the moulds for the wires that would be adhered behind my teeth to prevent movement.  I confirmed that I was very happy with the appearance and my only minor concern was that the very tip of that front pesky tooth was sitting back a fraction.  She agreed that it was very minor and said that there may be a chance to improve it at the time the wire is bonded on. So I confirmed I was happy to finish.

First, the bands, wires and powerchain were removed.  They mixed up some strange putty looking stuff and put it in my mouth with a silver tray and held it there for a few minutes and pulled it out for both the top and lower arches.  It was explained that these moulds were going to be sent off to the QST offices overseas and that in return would be the little silver wires that would be placed behind my teeth.  The process for that to happen takes 3 weeks.  It was a little anticlimactic.  Everything had to be put on exactly as it was taken off so the same wire, bands and powerchain.  I made an appointment for 3 weeks and thankfully I was so busy during that time that it absolutely flew by.  This appointment was less than 1 hour.

Continue reading…
My Quick Straight Teeth Journey – Part 1
My Quick Straight Teeth Journey – Part 2
My Quick Straight Teeth Journey – Part 3
My Quick Straight Teeth Journey – Part 5

Related Tag: Teeth Straightening Gold Coast | Gold Coast Dentist

Month 2

Going into my second review, I knew things were changing.  My iphone teeth selfies showed me the proof and I could tell when I was brushing and using these tiny little pickster brushes that were recommended to me by the lovely Oracle ladies that everything was going to plan.  The overlapping front teeth had moved so much that whereas I had struggled to floss between these teeth and I could now easily clean between the teeth without any drama.  However, I was beginning to wonder what the process was from here – most of the movement seemed to have happened already.  Melanie took a look and assured me that there was still work to be done – the third visit included a new heavier wire (tooth coloured again), a full band change and another ligature.  She also started to do some interproximal-stripping.  I can’t lie – it was a very strange sensation……….it felt like thick floss moving between my clean.  Melanie explained that the stripping creates a little room between the teeth to allow them to move.  She also showed me that even though I was mostly concerned about the teeth moving into a straight position, there were also some teeth that needed to turn slightly.  On this visit I was also shown my before and current progress photos which were pretty impressive (if I do say so myself!!)  Firstly, I have never seen my mouth at that angle before and secondly, I still can’t believe how quickly my teeth moved.  When I think back to when I had braces as a teenager in high school, I can’t believe how much easier the Quick Straight Teeth system has been so far. This appointment was super speedy, maybe half an hour at the most.  I guess I asked less annoying questions 🙂

My Third Visit

At each visit, Melanie reinforced how important it is to keep my teeth clean while the braces are on. I had noticed that I was struggling to get a super good clean. They suggested some special toothbrushes might help so I did some hunting and found a braces toothbrush at the Discount Chemist Warehouse. It has a special groove in it to fit over the braces to remove the plaque from my teeth better.  It certainly was a good investment at only $6 as it really works well.  As you can imagine, I was really happy to be visiting and getting the wire changed. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that in my case there are only 3 wires for the QST treatment and moving forward there was now only tweaking required.  I have no idea why I was surprised as it was clearly explained to me that this was approximately a 6 month treatment.  As there was some wear and tear on the existing wire, Melanie offered me a replacement one. I believe they had to order additional wires in especially – the service at Oracle Dental really is amazing!  I felt like the ladies there really understood my desire for the braces to actually be as invisible as possible and they made me feel totally comfortable about wanting a new wire. I received a wire change, interproximal stripping, quick ligature and band replacement and more photos – I think I was out the door in 45 minutes.

My Fourth Visit

It was a new year and I felt like I was on the downhill run.  I had begun to get a little too used to the braces and started to push the boundaries. It had clearly been explained to me that I should avoid brightly coloured foods and drinks during treatment. But one night I accidentally ate a few spoonful’s of curry. When I realised I ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth immediately.  I have never been more relieved to see that nothing had happened – my braces looked fine and the bands looked clear.  But the next morning when I woke up the bands were bright yellow.  I was horrified!  The braces themselves were still clear but the tiny little bands holding the wire in place had gone this fluoro yellow colour and I felt so self-conscious.  I rang Oracle Dental and they offered for me to come straight in and get the bands changed which was so very kind but due to my schedule, I just couldn’t arrange a suitable time so I was stuck with the fluoro bands for a couple of weeks until my next appointment.  It was a lesson to be learned the hard way!!

At this appointment, Melanie asked me if I felt ready to start considering getting the braces off and while I was excited by the prospect of having them off, we both felt like there was a little bit more improvement that could be done on that pesky front tooth.  It had moved so much but it was still overlapping the one next to it slightly.  Melanie discussed a couple of options with me and recommended that we do some more inter-proximal stripping and then re-assess at the next visit.  I received new bands (thank GOD), photos but kept the same wire which was pretty good still from last time.

Continue reading…
My Quick Straight Teeth Journey – Part 1
My Quick Straight Teeth Journey – Part 2
My Quick Straight Teeth Journey – Part 4
My Quick Straight Teeth Journey – Part 5

Related Tag: Teeth Straightening Gold Coast | Broadbeach Dentist

MY FIRST REVIEW APPOINTMENT

I was really looking forward to attending my first appointment because I really wanted to see what the dentist thought of my progress.  As I had been inspecting my teeth intently in the mirror each day, it had become difficult to figure out whether there had been a big change or not.  I knew there had been movement because I could tell that the tooth next to my large front tooth wasn’t so far behind it and had moved out next to it more but I was also a bit concerned that there hadn’t been enough pain.  I figured that for my teeth to be moving there should be pain and and I was yet to experience that.  So off I went to my visit with my 3 year old son in tow and quickly set him up in the corner chair with his ipad and snacks.  Everyone at Oracle was really friendly about me bringing him which was great.

First Melanie took a quick look and then took some more photos (I am beginning to feel like a tooth model!) before quickly removing the bands then the top and bottom wires.  Melanie commented that my teeth had moved and showed me the moulds of my teeth that she had taken for comparison.  It was quite strange looking at my teeth in mould form but it was really great to see the noticeable difference only 4 weeks had made.

She then inserted the new wire, cut it to size and began putting the new bands on.  The new wire felt a little tighter (maybe heavier?) but not painful at all.  Melanie reminded me again that the catalyst for my skewed front teeth was a turned tooth on the left hand side of my mouth and explained that she wanted to do a ligature to give the tooth some extra help turning.  She told me that she would use tooth coloured wire but it would add a little more bulk and most likely would cause some more pain.  This made me a bit concerned but I was all for getting my teeth to turn and move as quickly as possible.  I felt some pressure on my tooth and some twisting and then the clear bands added around the brackets again before it was all over and I was allowed to see.  When I took a look in the mirror I was pleasantly surprised.  The ligature was hardly noticeable and blended in with the rest of the braces easily.  The whole process took about 45 minutes including me asking a heap of (probably annoying) questions.  Mostly I wanted to know when I could expect the process to be completed and of course they couldn’t answer this but could only confirm that things were looking good so far but most treatment times are 6 months long.

Over the following 4 weeks I had very little pain again but noticed that tooth that had the ligature turning – hooray!  After a few weeks the ligature wire started sticking out after I brushed my teeth in the morning which was annoying but a quick phone call confirmed that I should just use pressure to put it back into place and all was rectified.  So far time has gone extremely quickly!  My family and friends have been really positive about the changes and I am getting really confident about my braces knowing how quickly the changes are happening.

One of the best Dentists servicing on Gold Coast!

Continue reading…
My Quick Straight Teeth Journey – Part 1
My Quick Straight Teeth Journey – Part 3
My Quick Straight Teeth Journey – Part 4
My Quick Straight Teeth Journey – Part 5

Related Tag: Dentist Broadbeach | Teeth Veneers Gold Coast