spugbrap’s blog

First of all, I’m getting my braces off this morning! I’ve had them since June, 2005. My orthodontist originally planned on two years, but I managed to get them off a couple months off early for good behavior. I wore my rubber bands religiously, to the point where she said I was her “most compliant patient ever”. In fact, for the past 2 weeks, I haven’t had to wear rubber bands, and I kept feeling like I was doing something wrong. :)

I will have to wear retainers after getting the braces off, of course, which I know is not going to be fun. Not wearing my retainer when I got my braces off the first time (~14 years ago) is most likely a big reason why I had to get them again. I had trouble breathing with my retainers in, which is why I didn’t wear them then. But, since I did work so hard to be compliant and take care of my teeth and stuff this time, and since I don’t want to ever need braces again, I will try as hard as I can to wear the retainers this time.

Anyways, in honor of my completion of my treatment, I’m posting some more questions/answers from another conversation with my friend who recently got braces (the same friend from my previous braces tips post). I’ve already got enough material to make about 5 more blog posts, so this is just the tip of the iceberg. For now, this is just a copy of our conversation. Later, I may consolidate all the specific questions/answers into a list.

• [friend]: Oh man, you were right Dave. Flossing is a major pain in the butt. I went to target yesterday and bought the Crest Glide Threader and brush picks. I tried flossing with the Glide Threader and then tried what the ortho. gave me to compare. The way the ortho showed me with that threader thing was really really hard. The glide threader was much easier.Thanks for tip. A few of my teeth though already have gotten so tight that I couldn’t get floss through and was worried about using too much muscle. Hopefully tonight I will have better luck. I am miserable today. Eating feels impossible and painful. I haven’t eaten since yesterdays breakfast so I just went to Starbucks to get a latte for at least some calories. I’ll have to think of some shakes or smotthies that I can make at home.
• [friend]: I hope this initial discomfort goes away so that I can eat soon.
• [spugbrap]: what about some slimfast or something (presumably reasonble caloric content, with vitamins and slightly filling)?
• [spugbrap]: i probably ate lots of soft junk food
• [spugbrap]: i dunno
• [spugbrap]: :)
• [friend]: That’s a good idea. I just thought of that on the way back from starbucks.
• [spugbrap]: lots of jello, yogurt, pudding, ice cream, etc. is probably what i ate
• [friend]: Do you remember how long it took before you could eats pseudo-normal again? I imagine after each tightening it is like being back to square one.
• [spugbrap]: no i don’t really remember
• [spugbrap]: but after each appointment you get used to it more quickly. i mean i go in and get adjusted nowadays and i’ll go next door to five guys and eat a burger and stuff..
• [spugbrap]: early on adjustments probably made me uncomfortable for a day or two. but you really get used to it
• [friend]: One other question I had- Have you had trouble with parts of the clear braces getting discolored? I like red wine and am scared to drink it.
• [spugbrap]: nope
• [spugbrap]: i’ve eaten/drank everything, including red wine, kool-aid, cake with frosting that stained kids faces, etc. no worries. if concerned, do a quick rinse with some water in the bathroom sink sometimes.. it doesn’t have to disrupt your normal life, just do it while you’re in there.
• [friend]: Well that is reassuring that you could eat a hamburger afterwards. Oh I am glad to hear that you haven’t had problems with discoloration. That makes me feel better because I had googled that and read all of these nightmare stories about turning yellow if you drank tea, red wine, etc. Well I’ll save some of my other questions for another day so that I don’t bombard you. Hopefully I will get past this miserable stage. Thanks again.:)
• [spugbrap]: oh btw i have seen one thing get discolored.. the little tiny rubber bands that hold the wire onto the brackets.. but those get changed each time you go in.. so do your red wine drinking closer to your appointment dates. hehe
• [spugbrap]: i was never concerned enough to try to modify my behavior at all.
• [friend]: Ortho. suggested to get white instead of clear but I went with clear. I guess if bad I can switch. Yeah your right about that wait until the few weeks before.
• [spugbrap]: i suppose at least the first time, so you can see if any staining happens. as i said, it’s so minor i only worried about it briefly, but never tried to figure out why it was getting discolored, and the little rubber bands get changed and it’s fine. i didn’t know there was a white option for braces?? i think that might have looked funny on my teeth, they are not the whitest teeth to start with. not horrible, but at least showing the effects of normal wear and tear. :)

As a software developer, I don’t like to write help files/documentation/etc. As a picky reader, I also can’t help but spot typos in other people’s writing (but not in my own, apparently!), broken English (like instructions written by people for whom English is clearly not their primary language), and statements that brought to mind a big, fat, “DUH!” when I read them.

Here are a couple of the latter, no-brainer “DUH” types, with my comments below.

– Oh, it won’t turn ON because it’s OFF.. thanks for the insight!

– Wow, that’s a *much* better version number. I hope they can implement a similar feature in the next version, too!

A friend (who requested to remain anonymous) contacted me last week, and said that they just got braces. Knowing that I’ve had braces for a while, they asked me some questions, and I provided some answers/advice. The following is a log of our IM conversation. I decided I had enough to say about the subject that it was worth putting out there so that others might potentially find it helpful some day. I don’t claim to know everything about orthodontia, but this is my second time having braces, so I do have a bit of experience.

• [friend]: Hi Dave.
• [spugbrap]: hey
• [friend]: Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about your braces?
• [spugbrap]: sure
• [friend]: Help!! I had always thought about getting braces the last 15 years and I just got them put on this morning. Now I am totally freaking out, because they feel so weird and awkward. Does the awkwardness go away?:((
• [spugbrap]: so this is your first time?
• [spugbrap]: this is my second time around
• [spugbrap]: so i may not have had as much awkwardness this time, and i can’t remember way back then
• [friend]: Yes it’s my first and I am freaking
• [spugbrap]: but certainly you get used to it. couldn’t tell you how long it will take though. but you don’t really have a choice, so you will get used to it. :-/
• [spugbrap]: and at first you will want to follow their eating guides religiously (it seems like you’re pretty careful about your eating anyways).. but eventually you’ll learn your real limits.
• [spugbrap]: i recommend Glide Threader Floss for flossing. and i am a hardcore proponent of flossing, since i’ve had a lifetime of fillings and then suddenly stopped getting cavities like ~7 years ago when I started flossing, switched from regular soda to diet soda, and started brushing morning and night. i’ve only had like 3 cavities in the past ~7 years, which is way better than how it used to be (like 3 every 6 months when i’d go in for my cleaning).
• [spugbrap]: flossing with braces is a pain in the ass though. but these floss thingies i’m recommending are good because they a) don’t shred when they encounter hooks/hardware, b) are way easier to use than trying to tie actual “floss threaders” to regular floss (like my ortho showed me initially)… only downside is the cost, like $4.50-6 for a box of 30, and i use 2/day.
• [spugbrap]: oh now i remember the awkwardness. at least some of it.. from 1.5 years ago when i got these on.. felt like my lips stuck out or something. and felt like my inner lips/cheeks were always catching/rubbing against stuff.
• [friend]: My eating is good during the week but on weekends I eat all sorts of bad chewy candies and stuff. I know they recommend brushing after each meal but that is hard, you don’t do that do you? They gave me some weird floss thing that you have to thread regular floss through. It looks really hard. Is that the Glide threader you are talking about? I’m going to look for that in the store. I am writting it down. Glide Thread floss that comes in a box. Thanks. How long do you have to wear your braces for? They said I will have to go every 6 weeks to get tightened. Does that hurt?? Yes!!! That is exactly how I feel. I feel like I am wearing a mouth protector that the football players wear. So please tell me that goes away a little. They gave me wax too. Have you had to use that?
• [spugbrap]: another useful thing is a water pik (sp) thing… good for those days when i really really don’t feel like dealing with flossing. just shoots water out a little tip and you can adjust how hard it sprays.. i forget how much it cost, i think like $50 maybe?
• [spugbrap]: um i’ll answer you questions in turn. justasec
• [spugbrap]: yes weird floss thing you thread regular floss through was a pain, and i was really happy to find this glide stuff. i tried the braun or oral b or something box of threader floss things that’s called like “super floss” or something. that stuff just gets shredded betweeen my fillings and my braces. pointless for me.
• [spugbrap]: so definitely the glide
• [spugbrap]: the box says “Crest Glide Threader Floss” (30 single-use packets)
• [spugbrap]: upc is 037000469742 if you wanna look it up online somehow. :)
• [spugbrap]: i found a couple websites with dental supplies cheaper than stores. and more obscure stuff that i couldnt’ find in stores.
• [spugbrap]: like something called an “end tufted brush”. i got one initially with my little kit they sent home when i got the braces on. but they didn’t have any more when i asked them later on, and i couldn’t ever find them in stores. eventually i managed to somehow find what it’s called, and found them at dentaldepot.com.
• [spugbrap]: haven’t looked for a place to get those glide threader floss boxes online. but i need to, because stores are inconsistent with their pricing and inventory.
• [spugbrap]: and there’s a new glide product with a box that looks almost exactly the same, but it’s not *threader* floss, it’s just single-use packets of regular glide floss.
• [spugbrap]: i don’t brush after every meal. i brush before bed and when i get up. during the day i often use Brush Picks.. little plastic toothpicks. to get the easy to pick stuff. because it bugs me having food stuck in my teeth/braces. they’re pretty cheap.
• [spugbrap]: i have to have my braces for 2 years, that’s the original estimate. i’m at about 17 months at this point, and am hoping to get them off early for good behavior.
• [spugbrap]: i’m her most “compliant” patient ever, apparently. i wear my rubber bands as directed, most of the time. that will probably come later for you as well.
• [spugbrap]: i go in every 6 weeks too. it may hurt for a day, maybe 2. it either stops hurting or i get used to it pretty quick. back when i had my braces the first time, i remember getting somewhat desensitized to mouth pain of all kinds. i could still feel pain, but i didn’t dwell on it, and could pretty much ignore/get over any pain they dished out. :)
• [spugbrap]: hasn’t been too painful this time. in fact, i even told my ortho that at some point, questioning whether i should be using tighter rubber bands or something, because it wasn’t hurting enough. hehe. i want to be done, so i’m willing to deal with some amount of pain if it will let me be done faster.
• [spugbrap]: yes the feeling like you’re wearing a mouth guard goes away/you get used to it/etc.
• [spugbrap]: i’ve used wax a few times, but it’s kind of a pain to make it stick AND stop the poking.. it’s hard to tell them as i’m leaving the chair though whether there’s anything poking me. i run my finger around the ends of the wires and all around to see if anything catches in a painful way… that’s how i figure it out now. because before i would say “no it seems fine” then i’d go home and notice the end of the wire poking my cheek, and that would get all irritated and swell up, causing it to get poked even more.
• [spugbrap]: mouth sores heal pretty fast. that’s what everyone says, and it’s true. it doesn’t seem like it, but even in the presence of foreign objects poking you, your may heal up and just get used to it. if not, call your ortho and go get the wire end clipped off more/better/etc..
• [spugbrap]: i think that addresses all your questions so far. hehe
• [friend]: Thanks Dave. I will note down the Brush Picks also. You really provided a lot of great information. The tip about trying to feel any wire things when you are there sounds good. Well I guess I can do it.:-<
• [spugbrap]: glad to be of help. thanks for coming to me, it was nice to share what i’ve learned. i guess i am kind of an expert since this is my second time. hehe
• [spugbrap]: and feel free to ask anything more wheneever.
• [friend]: Alright, I will. Thanks
• [spugbrap]: btw would you mind if i blog this whole conversation, if i replace your screen name with something generic?
• [spugbrap]: i’d like to post it so that info is out there for others who it could be useful for.
• [spugbrap]: so i’m going to post my info in any case. but it would be quicker/easier to just post the whole conversation, so people who just got braces can see someone else’s initial fears/questions, and relate.
• [friend]: Sure, as long as screen name is gone. You’re right it might help other, especially older adults like me that get braces and then freak a little.
• [spugbrap]: yeah hehe well the money (and the second time thing) is a big motivating factor for me to be good this time and do what they tell me to do!