Ceramic braces and my journey to a perfect smile!

Hello everyone.
I decided to document my journey to a perfect smile on this website in hopes of inspiring others to just “go for it”! I finally got the guts to go after my dream of a perfect smile.
A little backstory: I’m 26 years old and I had braces when I was 17. They were excruciatingly painful and the results came out very disappointing, even after spending 2 years in them. I was never happy with my teeth and went to a cosmetic dentist to find out what could be done. He told me my options were either orthodontics or 10 porcelain veneers. I didn’t want to grind down/ruin that many perfectly healthy teeth so I’ve settled on clear ceramic braces for 18 months and then 4 veneers after. My entire journey will look something like this:
-Braces
-Whitening
-Crown lengthening
-Porcelain veneers
Day 1: Getting the braces on was emotional! I have pretty bad anxiety and while the installation of the braces wasn’t painful at all (minus some sensitivity to the cold air/rinsing of my mouth), my anxiety was screaming at me to get up and RUN. I managed to sit through the entire process and get them put on. I DID cry the whole way home though out of shock and anxiety. Thank goodness for my amazing husband who calmed me down and assured me everything would be just fine. They felt so weird, foreign, and bulky. I felt like it was a huge mistake and I regretted them for a few hours until the anxiety subsided (gosh darn anxiety). I immediately took 600mg of ibuprofen and relaxed in bed with my husband for the rest of the night. No real pain, just a soreness of about a 2 on a scale from 1-10.
Day 2: Feeling much better emotionally but still feeling like these will never be off lol. I’ve been keeping up on my ibuprofen dosage and pain level is still staying around a 2 or 3 for the most part. I was told by my orthodontist that today would be the worst and then it gets better each day for a week. This round (so far) isn’t as painful as my first round of braces thank goodness. Still adjusting to the bulky feeling but hopeful it will feel “normal” in a few days. The biggest annoyance are the “bumpers” they’ve placed on my bottom front teeth because I can’t close my mouth to chew food properly. Uuuugh. Telling myself this isn’t going to last forever. Right...?
Day 3: No severe pain yet! I’ve been making sure to upkeep my ibuprofen dosage throughout the day. I’m doing 600mg in the morning, 200mg in the afternoon, and 600mg right before bed. So far, it’s been amazing at keeping the pain very minimal. My cheeks are suffering at the moment though! I’m developing the ever so famous mouth sores but even those aren’t too terribly bad. I’ve kept them from getting worse by doing a salt water rinse every night and applying dental wax. Feeling pretty good about everything! This experience has been much more pleasant than my first experience with braces.
I’ll be updating days 4-7 in a separate post and then from there on I’ll update every adjustment which is typically every 8 weeks or so from my ortho. Please feel free to comment or message me if you have any questions or want a “Braces buddy” :)
Next adjustment: March 19th

Day 4: Getting more and more used to these braces but they’re not quite “normal” to me just yet. I know they’ll take time to get used to but sometimes they make me feel just a tad claustrophobic but I keep reminding myself that everyday it getting easier. Pain was at most a 1.5 today with the main irritations being the sores in my mouth but even those are healing fast with the salt water rinses I do nightly. I’ve been able to reduce the ibuprofen I’ve been taking as well! I’m able to eat better and better each day too. Planning on making a few YouTube videos soon for braces friendly meal ideas and a “how to make braces as pain free as possible” because I’ve definitely learned some tricks/tips this time around.
Day 5: First day without any ibuprofen at all! Trust me...that’s a big deal since I have a pain tolerance of ZERO for dental pain. Mouth sores have gone down considerably and I’ve been keeping myself as busy/distracted as possible. I’ve also started working out again (weightlifting and yoga) with no problems at all.
Day 6: Still no pain that warrants any medicine. Some individual teeth are sore but only when chewing. The main annoyance right now is I’m SICK of the soft food diet I have to be on with these “bumpers” on my bottom teeth. It makes eating nearly impossible because my teeth don’t touch when I close my mouth, except for two back teeth. My teeth feel fine enough to eat anything at this point but those darn things aren’t allowing it. No idea how long I’ll have these on for but I’m DREAMING of burgers, steaks, and chicken tenders! Ah the things we take for granted. I’m a person who loves crunchy food and this soft food diet is just so boring and bland to me. Feeling uninspired in the food department today and a little discouraged that at a bare minimum these bumpers will be on until March 19th..
Day 7: ONE WEEK BRACES ANNIVERSARY!!
No pain at all and no need for medication. I’ve gotten a little better at eating (thank goodness) but I can’t have a cheeseburger just quite yet. It’s remarkable how you can learn to eat with just two teeth haha. I don’t mind at all how the braces look on me! I actually kind of like them because they camouflage the “problem areas” with my teeth. I’m pretty much 100% used to how they feel in my mouth and I’ve forgotten how it feels to be completely brace free (definitely a good thing!) I’m a little nervous about the adjustment just because I don’t know if my teeth will still be sore or not by then. Here’s hoping they aren’t! I’ll update after my adjustment on March 19th. :)

Hello!
I’ve just had my first adjustment (8 weeks after placement) and I’m relieved to say it wasn’t painful. (make sure to take your ibuprofen one hour before your appointment to keep the pain from creeping in during and after the adjustment) I could barely sleep the night before because my anxiety was getting out of control. Although I had anxiety, I was definitely looking forward to getting my “bumpers” changed. Around Valentine’s Day, I was having some natural flavored candy and afterwards I looked in the mirror and the bumpers were bright yellow! Neon yellow. You-could-see -them-from-space-yellow. Turns out the candy had Turmeric for coloring in it :/. Noted for next time lol.

Changes: Prior to the first adjustment, I have noticed my bite has improved and my bottom teeth crowding is definitely improving. I had a cross bite on my right canine tooth where it meets the bottom teeth and that also looks like it’s getting resolved.

Concerns: My orthodontist had me scheduled for 2 months after the braces were placed for this adjustment and now about three months until my next adjustment. It could be just me but I’m feeling like that’s a little long between appointments. I don’t want to extend my treatment time unnecessarily..Another concern I have is that they put a mini power chain on my two front teeth to close the gap there but they didn’t have the “opal” color that I usually get. They only had clear. Clear as in the bands that stain super easy! Ugh right on my front teeth too..I’m being super careful about not eating anything bright colored until this power chain thingy comes off my front teeth. The opal bands are pretty good at resisting stains as an FYI but you do have to be somewhat cautious with them. I thought about smoke colored bands but I really want to see if I’m careful with what I eat more this time, they’ll stay mostly the same color.

Pain: My wires now connect on my back molars so I woke up with those being a little tender (This was on day 2 after the first adjustment). Not super painful at all though. Easily maintained with some ibuprofen. The annoying part are the new cheek sores from the newly connected wire. Waxing those areas up pretty frequently and doing the salt rinses again (highly recommend, they help tremendously). Also, if you have cheek sores from poking metal, order up some “Ortho Dots” on Amazon. They are amazing and work waaaaay better than regular wax. They are actually activated with moisture vs. wax which doesn’t work too well with the moisture naturally in your mouth.

Feeling pretty good and I’m already noticing more changes with this second adjustment. My front teeth have already closed, even being only four days after! (The gap isn’t closed on my March 19th photo because it was taken right as I got out of the orthodontist on March 19th. I went to bed and the next morning it was closed! I can’t wait to see what changes happen up until my next adjustment.

Next adjustment: June 12th :)