Week 41 Part 2 - Ortho Appointment

Summary: Interesting day at the Ortho with new tools

My day at the ortho a few days ago was pretty fun. I got in a couple of minutes early but was seated right away. I usually go early in the morning to avoid the crowd.

Once I got seated I was asked to go to the x-ray room and got another panoramic x-ray. The interesting thing is that I don't get a vest. Is that normal? Maybe these new x-ray machines are better?

Afterwards, my ortho took a look and looked at my brackets. He then got one of his tools (the one used to cut off extra wires) and took off 3 brackets off the upper teeth. It was not painful at all!!! All it took was a little be of shaking and they came right off. Then came the purple washing liquid - they cleaned my teeth and re-glued the 3 brackets.

Later I got my new archwire. Interestingly enough, the new wire had a section with a spring coil. The ortho said this was actually to open up my gap. Also, my power chain was removed and I was given wire cables.

The teeth didnt' really hurt that much. It only hurt for a day. There are no drastic changes but I did notice my incisors have now gaps with their adjacent teeth.

What can you eat with braces?

When I first got my braces on I was giving a short consultation before I was let go. During this consultation the assistant gave me a pamphlet which all the things I should avoid eating. I wish I took a picture of it before throwing it out, but it had pictures of all these items.

In general you should avoid eating:
1. Hard foods
2. Sticky foods
3. Sweets

Some examples are nuts, hard pizza crust, corn on the cob, ribs, Doritos, popcorn, ice, raw carrots, gum, beef jerky, hard candy,  and etc. 


The idea behind avoiding these types of foods is to avoid having your braces knocked out and things stuck in between your teeth or brackets which could cause some problems with the movement of the teeth.

What do I eat now with braces on?
I actually don't really follow these rules. The only main difference in my diet is actually eating less sweets. I also don't bite into hard foods like apples.

However, I still eat nuts, ribs, Doritos gum, and etc. So yes, you can still eat real food with braces. However, you must be careful when eating hard food. The main point is that you do not want to knock one of your braces off. If you must eat hard foods, try to chew them with your molars and not with your front teeth.

Whatever you eat, just be careful and you will be fine.