Day 85 with the Damon Braces and a Broken Wire

Status Summary: Yup, I broke my lower archwire.

The day my archwire broke (last Thursday), I was doing some poking as usual. Yes, I use my fingers to poke my wires because I am just that impatient. As I poked that day, I felt the wire snap in between my 2nd molar and 1st molar on my bottom right hand side. I knew exactly what happened. I then tried to pull out the lose piece of wire. As I did, it fell off but I did not see it on table. I then rushed the bathroom (afraid of swallowing that piece of metal) to rinse my mouth with water. I didn't see anything come out and at this point I thought I swallowed it already - fortunately, I went back to my desk and found it there :D.

It has been a couple of weeks since I last posted pictures so I am hoping there are greater observable improvements today.

Overall, I haven't had any new pain. I almost got blisters on my lower lips after being very talkative one night, but it healed overnight. Yup, the more you talk, the higher chances of getting blisters.

Here are my pictures for today:

Day 54 with the Damon Braces and Flossing

Status Summary: No major changes since last week.

Visually, I haven't seen major changes. I have also not felt much tightness on my teeth as in the past few weeks. The only difference I have started noticing is the fact that my lips are much dryer than before. However, that could be due to the change in weather as Fall is rapidly approaching.

One subject I have been wanting to write about is flossing. Flossing can be a pain, but it does not have to take 30 minutes - it can be done in as little as 10 minutes. I few weeks ago I was chatting to my friend who has traditional braces about flossing. We were both complaining how tedious it was before I went off to floss. I got back in 15 minutes and my friend was surprised at my quickness. It was then when I realized not everyone knows the trick. The trick is simple, tie one end of the floss to the floss threader hoop. This way, you do not have to re-thread every time you floss one tooth. That's it!

It is important to floss every day, so don't be lazy and spend that extra 10 minutes flossing.

Here are my latest pictures to track my progress:

Day 48 with the Damom Braces

Status Summary: Sore cheek.

I am starting to feel some soreness in my inner-upper right cheek. There is probably a small blister and I am wondering if it is caused by the small end of the wire sticking out or the hook on the bracket. Whatever it is, as long as I don't move my lips too much, I am OK. I would put some wax on but I left the kit at work :(. Now that I think about it, I think my inner upper lip is also starting to feel sore.

I took some pictures tonight but am not too happy about them. Why not? Well, here is why:

1. I noticed there is a growing gap between my upper left incisor and the tooth before it. And, I don't see the gap closing.

2. I don't really see much of a difference anymore with regards to teeth movement.

3. I don't feel any more tension on my lower teeth, not even in the mornings after waking up. Could this be because the archwire is too weak?

4. My teeth are yellow and I can't use any Crest White Strips.

I'll be doing a side by side picture comparison probably next week and compare progress through pictures.

Here are tonight's pictures: