En route to a perfect smile.

Today's post marks 1 year into having braces! Yippedoo! 
I realized I haven't really done up a post on my braces so here's it! :D

I vividly remember Zonia and I making our very first visit to Toothangels, Central- Clarke Quay. The Orthodontist on duty that afternoon was Dr Chia. An x-ray was done, to check if we have got any wisdom tooth and teeth structure. Zonia was very lucky cause she didn't have any wisdom tooth, yes! Not 1 at all. And her sister, me, has got all 4! Omgzz! The unfortunate thing was non of the wisdom tooth grew out and causing any problems, so I had to have surgery to slice the gums to remove the wisdom tooth- all for braces.

Dr. Chia went on to further explain the benefits to remove wisdom tooth since we now know they existed. Some wisdom teeth should be removed due to complications with tooth decay. This decay might either be found on the wisdom tooth itself, or else the wisdom tooth's neighboring tooth (the adjacent 2nd molar). Dr. Chia happened to have a patient who faced wisdom tooth complications just before me! So he showed me the x-ray of this patient which clearly showed that the teeth beside the wisdom tooth were all decayed all because he didn't have his wisdom tooth removed. That is, a total of 8 to be extracted now!

So, after the x-ray was done, we had a short consultation with Dr. Chia where he told us what "work" is to be done, how many months we would need. We then had our teeth moulds done, appointments for extractions were also made on the same day. Zonia had her extractions done on the evening itself while mine was a week later cause of work commitments. (I have just started work at Abacus so I scheduled my dental appointments so not to affect work.) I remember there was a public holiday on a Friday that April, so I had my appointment for wisdom tooth extractions scheduled on Thursday Night. I remember the process being very terrifying at the start, my palms were perspiring, my heart was beating too fast, Dr. Chia had to hold the surgery back for a little while! I wasn't on full anesthesia so I could feel tugging and pulling. Time to time, i could feel pain and i would hold my fingers up to let the nurses know the pain level and they will jab in more anesthetic! The first wisdom tooth was the worst, I was scared and all but slowly, it got quite annoying! I had really strong, stubborn tooth so it took quite awhile to extract! Argh! In my mind, it was "Is it out? Is it out?!??" LOL!

I had to bite gauze when the surgery was done for about 2 hours so to stop bleeding. Was advised not to remove the gauze, not to spit any blood. Spitting causes more blood flow! I popped the strong pain killers after soya milk (very much on liquid diet) and went to sleep after some teevee. By the time I headed to bed, I was already off the gauze but still bleeding. I could taste blood that night when I slept. Definitely very uncomfortable, but just have got to sleep it off and swallow any blood. 

So, headed down alone after work that evening, went into the dental clinic alone and took a bus back home alone. How independent? HEHEHEHE! :D :D

Exactly 1 week after my wisdom tooth extractions, I went back for my 4 molar extractions to create some space for my braces! I have got over-crowding, you see! And another 1 week later, it was time for braces to be up! Yay!

I took sometime collating the pictures of my braces journey, ahh so excited!
So let's start with some pictures before braces!

APRIL 2010



MAY 2010

There's not much of a difference 1 month later. The gaps were still huge, the bunny teeth are still there. I remember looking into the mirror rather often and pushing my finger into those gaps to gauge the size of the gaps, if its now tighter! I also remember the gaps were SO HUGE, when I had one finger in, there's still ample space. omg.





JUNE 2010


JULY 2010



SEPTEMBER 2010

Half a year into braces! :D
Dr. Chia changed the wires thicker on our 3 weeks-a-visit appointment. The gaps are much smaller now! Used to be able to stick a finger into the gap and still have space! LOL! That's how I measure the size of the gaps lolol! :D



JANUARY 2011


MARCH 2011
Very very straight already right! :D D: Ahhh so happy! LOL!
Zonia commented that my teeth in this picture looks perfect already! Yippeee doo!





APRIL 2011


Hope you guys enjoy this post!
I had quite some fun myself digging through past pictures and see how much my teeth shifted! And with this post done, 5 years or 10 years down the road, I could still refer to this post and drool at how young and tender I was. LOL! Gross max. Please leave comments on this post itself so your questions could benefit the other readers as well. And I will try my best to reply them quick!

P/s: I think i've addressed every possible question so please read the post well before spamming me questions okay dokey? Thank you!

There's 5 of us cousins who visit Dr. Chia and we managed to get the clan package price of $3800 HAHA! You could tell Dr. Chia you read my post and ask for discounts! lololol! I cant be sure if it will work, but no harm trying. You can head down for an appointment to further consult Dr. Chia before finalising on braces. (: