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Day 24

The last week has seen a return to pain, primarily in my bottom front teeth as they move forward. However things seem to now be slowing as my incisors struggle to get past my bottom canines, which like my top canines, ever so slightly face forward on an angle. I suspect this is because when they came in during puberty I was well and truly a midget, there was no room for them and they did what they could to reach towards the light. Now I believe there is room, they're just on the wrong angle. However I imagine this will be one of the tougher hurdles to overcome and expect to have rubber bands strapped on the next time I see the dentist. Then again, if the incisor on the right hand side of my face and wriggle past its pesky canine companion, there may not be a need for that. It's certainly the tooth I'm keeping the closest eye on at the moment and arguably the tooth that's so far moved the furthest. As for my top teeth, the resulting movement of my two front te
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Day 18

It took 18 days for me to break my braces. Life has been very full recently, the stress has been getting to me and I'm fairly certain of that because I bit clean through my braces in my sleep. I broke two brackets and woke myself up in the process. Both broken brackets are on my bottom molars, one I seriously destroyed, the other is still attached to the wire and sitting in my mouth, ineffective, but out of the way. When science says teeth are harder than steel, they are not messing about.
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Day 16

Brushing my teeth is a challenge. Probably a side effect of this dry mouth nonsense, but my teeth rarely feel properly clean. I'm on to my third kind of toothbrush as I look to reach in and around the new framework and actually get the teeth clean. You don't really realise how just eating normally and chewing your food actually removes any build up on your teeth throughout the day. Now that I'm on an all-mush diet and chewing is out of the question, I notice it completely. I have always been a fastidious teeth cleaner and I brush pretty hard with a medium strength brush. Now I'm pretty concerned about doing damage to my braces and am having to reign in my usual gusto while still attempting to clean teeth that feel dirtier than ever. The result? Long periods spent brushing my teeth and some old techniques from childhood which have returned now that I can no longer just scrub thoroughly. A certain level of precision and finesse has returned to the way I brush m
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Day 15

There have been some first signs of movement. Perhaps not entirely as desired, but all part of the process I assume. What seems to be happening, which isn't the easiest to gauge ( check out the pictures here if you're really interested , it actually seems like more of an exercise in proper lighting) - is that (I'm getting there) my bottom front teeth are moving forward and my top front teeth are moving to the side. I actually thought I'd see more movement from my snaggletooth, as it has room to move back into naturally, but it hasn't budged at all. Likewise I thought my bottom two front teeth would line up first, but the most movement has come from the tooth behind them which has meant the front two have maintained the status quo in terms of formation. I was never actually that fussed about how my bottom teeth looked, they're the same as Will Ferrell's and he seems to be doing alright. So unconcerned in fact that unlike my upper teeth, I realise I&#
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Day 9

And the stabbing begins! I'm actually quite surprised by how much I don't know about the braces process given I have them in my mouth. What seems so obvious now, is that as your teeth move, the wire connecting your braces moves too. This means there is additional wire that begins to protrude at the back of your mouth. For one thing, this is great news, it means your braces are working and your teeth are moving, but it also means being repeatedly stabbed by the sharp wire now poking at your cheeks and gums. Honestly, if no-one had told me about orthodontic wax I would be in such a state right now. That stuff is an absolute godsend. Thank you little bees for making it for me. Another thing I'm having to adjust to is cotton mouth. I can't recall the last time my mouth was so consistently dry. I've gone to speak and split or cut my lip a few times already, unpleasant. I am a veritable desert when I wake up in the morning, I may as well be sucking a cactus.
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Day 7

It's been a week and the pain is finally starting to subside. My mouth feels more uncomfortable now than painful, though any time I accidentally knock a tooth, I am immediately reminded by the shooting pain through my gums. I've been finding ways to eat, but have almost become vegetarian overnight as I can no longer chew anything, including meat. If it's not minced, liquefied or mashed, I can't eat it and that includes most meat. While I feel better for the planet in that sense, I am otherwise bereft with plastic guilt. Every bloody thing I can eat at the supermarket comes wrapped in plastic and it's dire. I feel absolutely terrible about buying these products and supporting the status quo when it comes to plastic, we are just using far, FAR too much. As for my teeth, I haven't noticed any real movement yet, but I'm taking a photo a day and will eventually turn that into a little video. https://www.instagram.com/the_tooth_is_out_there/
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Day 3

I have the flu. I felt the snuffle and sore throat coming on the night before, but now it well and truly has me in it's gooey grip. My aching teeth are now joined by aching sinuses, blowing my nose makes my teeth feel like they're going to fly out everywhere. I want to eat, but I can't. I overcook a lasagne and hope it's soft enough to awkwardly suck down, it is, just. I wonder if I should get a medicalarm. All plans to leave the house are off. Kiwi friends are in town playing a punk rock show, I desperately want to go, but there's just no way. I think about going to the shop for the usual sick swag of painkillers, strepsils and vitamin C, but am not up to it. My wedding date harangues a friend of ours to bring over some supplies and I am so grateful. What a hero. I want to get him knighted in the new years honours list. She also instructs him to bring orthodontic wax, something no-one had told me about. You roll it up into little balls and put it over
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