All I know is, he better get to working on them next month or his first online review will be absolute trash! I have already had these on longer than anticipated. This is ridiculous!!!
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
One Year in Braces
...and I'm mad. My ortho did NOT do the bracket repositioning, and tried to argue with me when I told him that I didn't want my lateral incisors to look so short. Wtf? I'm paying the thousands of dollars! You shut up and do the COSMETIC procedure the way I want!
All I know is, he better get to working on them next month or his first online review will be absolute trash! I have already had these on longer than anticipated. This is ridiculous!!!
All I know is, he better get to working on them next month or his first online review will be absolute trash! I have already had these on longer than anticipated. This is ridiculous!!!
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
12 Months? WHAT!
Today I am FINALLY getting what my ortho calls a "planned bracket repositioning" which basically just means he is going to move my brackets into more desirable positions. I'll post pictures this afternoon. No matter what my braces are definitely coming off by August because
1. I am relocating in August
2. My orthodontist graduates and is also relocating in August
People keep saying my teeth don't look "bad", but that's far from the point. The teeth that impact my actual smile are the ones that have not changed, so at this point the braces feel completely pointless. I'm hoping this next adjustment will be the difference maker.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
6 Months
 |
| Before and 6 Months |
 |
| 2 Day After 6 Month Adjustment |
So, it has been 6 months since I had my braces put on. Yesterday the ortho. filed the inside of my bottom teeth to help them fit. His timelines can be hard to follow, but I believe that over the next month they should tuck in enough that he can pull down my lateral incisors. That's really the only thing left to do as far as I am concerned.
As you can see, my two front teeth (central incisors) are pretty much even in the front now. This happened just last night. He adjusted my bracket and the rotation (and pain) happened pretty much immediately. My crossbite is officially gone now also. This also happened overnight. My lower canine is officially behind my upper canine & lateral incisor when I smile. This part is not as evident in photos. Can't wait to get these things off!
--
Update: I can't believe how much my
teeth have changed in one day. The two photos on the right were taken one day apart! The top photo is the day after the adjustment. The bottom
photo is one day later (this morning).
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Four Months
As you can see, my two front upper teeth are very uneven now, but I think that is because they primarily focus on the rotation of my teeth before evening them out vertically. Notice that my front two teeth were angled inward and have now been rotated out (counterclockwise and clockwise respectively). My canines have also been tucked in, which I had not even realized was an issue before getting braces. I don't need to point out the obvious improvements in my bottom teeth.
My most recent tightening two weeks ago was much more painful than my previous two. This may be due to the thickness of the wire. I had trouble eating for a week. If all goes well I should be in braces for six more months... I can't wait for this journey to be over!
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Seeing Changes--Two Months in Braces
Let's be clear. Some areas have gotten much better. Obviously, my bottom teeth are coming together nicely. However, you can also see that one of my two front teeth is now extending further than the other. I understand that it is normal for teeth to sometimes get worst before they get better, and overall I am pleased with my progress.
I experience very little pain now although I do still rip large food items into pieces so that I will not have to bite down into them. Also, every few days one of my teeth will be a bit more sore than the rest, then the pain goes away. Again, I know this is normal and I actually welcome this feeling because I like to know that things are "working".
I can't wait to see how things look in two more months.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Philly Dentists
So, if you happen to live in Philadelphia you may be in the market for a dentist. I have interacted with so many local dentists/oral surgeons, that I consider myself a bit of an expert at this point. Unfortunately, I have had many more negative experiences than positive.
I will include contact info because one woman's frustration may be another man/woman's favorite new dentist. I happen to feel that if your front desk person is rude, I really don't want to deal with you beyond that because this is the person you chose to represent you. You may not feel that way.
(*) = African American
Who I (basically) like:
Gentle Dental
Dr. Andrew In
2627 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia
215.764.5884
Why: Dr. In is a pretty straight forward guy, and is certainly not the jovial dentist I would recommend for children. However, he works on some Saturdays, and does his job well.
The front desk at Gentle Dental has been pretty good with one HUGE exception. There was once a time when I waited outside in the snow for over an hour beyond my appointment time before anyone would let me into the building. I banged on the door in the bitter cold for 45 minutes. The woman who let me in was completely unapologetic. I have not seen her since. Sadly, even with this terrible experience, this is the best dental office I have located.
Interesting tidbit: Dr. In is not African American (at least, I don't think he is), however he went to Howard University for dental school.
--
Jefferson Oral Surgery
909 Walnut St., Philadelphia
215.955.6215
Why: I went in for oral surgery, counted to ten, and woke up without wisdom teeth. I never experienced pain, just the annoyance of having food fall into the vacant holes until they healed. I had some issues with the front desk--they told me that my health insurance would cover my extraction, claimed to have "verified" this information, but when I showed up the day of the extraction I was told that my health benefit would not cover it. I ended up rescheduling so that I could verify this information for myself.
Verdict not out:
Temple University Orthontics
3223 N. Broad St., 2nd Fl
Why: So far so good, but I'll fully review this one after my braces come off. One moment of frustration however was the two week period I spent in August trying to reach someone (anyone) in the office to schedule my second tightening. I ended up calling the dental clinic at Temple and having someone take a note to orthodontia asking them to call me. I did get a call and was told that nobody had answered the phone for two weeks because one of the secretaries was on maternity leave and her replacement was not very good. Umm. What?
Who to avoid:
Ogontz Dental Center
Dr. Dvorchak James, DMD
1614 E Upsal St., Philadelphia
215.392.4550
Why: I swear I am not someone who usually attracts rude treatment, but once again I experienced extremely rude treatment at the front desk. Twice I attempted to schedule appointments, and twice I was so aghast at the rude treatment that I just had to walk away. It's more of a general eye and neck roll as if you are inconveniencing them by asking a question than anything else. The dentist himself may be lovely. I will never know.
Further, there are no weekend hours and weekday hours are quite limited. This lucky dentist only works until 2 p.m. three days out of the week.
--
215.924.2436
Why: This dentist plead guilty to insurance fraud and theft. If you can't trust trust him with your insurance billing, I certainly would not trust him in my mouth. Might be hard to get an appointment with him anyhow since he may be locked up.
--
Dr. Chinyelu Dibor, DMD*
5525 Wayne Ave., Philadephia
215.843.4900
Why: Again we encounter rude front desk staff, but this was actually even worse than the Ogontz Dental Center experience. (I really am a nice person. I promise.) I traveled on public transportation in the unexpected rain to visit Dr. Dibor on a recommendation. I wanted get a feel for the place and schedule an appointment. I got off of the bus too early, and walked the last few blocks. I arrived drenched, and told the woman at the desk that I wanted to schedule an appointment for a teeth cleaning.
Let me share the dialogue of the conversation:
Me: Hi! [friendly smile] I would like to schedule an appointment to have my teeth cleaned.
Rude Desk Chick: Well, can you afford it?
Me: [pauses] Um, I'm not quite sure what you mean. I'm pretty sure the procedure is covered by my insurance.
Suddenly UnRude Desk Chick: Ooooh, you have insurance!
Me: Oh, wow.
Side note: I really don't even know why I bothered to go check out the place because it was pretty unappealing, yet I still went ahead and tried to schedule an appointment.
--
About Your Smile
Glenn A. Brown, DMD, JD*
6772 Market St., Upper Darby
610.734.0115
Why: Billing nightmare. I found Dr. Brown on my insurance provider's network to ensure that he was in-network, then went for X-rays and a cleaning. I arrived at the office and they verified that they were in-network. Well! Imagine my surprise when I am billed out-of-network due to the fact that the dentist had someone else in his office who did not take my insurance complete the work. Completely unacceptable.
--
Temple University Dental School Clinic
3223 N Broad St, Philadelphia
215.707.2803
I have been having a perfectly good experience with the orthodontic school (upstairs), but the dental school was a completely different story.
(1) First, it will be several months before you can schedule your first appointment. This is not their fault, there is simply a high demand for reasonably priced dental care.
(2) The wait time the day of your appointment is outrageous, even for a school, and each procedure happens at a glacial pace. Expect to wait an hour after your appointed time just to be seen.
(3) Of course, each student dentist will be different. However, it seems that the school in general would do well to spend more time teaching their students chair-side manner.
If you can afford to go to a regular dentist, definitely do. Otherwise, be prepared for a wait. I spent a lot of time at USC's school of dentistry in Los Angeles, and the experience at Temple is nowhere near comparable. I hear that Penn's dental school is good.
I will include contact info because one woman's frustration may be another man/woman's favorite new dentist. I happen to feel that if your front desk person is rude, I really don't want to deal with you beyond that because this is the person you chose to represent you. You may not feel that way.
(*) = African American
Who I (basically) like:
Gentle Dental
Dr. Andrew In
 |
| Dr. Andrew In |
215.764.5884
Why: Dr. In is a pretty straight forward guy, and is certainly not the jovial dentist I would recommend for children. However, he works on some Saturdays, and does his job well.
The front desk at Gentle Dental has been pretty good with one HUGE exception. There was once a time when I waited outside in the snow for over an hour beyond my appointment time before anyone would let me into the building. I banged on the door in the bitter cold for 45 minutes. The woman who let me in was completely unapologetic. I have not seen her since. Sadly, even with this terrible experience, this is the best dental office I have located.
Interesting tidbit: Dr. In is not African American (at least, I don't think he is), however he went to Howard University for dental school.
--
Jefferson Oral Surgery
909 Walnut St., Philadelphia
215.955.6215
Why: I went in for oral surgery, counted to ten, and woke up without wisdom teeth. I never experienced pain, just the annoyance of having food fall into the vacant holes until they healed. I had some issues with the front desk--they told me that my health insurance would cover my extraction, claimed to have "verified" this information, but when I showed up the day of the extraction I was told that my health benefit would not cover it. I ended up rescheduling so that I could verify this information for myself.
Verdict not out:
Temple University Orthontics
3223 N. Broad St., 2nd Fl
Why: So far so good, but I'll fully review this one after my braces come off. One moment of frustration however was the two week period I spent in August trying to reach someone (anyone) in the office to schedule my second tightening. I ended up calling the dental clinic at Temple and having someone take a note to orthodontia asking them to call me. I did get a call and was told that nobody had answered the phone for two weeks because one of the secretaries was on maternity leave and her replacement was not very good. Umm. What?
Who to avoid:
Ogontz Dental Center
Dr. Dvorchak James, DMD
1614 E Upsal St., Philadelphia
215.392.4550
Why: I swear I am not someone who usually attracts rude treatment, but once again I experienced extremely rude treatment at the front desk. Twice I attempted to schedule appointments, and twice I was so aghast at the rude treatment that I just had to walk away. It's more of a general eye and neck roll as if you are inconveniencing them by asking a question than anything else. The dentist himself may be lovely. I will never know.
Further, there are no weekend hours and weekday hours are quite limited. This lucky dentist only works until 2 p.m. three days out of the week.
--
Dr. Douglas A. Cranch, DMD
2630 W Cheltenham Ave., Philadelphia215.924.2436
Why: This dentist plead guilty to insurance fraud and theft. If you can't trust trust him with your insurance billing, I certainly would not trust him in my mouth. Might be hard to get an appointment with him anyhow since he may be locked up.
--
Dr. Chinyelu Dibor, DMD*
5525 Wayne Ave., Philadephia
215.843.4900
Why: Again we encounter rude front desk staff, but this was actually even worse than the Ogontz Dental Center experience. (I really am a nice person. I promise.) I traveled on public transportation in the unexpected rain to visit Dr. Dibor on a recommendation. I wanted get a feel for the place and schedule an appointment. I got off of the bus too early, and walked the last few blocks. I arrived drenched, and told the woman at the desk that I wanted to schedule an appointment for a teeth cleaning.
Let me share the dialogue of the conversation:
Me: Hi! [friendly smile] I would like to schedule an appointment to have my teeth cleaned.
Rude Desk Chick: Well, can you afford it?
Me: [pauses] Um, I'm not quite sure what you mean. I'm pretty sure the procedure is covered by my insurance.
Suddenly UnRude Desk Chick: Ooooh, you have insurance!
Me: Oh, wow.
Side note: I really don't even know why I bothered to go check out the place because it was pretty unappealing, yet I still went ahead and tried to schedule an appointment.
--
About Your Smile
Glenn A. Brown, DMD, JD*
6772 Market St., Upper Darby
610.734.0115
Why: Billing nightmare. I found Dr. Brown on my insurance provider's network to ensure that he was in-network, then went for X-rays and a cleaning. I arrived at the office and they verified that they were in-network. Well! Imagine my surprise when I am billed out-of-network due to the fact that the dentist had someone else in his office who did not take my insurance complete the work. Completely unacceptable.
--
Temple University Dental School Clinic
3223 N Broad St, Philadelphia
I have been having a perfectly good experience with the orthodontic school (upstairs), but the dental school was a completely different story.
(1) First, it will be several months before you can schedule your first appointment. This is not their fault, there is simply a high demand for reasonably priced dental care.
(2) The wait time the day of your appointment is outrageous, even for a school, and each procedure happens at a glacial pace. Expect to wait an hour after your appointed time just to be seen.
(3) Of course, each student dentist will be different. However, it seems that the school in general would do well to spend more time teaching their students chair-side manner.
If you can afford to go to a regular dentist, definitely do. Otherwise, be prepared for a wait. I spent a lot of time at USC's school of dentistry in Los Angeles, and the experience at Temple is nowhere near comparable. I hear that Penn's dental school is good.
Let's Talk Pain
Braces Hurt Like Hell
This is a simple fact that I wish someone would have just told me outright at some point. The second day of braces was just plain torture. The closest parallel I can draw is the feeling of having all of my teeth slowly pulled out of my mouth with pliers... all day long. I popped some aspirin, which did nothing at all. I upgraded to Ibuprofen and felt a little better, but still very uncomfortable.
For a week I could eat NO solid food at all. When I say solid, I mean literally anything that required my teeth to close down--no rice, no noodles, no soft bread... NOTHING. If I could not eat it by mushing it with my tongue, I could not eat it. You quickly start to realize which foods dissolve in your mouth (thank you cupcakes) and which ones definitely do not (curse you Ramen noodles).
Adult Braces Hurt More
It's hard to get clear answers about whether adult braces hurt more than they do on children, but I am going to go with yes they do. Simply put, a child's jaw is still growing and their teeth often just grew in. Adult jaws are firmly in place and our teeth have been in much long. Braces basicaly re
My week 1 diet included:
- yogurt (no fruit or other mix-ins of any kind)
- pudding
- smoothies
- milkshakes
- mashed potatoes
- mashed sweet potatoes (thank you Boston Market)
- baby food (don't judge me)
- muffins/cake (they crumble and dissolve in your mouth), but bread does NOT
- potato soup
- ice cream (no chunks/nuts)
Ice cream is my favorite dessert, but by the end of the first week I was pretty darn sick of it... and pretty hungry overall. Somehow not chewing just made me feel hungry all the time. Probably psychological.
My week 2 diet included:
- overcooked noodles
- softer breads
- some tuna and other chopped meats (still not perfect, but manageable)
- tamales
- fish sandwich
- most foods considered "soft"
By the end of the second week I can eat most foods with the exception of:
- crunchy foods
- french bread
- chicken/steak/thick meats
- chewy foods or foods that require you to bite in (i.e. a hoagie sandwich)
Update:
I would say that within a month I was chomping down on just about anything... including everything listed above. The only thing I never do, even 12 months later, is bite directly into dense foods (apple) with my front teeth. I just always have the feeling that I will pop a bracket doing that (which I've never done).
For a week I could eat NO solid food at all. When I say solid, I mean literally anything that required my teeth to close down--no rice, no noodles, no soft bread... NOTHING. If I could not eat it by mushing it with my tongue, I could not eat it. You quickly start to realize which foods dissolve in your mouth (thank you cupcakes) and which ones definitely do not (curse you Ramen noodles).
Adult Braces Hurt More
It's hard to get clear answers about whether adult braces hurt more than they do on children, but I am going to go with yes they do. Simply put, a child's jaw is still growing and their teeth often just grew in. Adult jaws are firmly in place and our teeth have been in much long. Braces basicaly re
My week 1 diet included:
- yogurt (no fruit or other mix-ins of any kind)
- pudding
- smoothies
- milkshakes
- mashed potatoes
- mashed sweet potatoes (thank you Boston Market)
- baby food (don't judge me)
- muffins/cake (they crumble and dissolve in your mouth), but bread does NOT
- potato soup
- ice cream (no chunks/nuts)
Ice cream is my favorite dessert, but by the end of the first week I was pretty darn sick of it... and pretty hungry overall. Somehow not chewing just made me feel hungry all the time. Probably psychological.
My week 2 diet included:
- overcooked noodles
- softer breads
- some tuna and other chopped meats (still not perfect, but manageable)
- tamales
- fish sandwich
- most foods considered "soft"
By the end of the second week I can eat most foods with the exception of:
- crunchy foods
- french bread
- chicken/steak/thick meats
- chewy foods or foods that require you to bite in (i.e. a hoagie sandwich)
Update:
I would say that within a month I was chomping down on just about anything... including everything listed above. The only thing I never do, even 12 months later, is bite directly into dense foods (apple) with my front teeth. I just always have the feeling that I will pop a bracket doing that (which I've never done).
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