2 Years Without Braces

As I was brushing my teeth this morning, I realized that today is my 2-year-braces-free anniversary; Happy No Braces to me! *smiling broadly and flashing my pearly whites*. I still feel the need to celebrate this for some reason, and I think previous braces-wearers would understand.

If you didn't follow my 14-month In-Ovation C braces treatment, you can catch up on that here. I also shared my 1-year-braces-free experiences last year over here. I thought I'd also share with you what life has been like two years braces-less.

I still wear my clear retainers almost every night, although I do probably skip about two nights out of the week when I really just don't feel like wearing them. I even went two weeks without wearing them at all over the summer, but really paid the price when I started wearing them again; it was so painful. It's insane how fast your teeth can move again! I definitely learned my lesson.

My permanent retainers (the wires behind my upper and lower front teeth) had to be re-glued recently because the bottom one came loose after eating a cookie, and the top one just popped loose randomly. I guess it was only a matter of time before that happened. I'm actually quite surprised that I went almost two years without them becoming a little loose, what with all the things I stuff my face with.

Many people ask me how I whiten my teeth. To be honest, I think they are this white because after my braces came off, the orthodontist filed the surfaces to clean off the pieces of glue on it, and it probably removed a layer of enamel or something and exposed a fresh white layer... (don't quote me on this one, though!). Also, I've tried the CREST White Strips once. They definitely worked, but it was very uncomfortable and my teeth were very sensitive throughout the treatment course. I also use a whitening toothpaste most of the time.

I had to get a second wisdom tooth removed this year. (I also had one removed last year.) It didn't bother me when it was coming out, but I was nervous about it moving my other teeth, so I just asked the dentist to pull that baby right out. Luckily, this extraction was also easy and painless, and, again, I didn't need any stitches.

I guess I'm closing my "Braces Experience" chapter with this post, as I probably won't do an update again. Really, the only other teeth related experience I can write about is if the other wisdom teeth gets extracted (no sign of them though...), or if the permanent retainers came loose again. (And that will most probably happen...)

If you have any questions about my adult braces treatment, send me an email or ask away in the comments section, I'm happy to share my experiences.

Now let me go celebrate my 2-year-braces-free anniversary with a big bag of extra crunchy honey roasted cashew nuts! Bye!