Jessica's Journey to a Beautiful Smile
My Journey to a beautiful smile.
"So far I am 13 months into my journey wearing braces. Time has gone really fast and my teeth are looking great!!
The most recent change is wearing a removable appliance (plate) for the last 3 months. Its purpose is to develop my upper jaw width, especially my first left-side molar. Before wearing the plate the molar had been a bit stubborn and hadn't straightened up with the other teeth. The plate I'm wearing has a screw in it that I turn every 5 days, to push the tooth out from the inside. As well as that my braces are pulling the tooth from the outside to straighten it up.
Since wearing the plate I have seen a huge change. The molar has shifted more into line with the other teeth and I think it won't take long until it's completely straight!
WHAT IS IT LIKE WEARING THE PLATE?
When I was first given the plate to wear I found it difficult to speak clearly for a few days. Since I work in retail and have to talk to customers a lot, I found it a little uncomfortable at work as I couldn't fully pronounce my words. As well as that I am studying a full-time Te Reo Maori course where I am required to speak a lot of Te Reo Maori. When I first wore the plate I found it very hard to pronounce these words and always wanted to take the plate out when I needed to do a speech. For the first few days I also found the plate to be very uncomfortable. It felt as though it took up too much room in my mouth and it was very hard to eat food wearing it - and I was always tempted to take it out when I was eating (which I am not supposed to do).
However, over time I have become very used to wearing the plate. I don't mind eating with it and after about a week of wearing it my speech returned to normal again. I also get excited seeing how my tooth is slowly straightening up alongside the other teeth. The plate is not painful at all so that’s also a bonus!
HOW TO KEEP IT CLEAN
I have to clean my plate after I have eaten food. At night I clean it with my toothbrush and toothpaste, and every three days I soak it for 3 minutes with a specialised cleanser which leaves my plate fresh and minty clean! “
Jessica Tyson