hi friends! welcome to blogmas day 3! it's so fun making blog posts everyday because to me it's like a digital diary and i get to express myself and show you all my opinions.
today i'll be doing a braces survival guide. i'll show you hacks and tips for getting braces for the first time and what happened when i first got braces. hope ya enjoy!
1. FOCUS ON THE END RESULT
when you first get your braces on, it's most likely that you won'ttt exactly like them. you might think they make your teeth look dirty, or that the grey metal brackets make it look like your teeth have big grey holes (that sounds weird but it's true), but you kind of have to push past this. by focusing on the end result. once your teeth are straight and perfect they'll be your focal point!
2. CARRY TOOTHPICKS
if you're going out for lunch or dinner, going to a friends house or even eating at school, unfortunately it's certain you'll get something stuck in your teeth. if you carry a toothpick in your pocket you'll be able to go to the bathroom and quickly dig out whatever you have stuck.
3. TAKE PAINKILLERS
about half an hour before you go to the ortho take a painkiller. this sounds weird but it takes about half an hour for painkillers to work, so once you get them on it'll be less painful as the painkillers have already worked.
4. EXPECTATION VS REALITY
when you first get your braces on, you'll most probably think people will be mean about them and say nasty things. this doesn't happen! people actually will compliment you and no matter how bad you think your braces look, people won't be mean about them. (i promisE)
5. DON'T USE WHITENING TOOTHPASTE
heaps of people have said in 'braces life hacks' videos to use whitening toothpaste because the end result will be better ?? DO NOT DO THIS! if you use whitening toothpaste it will whiten your teeth arounD the brackets because the toothpaste obviously can't get underneath them, so when you get your braces off there will be little squares on your teeth where the brackets have been that are a little darker than the outside of your teeth.
these were my teeth before braces. my two front teeth were butterflying inwards and the tooth on the left side next to them was growing inwards as well. i didn't think i needed braces because 'heaps of people have way worse teeth than me' and that 'they'll be fine' but now i can see why my parents and ortho think i needed them.
these are my teeth now (this photo was taken three days ago haha). they're already looking straighter than before. i hated them at first. like i wanted to get some pliers and rip them off. i thought everyone would be mean about them and that they made my teeth look like they had holes in them, but now i really like them and think they look nice on me.
QUICK STORYTIME
i got my braces on not long ago. only about two months. i was so stressed out and i felt sick to think about it on the day! i don't know why i was so scared; and even when i was stressing out in the lead up i didn't know why i was worrying.
i went into the room and the people were friendly, and because i was only getting the top row on and not the bottom row it only took about 45 minutes. the lady would put glue on each one of my teeth and then put the bracket on, then hold this bluelight thing so it dried. then she threaded the wire through and it was done haha.
it doesn't hurt as soon as you get them on, but i'd say the second day is the worst. it feels like when you get a huge piece of food stuck in between your teeth and there's so much pressure, but you can't fix it :/. and the brackets cut your mouth a bit.
but overall, it's not as bad as people make it out to be. there's nothing to worry about! it doesn't hurt that much and they're easy to deal with. just don't eat hard or sticky foods!
hope you enjoyed, follow me on instagram @montanabethblog, and i'll talk to you guys tomorrow!
xo montana
(all opinions are my own) (all photos belong to me) (all photos were taken by me)