A month ago, if you told me that I’d be wearing braces again at 27, I wouldn’t have believed you. But, here we are: I am 27 and I have, yet again, braces.
This is not the first time I got myself braces. Back in high school, I wore metal braces for about two years. But being the irresponsible teen that I was, I decided that retainers weren’t for me. After two years of being a brace-face and a few months of retainer free life (AAAND a very disappointed dentist aunt), my teeth eventually moved back into the snaggly things that they were. I took responsibility for my non retainer wearing ways and made peace with the fact that I will never have straight teeth.
Fast forward to last month: A visit to Fashion Smile ended up with Dr. Far and Dr. Shideh giving me a talk on dental health and brighter, whiter teeth (read about it HERE). It also ended up with a check up after which I was informed that I needed to have two molars extracted aaaaaand *surprise, surprise* braces! So, I did what any self respecting former brace face did: I said no – vehemently.
But then, Dr. Far and Dr. Shideh explained (very calmly because at this point I was just shaken about the idea of getting surgery) what could and most probably would happen if I don’t have the procedure done. This included, among other things, more gingivitis, further tooth damage (due to pressure from a semi impacted molar), and even more teeth crowding in the future. They explained that Asians’ naturally small jaws make us more prone to impacted wisdom tooth with 90-95% getting them.
This is what crowded teeth look like. Parang may pinagkakaguluhan lang/parang MRT lang.
After more dental health chikahans and a lot of reassurances, I finally (but hesitantly) agreed to having two molars taken out & getting braces. I reasoned that at the end of the day, I’d have a perfect set of chompers and that all pain is temporary when it comes to beauty (pak!) but OH MY GOD I WAS SCARED. I had heard one too many horror stories about molar extractions and I assured myself that the pain would be worth is because, well, I’m a strong independent woman and I can take it plus hey, I get to diet because I won’t be able to eat! Seemed like a win win!
Fashion Smile Molar Extraction
A couple of consultations and a panoramic x-ray later, I walked into the clinic (with my mother! I was that scared) for my first molar extraction. Dr. Far, who was going to do the procedure on me, explained everything to me and reassured me.
But yeah, I wasn’t buying it because I was scared, ok!
Surprisingly, I made it through the whole procedure without crying or fainting. My molar extraction for tooth 1 took less than an hour. Topical anesthesia is applied and then the anesthetic injection (which I could only assume to be that scary looking thing Dr. Far is holding in the photo above). Surprisingly, you don’t really feel the injection but you still get to see it going in your mouth. Being the brave woman that I am, I just decided to focus on the TV set in front of me and not the big needle going in my mouth at that moment. The actual extraction came next. Dr. Far does what is called the conservative approach which means that as much as possible she doesn’t cut or suture anything.
I got off that dental chair with one less molar but feeling like a champ.
Molar extraction number 2 was done a week later. This time, it took about an hour and a half because this particular molar’s roots were anchored into my gums in different directions (pati ngipin ko ayaw lumet go ????). Nevertheless, the extraction was finished without any sliced gums or sutures. You can watch our live feed from the procedure below:
Admittedly the procedure wasn’t as bad as I imagined it to be. There was no swelling at all with the first extraction and minimal swelling with the second extraction. I was prescribed antibiotics plus Advil to manage the pain (what pain?! #strong) and was advised that I would probably be able to eat normally in 2-3 days. Except, I was eating real food as early as a day after the procedure so that whole line of diet-as-justification-for-surgery reasoning failed. #ChibogTime
Photos taken a day after the second molar extraction – the slight swelling that resulted, Donya face not included
Click on to page 2 to read about the Fashion Smile Clear Braces application process
Click on to Page 3 for progress photos!
