M's teeth models!

Was rummaging through M's stuff and guess what I found?!
His teeth models! :D

I photoshopped out the other details outside of the models as the lighting was quite bad and I took them using my iPhone. So apologies if the colours turn up weird (blue sometimes becomes bluish-purple).

Blue model - before braces, yellow model - after braces.



 

  

And lastly, just so you know... noticed the canine tooth jutting out from the top row left area? M didn't have to have it extracted =D

Before and after photos

Was clearing our my old photos and found 2 pre-braces photos of M. Thought I should post up a before and after shot for better comparison. =) Apologies for the poor image quality of the 'before' photos!

Before:

 
Yup, see how slanted his upper row of teeth are. Front teeth are so misaligned. He can't even bite nor close his mouth properly!

After:
 
What a change! :D When I first knew him, I couldn't even imagine it happening one day because I knew he was terrified of wearing braces - not that I mind his untidy teeth in the first place (to be honest, you gotta love and accept everything of a person. Any changes for the better are considered as bonus). So this is the beautiful result of him overcoming his fear after more than 10 years. Finally!

Final update

Hey people.. whatssupp!!!

It's been way tooo long since I last blogged and I've even forgotten the password to this blog already (only managed to log in on my 3rd try) *smacks forehead*. A quick check on the blogstats shows that I've still been getting visitors every day. So thought I'll just log in to do a final update.

Hope this site has been an inspiration to all. If you are still deliberating whether to wear braces, I'll say - go for it! What are you waiting for? (the cows to come home?!)

Yes, braces don't come cheap but divide that amount out with the number of years you are going to benefit from it (health, looks, nice smile, confidence), it really doesn't cost much per day! Say, if you spend $10K on braces (ok, this is an exaggerated amt) and you get to enjoy having a nicer set of teeth than your pre-braces days (say, for 20 years - until your teeth start to fall off due to old age hahaha), then you are spending 10000/20 = $500/ year on braces, which is $1.37 a day. That's like the price of a canned drink or a MRT ride. It's even cheaper than a simple lunch outside at the hawker. So it really doesn't cost much a day. Furthermore, prices of braces will probably increase due to inflation and newer technologies etc. The longer you wait, the more expensive it is to get your teeth adjusted. 

For M, the Damon System definitely made him look better and instilled more confidence when he smile. He has to start re-learning how to smile without covering his mouth as he's been doing that for over 10 years before putting on braces. ;) Better oral hygiene, more confident about his appearance. It definitely gave him much more than just a pretty smile and IMO, it's worth every penny!

Remember - it doesn't have to be Damon, it can be any type of braces that suits your budget. Just go get it done already!! But make sure you do your homework and select an orthodontist you are comfortable with.

Sooo, if you have started wearing braces (any type of braces), hope you can share your blog links/ progress pictures if you have them and are comfortable with showing to the world! Just post them in the comments section below. I'm curious to see and I'm sure there are also a few other curious visitors who would like to know too! =)

Braces Removed! (07-10-2009)

I'm posting the very final photos I took on the day he took out his braces (7 Oct 2009) - He wore for slightly over 2.5 years. Sorry, no photos of the before/after mould as I forgot to snap them and i'm not quite sure where he's thrown them to already. Maybe I'll eventually post them up someday after he does a thorough housekeeping.





Teeth are sure to be more yellow, and noticed the stains too right? I think it's normal. Can go for some scaling/polishing and a whitening session.

Update: Just an observation - I think his teeth has shifted a bit months following his braces removal. I don't know what causes the shifting. He wore retainers most nights but there are nights where he'll forget to wear. But perhaps the shifting is not uncommon and also depends on the individual. My cousin had to wear braces quite a few years back for a 2nd time as her teeth shifted as well (she wasn't under Damon system for both times). She has since fixed permanent retainers behind her teeth. Anyway, that was just to share about the post-braces changes. Bf's teeth aren't shifting dramatically. They still look great and he DEFINITELY looks better than before =D

Hope you've enjoyed the posts! Think this will be my last post for a super long while. Take care peeps and do leave comments to share your thoughts and braces progress!

Almost reaching the finishing line =D

Hello! Sorry for not updating as much as I should! I have finally cleared all backlogs of bf's braces photos... because I won't have anymore braces photos after this!!! =D

Guess why! ;)

He's gonna remove his braces very soon in Oct (~2 more weeks!). Finally.. the day we've been waiting for is arriving soon. To be honest, I actually love to see him wearing braces and I will definitely miss his metal smile. I'm sure he'll miss his braces a lot also.

I'll be posting his Xray picts / before and after moulds after his final dental visit - if he can bring them home. He took Xray on his previous dental visit (think it was last month) and mentioned that there were some changes in his face shape b4 and after. I hope I can get to see the Xray too.. else will see if he can take a photo of them at the clinic.

Do check back soon!

2 years 5 months (26 August 2009)

Looking pretty much the same =)


Side profile: His teeth doesn't jut out as much as compared to last month isn't it?

2 years 4 months (20 July 2009)

Bottom row has some metal chains:


Extraction gaps closed:


Side profile - Juts out a bit. We were already prepared for this coz he didn't want to have jaw surgery.

2 years 3 months (5 June 2009)

1 year 11 months (23 February 2009)

Hi people!

I know I'm seriously lazyyyyy and have left many of you wondering what happened to this blog. I'm finally clearing some old photo backlogs from last July till Feb this year. Hope this will be informative. We haven't been taking photos from Feb onwards. I'll take soon!!!

Just to update, my boyfriend is STILL on Damon system. Yea, i know it's long but hey, it's worth the wait isn't it!!. You get beautiful teeth for life! He's extracted 2 lower teeth. As of the time i'm posting (25 May), the gaps have closed. They took some months to close completely. They are still not closed in the picts as the last set of photos were taken in Feb, so don't be confused.

According to bf, he's now getting his top row adjusted to stick out less. Dr Boey had to push out his top row a little so he can bite normally. Before he wore braces, we already know a slight 'buck teeth' look (top row slanted out a bit) is a possibility as he did not want to go for jaw surgery. From what I can recall, right now his top row doesn't seem to stick out at all. hmmm, I don't even notice any 'buck teeth' at all. I'll take a side profile picture some time soon so that you people can take a look.

The reason why I've not been updating is because i'm really busy at work and we haven't been taking a lot of pictures. Really, his teeth look the same now from the outside so there's nothing much to update. The exciting part of all the major movement is over so it's rather visually boring now.. lol. He will just continue to let Dr Boey work her magic on his teeth. I will still try to make an effort to take more photos so that we can see the small changes in action. I think this phase now is to beautify and 'fine-tune' his teeth and make them perfect! I hope this is the last phase!

1 year 10 months (20 January 2009)

His bulldog bite is GONE! Look at how his bite has changed! :D Upper and lower teeth are not aligned still (lower is more displaced to the right). His lower teeth gaps are still in the process of closing.


Sorry about the chilli flake! haha



He had some spring thingy on his lower teeth to help close up the bottom gap (i think)! I forgot what's that for.

Updates updates!!

Hey people!

Sorry, I've been busy with work and haven't been checking and updating regularly. Didn't even take photos for the past couple of months =(

To clarify a couple of questions I've been getting....

He's still on braces, left about 2 more payments to go. I guess he may hit the 2-year milestone. He's extracted 2 lower teeth a few months ago and is now waiting for the gaps to close up. Dr Boey says the gaps are closing up very nicely. If his bite/ alignment is not fixed after the gaps close, there's a chance he has to remove two upper teeth. *lol* we'll see!

-----------------------------------
As for me... well, I wore braces back in 1997 and my teeth has shifted a bit as I did not wear my retainers. I had plans to put on braces again.

I went for wisdom tooth removal on 16th Oct 2008 (4 impacted ones), and was very much looking forward to putting on my braces in Dec 2008. BUT.........

After some consideration, I probably have to give up having a neater set of teeth because of financial constraints and the bad economy currently. Putting on braces is a WANT, not a NEED for me. So I'll have to shelf it for now. I'll have to prioritise too. I want both braces and lasik, so maybe I'll go for lasik instead when I have spare cash coz it'll be more beneficial =)

I'll *try* to take photos and update soon! Actually the front view looks pretty much the same coz it's quite straight already, only the lower teeth are being re-aligned. I do notice his teeth are getting yellower though.

1 year 4 months (21 July 2008)

Extracted 2 molars below!! Saw the holes?

1 year! (8 March 2008)

M's teeth didn't seem to move at all compared to last month's photo.

M crossed his first year anniversary of putting on braces! BUT..... I totally forgot about it!!! If I had remembered, I would bring him out for a mini celebration! =P

On his last visit, Dr Boey said she may need to extract his teeth. I'm not too worried about it, neither is he. We'll see how things go =) His next visit is sometime in April.

11th Month (9 Febuary 2008)

M's teeth are moving into place at an amazing speed. It's like almost perfectly straight now! All within 1 year! The Damon system is reall AMAZINGG stuff :O . I don't think one can achieve this on the traditional braces. If only there was Damon system last time when I had my braces done 11 years ago, I wouldn't have gone through so much pain and discomfort >.<

Dr Boey filed away the slightly jagged edges his teeth on his last visit. Noticed the difference compared to the photo in the previous post (7th month)?

7th Month (12 October 2007)

oops! We haven't been taking photos and posting about his progress for a few months as we were away travelling btwn August - Oct 2007.

Extremely surprised to see that his teeth are almost straight in only 7 months! =) *WOWWWW*

4th Month (22 July 2007)

3rd Month (22 June 2007)

2nd Month (14 May 2007)

2nd month (14 may 2007) and 2.5 months (31 May 2007) respectively.

 

1st Month (7 April 2007)

1 month 2 weeks (23 April 2007) and 1 month 3 weeks (29 April 2007) respectively.
 

23rd day (31 March 2007)

15th day (23 March 2007)

9th day (17 March 2007)

5th day (13 March 2007)

3rd day (11 March 2007)

just called the boy.
seems like the pain isn't so bad today! =)
he had porridge, roti prata (small pieces) and chai tau kuey for brunch.

Am kind of surprised at the rate it's improving =)

2nd day (10 March 2007)

 
It's his 2nd day into the braces and having a low pain threshold, he's in constant discomfort now. he's beginning to feel the tension among his teeth. They are starting to hurt when he's brushing his teeth as well. I think it'll last for a few days, so bear with it for a while ok? It'll get better soon! *hugz*

There's quite a bit of adjustments to be made to his lifestyle - the way he brushes his teeth, frequency of brushing, oral hygiene, types of food he can eat, etc. I hope he can adapt to these physical discomfort soon! =)

I think he looks quite cute in braces heee. I can't wait to see the outcome!

Jiayou, M! We can get through this together! *muack*