X-ray from the day braces were put on

I just saw this email from my ortho's office, it landed in my Spam email folder.  I requested a copy of my x-ray and this is what they sent.  It is a picture of the x-ray.  Not the greatest.

Anyway, this is from 9.18.13 before I got my braces put on.

Week 4 with Braces

Yesterday was officially my 4th week in braces, although I feel like I have had them forever already.  I am pretty much totally used to them at this point.  They no longer feel "weird." However, I do feel like I have to concentrate when I'm speaking and talk more slowly because they kind of give me a lisp. 

The only thing I am noticing is that a different tooth is sore every few days.  Last week when bit into my toaster strudel for breakfast my front top right tooth wiggled like it was loose and it hurt! Same thing happened at lunch when I bit into an already cut, bite-sized piece of sandwich - loose/wiggly and sore.  The loose sensation freaked me out, I have felt soreness/pressure before, but never this loose feeling.  I called my ortho's office and they said it was normal and should firm up within a few days.  She said to watch for red/inflammed gums or a bad taste in my mouth.  

So that front tooth did get better after a few days, next it was my lower right-side molars and a few days later it was my lower left-side molars.  Currently my upper left-side molars are sore.  It sucks because it's making me go back to a softer diet and I am hungry all the time but it hurts to chew.  

On the bright side of things I have noticed movement in my teeth.  

This pic is Day 1 with braces.  You can see the wire is bent a lot along my top teeth.  Also, my second teeth are much higher than my first and third teeth. 

This picture is from yesterday, Day 28 with braces.  You can see the wire has really straightened out and those second teeth have moved down a lot!

Also wanted to add some pics of my face/profile:

This is me forcing my lips closed. You can see there is still even a little hole in my lips.  And its kind of hard to tell in this pic, but my chin is puckered from pushing my lips closed.

This is at rest, my mouth hangs open due to my bite

Left side profile forced closed

Left side profile at rest

  Right side profile forced closed

Right side profile at rest

Smiling :-)

And this is just a closer look at my mouth.  That little opening is still there even when I'm trying to keep my lips shut.

At rest

Smile

Day #15 with Braces and Before Pics

Well I haven't posted in a while because I got used to my braces after the first week.  The pain is gone, I'm back to eating pretty much normal foods and I almost don't even feel them in my mouth anymore.  Also I feel like my speech is back to normal and I'm less self-conscious about the way they look.  I'd say the worse part at this point is having to brush my teeth in the public bathroom at work after lunch. Gross.

I mentioned before that I have a tongue thrust.  Since I've got the braces I feel like I have been correcting this because my teeth were sore and it hurts to push against my front teeth when swallowing.

Since I have an open bite, I have always had trouble closing my mouth and had to force my lips shut in order to close my mouth. It has become more difficult to force my lips shut now that I have braces, they are in the way.

Here are my "before" pics from 2010...

This is my bite.  I have a huge space in the front an only the back molars touch.

This is my top arch.  My orthodontist says it's in a "V" shape and should be a "U" shape.  Probably a "V" shape from my tongue thrust constantly pushing out my front teeth. Also, I sucked my thumb as a child, you can almost see a thumb print on the top of my mouth...

Bottom arch.  I think this looks pretty good.  Just some crowding on the lower front teeth that needs straightened out.

Bite from the side.  It looks pretty bad from this angle.

Bite from other side.