Hello there! Last night, while I was busy doing my night routine with my skin, I realized something. My upper teeth has finally show itself after so long! I was staring at it so much that my lips are a little stretch out now due to all the smiling that I was doing. #jk 

I have always wanted to have braces since I was a kid but due to financial constrain and there are way more important things than to have straight teeth, I could lead a #braceslife when I started earning my own money. The journey begin in Feb 2019 I think where I took out 2 teeth in one day, had a minor surgery to remove a bone in my upper jaw since there was a small part that broke off during the first session and by 16th March, I begin my braces life. It was... weird in the beginning. I had to talk with a lisp and even had to do a presentation to a whole area. Thank goodness it went well. I could not eat meat as I could not get use to food being inside my mouth. All I could do was eat soft food till a week and a half I think and boom - I was back on track on eating to my heart fill. 

Oh, I am using self ligating braces where heat from my mouth will make the wire and the brackets work together to pull the teeth into a straight line? It works faster, less painful and less annoying hence when people asked me, "Eh, how come you don't lose weight yea? Still can eat like normal?" I had to explain that yes, I am still eating like normal just that I stop eating gummies, popcorn and biting into ice. Apparently, the traditional braces causes more pain and it has more ulcers compared to self ligating braces. You can googled up the pros and cons. The only con that I felt with this was that I could not choose the colors of the bands where traditional braces has those phases. 

First day of braces life

ANYhoos, in 6 months time, my lower teeth started to show improvement. I could see the teeth straightening itself out and boy was I excited. The upper part was still the same and given that it was way messier in my upper jaw, I was expecting that it would be taking time anyway. 

A few funny stories that happen with my braces that I would love to put in here for documentation purpose: 

1. A trip to Bogota Dentist 

I have no idea how or why but my lower teeth wire started to move out from its place. The wire was poking out of my back teeth that it hurt to even chew on food. Bear in mind, that I was in Bogota, a place where I was totally new to and had no idea on how to speak spanish. I was so lucky that a colleague there was going to the a dentist appointment that same afternoon and boy I was so happy that I could jump along to get it fix. The dentist put a stopper and it has been in there since. 

2. Shawarma hit me hard 

Do you know that each time a bracket drops, it cost RM50 to put it back? If you lost it, you got to fork out RM250 for it? I was having some snacks from Colombia when my bracket drop off. Yes, it was a hard food and yes, it was too good to say no to. I had it fixed of course but on my way to UK, on transit in Qatar, I ate a shawarma and poof, the poor bracket dropped off again and it was only 3 days after fixing the bracket! I was so disappointed that I had to deal with that. Things did went well though but I do have to keep the tiny bracket wrapped in a tissue so that I don't lose it. 

3. Tofuuu! 

I was having a good time with my vegetarian chap fan when I decided it was a good idea to pull on the tofu skin using my front teeth. Of course, that moved the whole setting and my rubber band came off. I had to return to fix it but it was so much trouble just for a piece of tofu. 

I hope I don't have more stories to share regarding this braces of mine cause I just don't want to go through the whole trouble again. 

Today, 30th August - my upper teeth finally came out and say hi to everyone. I could not stop smiling when I noticed how well it look! Boy - no regrets felt for spending this much time and money! Well, there are no pictures for now. I would like to keep it till the end to document that part. 

And that is my 1 year and 5 months on braces! 

Looking forward to have it off soon! 

xoxo,

eunicegm