Blythe's Story

Hey everyone! Well I did it and it feels REALLY STRANGE!!!

This morning I got to the ortho's office late, because of traffic. Fortunately, however, they were really slow today. Anyways, I was led to the "First" chair in the room. Then they brought me some balloons and lots of sticky and sugary candy (yum!). After a few minutes of waiting, my ortho, Dr. J, came and inspected everything and gave the assistant the "OK."

The first thing the assistant, Dahlia, did was put some sort of sandy powder on the back of my teeth, to prepare them for the bonded retainers. Then, she proceeded to pop the brackets off. It didn't really hurt at all (just a lot of pressure), except for a few that the gums had gotten too close. When she pulled those ones off some of my gums came off too!! So it was a bloody mess that looked awful but I didn't care!! She handed me a mirror, and when I looked into it I saw *gasp* WHITE SQUARES!! Aughh!!! But when she saw my face she laughed and reassured me that it was just the glue.

After this, she bonded the retainers which consisted of gross-tasting etch and awkward positions. After that she sanded off the glue, which sounded and smelled terrible but didn't hurt a bit. After that she took this pick-thing and cleaned underneath my gums, which DID sting a little. After that I was all done and I could go!! From the time I walked in to the time I walked out was about 1 hr. 20 min.

My teeth feel sooo flat and really smooth, and my gums are puffy and scabbed, but I did it!!! I wouldn't trade this for anything it was awesome! Now they had better STAY in this position .....The pic (it's not a very good one...I'm not very skilled in taking pics of my own mouth) that goes along with the story has a little bit of explaining. My midline looks a little off because my ortho overcorrected it in order to have it be 'right on' after my braces were removed. Also, the gums on the right side of my mouth are kind of swollen and wonky, because the assistant cleaned underneath them. Since removal my gums have receded (some) and the midline is now practically perfect.