Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 10:56 pm
Hi again, genxsis!
I was so surprised to read about how the ortho assistants treated you... that truly is out of line. Whether a child, teenager, or adult feels pain shouldn't matter... it still hurts! And you are paying them not only for the braces, but for orchestrating how they work and, really, to a great extent, how you experience them. I, for one, know that wax can only fix so much when things are seriously (and I mean seriously) slicing up flesh in there.
So I guess I'm saying I agree with most everybody else... have a private chat with your ortho. I would be interested in knowing what he says if you care to share afterward! Seems to me that mature behavior on his assistants' parts would be in his best interest too.
When my molar bands were slicing up my tongue whenever I ate or spoke, it got so bad I made an emergency appt. with my ortho's office. Only a couple of hours later, an assistant was flattening the cleats for me. What I liked was that she was doing the best that she could, said so, and demonstrated her effort... as she flattened, she would test the sharpness of the cleats with her gloved finger. I thought that was respectful of her since she was obviously trying to gauge how comfortable the results of her efforts would/wouldn't be for me. She also said that she understood how uncomfortable the bands could be, as she had had them once too. If only all assistants were that way!
Good luck in April!
I was so surprised to read about how the ortho assistants treated you... that truly is out of line. Whether a child, teenager, or adult feels pain shouldn't matter... it still hurts! And you are paying them not only for the braces, but for orchestrating how they work and, really, to a great extent, how you experience them. I, for one, know that wax can only fix so much when things are seriously (and I mean seriously) slicing up flesh in there.
So I guess I'm saying I agree with most everybody else... have a private chat with your ortho. I would be interested in knowing what he says if you care to share afterward! Seems to me that mature behavior on his assistants' parts would be in his best interest too.
When my molar bands were slicing up my tongue whenever I ate or spoke, it got so bad I made an emergency appt. with my ortho's office. Only a couple of hours later, an assistant was flattening the cleats for me. What I liked was that she was doing the best that she could, said so, and demonstrated her effort... as she flattened, she would test the sharpness of the cleats with her gloved finger. I thought that was respectful of her since she was obviously trying to gauge how comfortable the results of her efforts would/wouldn't be for me. She also said that she understood how uncomfortable the bands could be, as she had had them once too. If only all assistants were that way!
Good luck in April!