Yesterday was my B day. I was really excited and somewhat impatient driving there. Why is it that I always get stuck behind a farmer doing 10 under the speed limit when I want to get somewhere? I really miss city life sometimes (ok - a lot of the time).
My appointment took about 2 hours but it felt much shorter. First she brushed my teeth with pumice to get any extra residue off of my teeth. Then a quick rinse to get all the grit out. Next she fitted me with molar bands and glued them in. The glue left a nasty taste in my mouth but it was fine after rinsing again. Next were the oh so fun cheek expanders and etchant on my bottom teeth. Once that was done my ortho came in and placed my bottom brackets on. Then more etchant and brackets on the top. The cheek expanders finally came out and I got to feel my braces for the first time. That was so crazy. Everything felt bumpy and weird.
They sent me to brush the dye off of my ceramic uppers and then I got to pick out my lig colour for the bottom. I picked blue. For some reason they weren't really into letting me put a colour on the ceramic braces. I asked about staining and she told me that if I had a problem with staining they would let me come in and get a fresh set of ligs put on. She said they are "very understanding" about this. If I have staining issues I will definitely be back in there and will probably stand my ground on the colour issue a little more.
My wire went in next. I think they said it was a .16? After that were the ligs and a snip of the wire. Then I was done!
They demonstrated brushing and flossing, let me pick out a t shirt and gave me a big gift bag full of stuff to take home. Everything from gum to a water bottle, super floss, grape bite wafer, floss threaders, timer, ortho cut toothbrush, oral b electric toothbrush, wax... the list goes on. I am ready for pretty much any dental situation imaginable!
I've felt some pressure and some aching but nothing that a piece of gum (sugar free of course) and some Ibuprofen hasn't been able to fix.
Wax is my new best friend in the whole world right now! I have a lot of hooks in there. I think I must be in for a lot of elastic time down the road.
How many hooks are normal? I have 3 on each side on the bottom and I think 2 on each side on the top.
I had some trouble flossing last night. I couldn't get the floss between my teeth at all so I gave up. Part of me wondered if there is glue between them or if they're just really tight right now? Is this normal?
Eating has been ok. A little bit of an adventure at times. I've been sticking to soft foods. I think biting on something hard would be painful and difficult. Its amazing how you can lose food in your own mouth.
I tried getting my husband to kiss me last night before showing him my teeth but he wouldn't let me kiss him until he saw them. He said "woah, you have braces" and then kept getting me to open my mouth all night. I also kept catching him looking when I would talk. At one point I asked if he just wanted to take a good long look in there but he kind of clammed up and said no. I think its funny because he is an engineer and I know his analytical mind is trying to figure it all out. Its funny that he's being shy about this. I figure by the end of the weekend he will be in my mouth with a magnifying glass or something! LOL
I took some pictures but they are on a different computer. I will post them later.
Its hard to believe that I'm actually thismuchcloser to having perfect teeth
, Your'e name says it all. They look great and welcome to the club. BTW is that Wolfpack blue I see on the lowers?