-Michael- (with lots of pics) - Updated 7/13/08 - New Pics

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#16 Post by **BritGirl** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 3:51 pm

Same here! My boyfriend and I loved your pics and all your comments. Have fun snowboarding and I look forward to your next installment.

#17 Post by **jellybelly** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 9:14 am

I wish my ortho was as nice as yours. I have only been for my first appointment but boy did i feel unwelcome. shoved in and shoved out. where abouts do you live because if there was any way that u could get to your orthos that would be brilliant! love the story keep us posted because i love hearing other peoples progress as i am very scared of what will happen to me!

#18 Post by **bsblguy** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:19 am

Hi Mike. I loved your pics and story. I'm 24 1/2 hours away from getting Damon braces and I'm as excited about it as you were. Now I know to put wax on right away, thanks. I'm from Ca, LA area but moved 3 years ago to Charlotte, NC. I thought things were cheaper here but my braces are $5980 before the pay up front discount. I like saving money as well. I sure don't miss the LA traffic but what I wouldn't give for an In n Out here. They got the best burgers, fries and shakes around. i don't think I'll attempt that kind of food my 1st day though. I bought plenty of soup. Okay, 24 hours n 25 min. to go for me. Oh man, the clock is sssoooo slow.

#19 Post by **-Michael-** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 12:31 pm

Day 4: Bumping Into Things

My last morning class gets out at 11:50am and my orthodontist closes at 12pm on Fridays! That gave me approximately 9 minutes to navigate my way 'safely' through mid-day traffic across town to the ortho office. My mission, should I choose to accept it (and I did).....to pick up some 'bumpers' for my mouth, so I could snowboard safely on the weekend!

What are bumpers you ask? Well, I had no idea either. But on Wed, I had stopped in the ortho office to pick up a mouthguard. However, when I got home, I discovered a problem. The mouthgaurd they gave me was to big for my mouth! I called them back and asked if they had anything smaller and Shannon (yet another uber-friendly comforting-voiced-knowledgable-office-girl mentioned that the mouthguards are all the same size and that it's supposed to fit a little big!

A little big!?!? HELLO...I can't even close my mouth around this thing and it's got holes in the front that look um.....well, freakish!

I can't be flying down the slopes looking like some crazed lunatic with this huge 'thing' in my mouth! I could imagine all the parents frantically pulling their kids off the slopes and siren alarms going off around the mountain alerting people to the freak alert at the top of Chair 5 as I began my first descent of the day! Not good!

So I inquired further to see if there was anything else I could use for some mouth protection when I go off that rock I didn't see until the last moment and tumble a$$ over tea-kettle down the mountain looking more like a human snowball than snowboarder. She told me that I could use bumpers instead of a mouthguard. That sounded better than the mouthguard already, so I told her I would stop by before the weekend.

So there I was fighting traffic when I realized I was never going to make it by 12pm! So I decided to call them. Luckily I programmed their number into my cell phone. Jenni answered this time. I explained the situation and she told me that she wouldn't leave until I showed up. How awesome is that!?!? You have got to love that kind of care for a patient! And even better is that she already knew I was coming by because I had called on Thursday and talked with Shannon to ask about office times and she relayed to Jenni that I would be coming by on Friday just before noon after my classes got out. My conversation with Shanon was so quick on Thursday I half-expected that it probably wouldn't get relayed to anyone for Friday, since this wasn't exactly an emergency or anything. Wrong! They are so on top of things at that office I love it!

I got to the office at 12:07 and walked in. The place was empty except for Jeri and Jenni. Jeri was brushing her teeth (she's got braces too) and is the girl that helped take the mold of my teeth on my initial consultation and yet another friendly person to talk to from the office. In just two visits I feel as if I practically know the whole crew already which is a great! I love meeting new people.

I talked with them and Jenni showed me the bumpers. They are clear, bendable strips of plastic that clip over your brackets and extend the length of your archwire. They looked good and much less noticeable than the freaky mouthgaurd I picked up Wed. I was stoked on that.

Althought, it looked initially as if they don't quite offer all the protection that a full mouthguard would.

Then I told them about Archwired.com and asked if they heard of it. It was a bit suprising to find out they have not heard of it. Seems like a big site with a lot of members. So I gave them the web address before I left and told 'em to check it out! Jenni emailed me later that afternoon to say that she loved the site and was going to tell the whole office about it! Cool

Afterwards, I went over to the sports store to pick up my freshly waxed snowboard before jamming back to school for my final class of the day. Sweet!

#20 Post by **emily25** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 3:35 pm

Cool pics lol , like how you document everything and goodluck with your braces you sound like a positive guy so your time in braces should fly by, keep up the good work

#21 Post by **Marley** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:22 pm

Great story and pictures Michael. Look forward to following your journey! I'll be getting damons put on in a week and a day.

~Michelle

#22 Post by **SDFD TSchott** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:24 pm

Damn kid should of never gotten in the way

SDFD TSchott

#23 Post by **manglemouth** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 7:57 pm

Michael your story writing is hilarious

The pics are the best, I had to laugh at the "flowers should be here" drawing. Keep the pics coming, and I can't wait for the next update.

PS: I agree with the Frankenstein mouthgard. Althought, it looked a little Hannibal Lecter to me

#24 Post by **PrincessMelody** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:01 am

That mouthgard doesn't look fun at all. I have not played hockey post braces so I am not looking forward to dealing with a mouth guard whilst braced. I could barely tolerate it without braces so I can't even begin to imagine the fun I will be dealing with once I start playing again.

Hope you had fun snowboarding. What mountain did you go to?

#25 Post by **Patricia S.** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:09 pm

Wow! Your story is very entertaining. Love the pics! Keep it up. Congrats on your new look and I hope all goes well. I look forward to hearing more of your "adventure."

Patricia

#26 Post by **nvcarissa** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:34 pm

Laugh out loud funny! Thanks for posting your braces story. I will be checking back regularly!

#27 Post by **LithpingLitha** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:21 pm

Very entertaining and informative read.

#28 Post by **bsblguy** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:50 pm

I also have been enjoying yours stories. You gotta put that mouth guard in just once for a picture, that would be wallpaper pic for sure. i stopped playing baseball due to arthritis in my shoulder or I'd have to have a mouthguard as well. My second day went well, no pain or soreness and so far the inside of my mouth is fine. Steer clear of the crazy kids on the snowboards.

#29 Post by **belmikry** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:08 pm

welcome to the board michael! great pictures- love the commentary on them-

hope everything is going well! can't wait to see your progress pictures soon!

#30 Post by **-Michael-** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:17 pm

My ride in the sky

I stood in the parking lot, my white boots laced up tight, in white baggy snowboarding pants looking superfly, and my freshly waxed board in hand, ready to hit the slopes with my friends. The sky was blue and the parking lots were filling up fast. It was a beautiful day to be in the mountains and it had just snowed the night before. But before I headed up the mountain, I had a decision to make.

Do I go for the aesthetic appeal and use the bumpers (it's all about looking good right?), or do I wear the frankenstein mouthguard that offers maximum protection? It was a tough call. I don't want the Freak alarms to go off because I chose the mouthguard, but knowing I was going to probably go down the steepest run on the mountain aptly named 'The Face', I didn't want to go light on the protection either.

The bumpers offer up comfort and they are very unnoticeable. I popped one of them onto my brackets before I drove up that morning just to see how they worked. They 'snapped' over my brackets very easily and felt comfortable to wear.

The mouthguard offers good protection in all areas (not just the brackets). It has a bite plate along the centerline that keeps your uppers and lowers from smashing together. Having wiped out hard before and landing on my tailbone, which caused me to bite my tongue, I had a feeling this might come in handy.

After thinking for a few minutes (I try not to do to much), I decided to go with the freakishly large mouthguard! Oh boy this was going to be fun! Luckily, a saavy student of mine suggested a great idea the week before. She said to wear a bandana over my mouth to cover it up! Bandanas are in style for snowboarding ever since the pro boarder Shaun White wore one on his gold medal run in the last winter Olympics in Turin and I thought it was a great idea! So I went down to WalMart the night before and picked up two!

I grabbed the mouthguard and the bandana and we all headed up the mountain where I quickly discovered that talking was nearly impossible with that 'thing' in my mouth.

So after I got on the ski lift I took it out and held it until we got to the top where I popped it back in each time. Picture this...I would pull my bandana down to my neck, pull out my mouthguard and hold it so I could talk, then pull off one of my gloves, so I can reach into my zipped pocket to pull the digital camera and take some shots before we got the top of the lift. Then repeat the process in reverse right before we got off at the top! One time I didn't think I was going to make it as the chair sped up and I was still bumbling with everything...haha.

Overall, I'd say that the day went very well. It was my first day of doing some real activity since getting braces. Good planning helps a lot! One thing you have to learn with braces is to plan the food thing on trips. I took only food I knew I could easily eat, and that would give me energy. I took a soft banana (that froze in the car before lunch!), 3 Tigers Milk bars left over from my last trip (pre-braces) which I prompty handed over to my friends for their eating enjoyment, an orange, bottle of water and some soft bread. That held me over for lunch.

I took my travel kit for my braces too but decided after lunch that a good mouth rinse with the water bottle would suffice. It's a pain to be carrying all that in your pocket if your not anywhere near the car. But it's also difficult going out in public where you know that half your food is stuck to the front of your teeth. So I when rinsed my mouth out with water, I grabbed a pipecleaner brush from my travel kit and picked out the remaining pieces with this handle little tool. Then I brushed soon as I got home. It was a great day and the snow felt good on my teeth when I shoved a handful in my mouth. The mouthguard was a little annoying at first but I got used to by mid-day which was nice.

Next time I'll try the bumpers, although the very sound of that suggests what might happen if I go between the trees again!