Thanks for your sympathy. It's been a long time and I've truly made a pretty miraculous recovery considering where I was. It was just a horrendous time for me. My husband had been ill with lung cancer for about a year and a half. Three months after I was discharged from the hospital, he passed away. So, those are years that I'd rather just forget. It took me a pretty long time to recover from all of that, but life goes on and I am okay now.
Glad to know that you were able to have some success with your floss threaders. And yes, I've been using the same ones over and over again for almost the whole two months (is it really almost two months?) that I've had my braces. Good for you that you were able to floss in about 12 minutes. I'm impressed. It is still taking me much longer than that, but maybe I'm just slow.
You know, I don't think it's vain to be worried about having all metal braces. Believe me, that was something I really wrestled with as well. I'm still pretty self-conscious about them. Truthfully, I would have gone ahead and gotten the ceramic braces because there would not have been any difference in the cost except for the issue of the bulkiness, as I explained before. I know what you mean about sitting in the orthodontist's office looking at the different sets of plastic "teeth". I did that, too, for what seemed like an hour. I'm sure you'll get used to the size of them as well. It's amazing what humans can adapt to, isn't it? I found the whole decision process of getting braces to be a very humbling one. Before I started having all these issues with my teeth, I never thought of myself as a vain person. But once the prospect of having to get braces put on in order to fix them became apparent, it totally threw me for a loop. ALL I could think of was the way it would change my appearance. I have only recently begun to think about entering the dating scene and the idea of trying to find a man who would not be put off from me because I was wearing braces was just daunting. To be completely honest, it just totally scared the daylights out of me. But, it was either that or have to walk around with a huge gap between my two front teeth and I thought THAT would ultimately more off-putting than braces. My youngest son said, "Mom, you'll look like a teenager again!" Oh, if only I didn't have so much grey hair!
I don't even know if you orthodontist would be wiling to swap out your brackets for all metal ones, so me thinks you're probably committed to your course of action now. But, take heart. I know you'll get used to them in no time. It's been less than two weeks. The first two weeks, my braces felt HUGE inside my mouth. Now even though I'm always aware that they are there, that feeling has mostly subsided.
What your describing with your lower lip sounds just dreadful. I hope you will stop having this problem soon! I think that when you're first wearing braces, you do weird things at night. I've been clenching my teeth like crazy. It's so bad that it actually wakes me up 2 or 3 times a night and I usually have a really bad headache when I wake up in the morning. Apparently, I was doing a lot of teeth clenching before. But I was never aware of it. I mean, it certainly wasn't waking me up at night.
I think it's good that your orthodontist is going to give you some time to used to things before he puts brackets on the back teeth for you. Maybe that's what mine is doing with me, too. I know that I am going to have to wear powerchains and elastics at some point in my treatment. When he first told me about the powerchains I voiced my strong opinion about NOT having them because I've heard they're so painful. He was not really willing to talk about it even though I said that I'd be willing to keep my braces longer if he closed the space by just using elastics. He said it would take about an extra year to do that and he really only likes to keep his adult patients in braces for about two years. But he said, "I'll wait about three months to give you some time to get used to everything before we put them on, okay?" Oh, okay.... I guess, if you say so!
Since I don't have a wire stretched across either of my extraction gaps yet, I really can't comment on why yours might be shredding your cheek like that. Regardless, it sounds terribly painful and I'm glad you're going to be able to go in and get it checked out soon.
I was at the drug store today and I meant to buy a package of those plaque disclosing tablets but I completely forgot. Maybe it's just as well. I like thinking that I'm doing such a grand job cleaning my teeth with all the brushing I've been doing!
You know I think it's wonderful that your husband has been so supportive of what you're doing. If my husband were still alive, I know he'd be the same way. He'd also have been completely laughing his head off at me when I was going through all my worry and despair over getting braces. He'd say, "Really? Why are you making this into such a big deal? Just do it already!"
I actually have no idea where NSW is, isnt' that terrible? I know where Sydney is but that's about it. Have always wanted to visit Australia. It's on my bucket list.
Take care!
Dee
I'm in NSW, at the top of the south coast area (eastern side).
You've really been through a lot. I can't even begin to imagine the pain of losing my husband. (((Hugs))). 
Less busy here! 
I'm sure those of us wearing them notice them far more than anyone who's actually looking at us. Like any other mark or hair out of place or whatever we just hone in on it because it's on us. 
