And on to the first adjustment.
It's already been three days, and I'm surprisingly feeling way better than I thought I would. My ortho was really happy with the hygiene and movement he was seeing. I asked about my molar build-ups in the back (I bit a piece off of one a couple weeks ago while I was sleeping). He says they are still doing their job and should be ready to come off soon. No new wires yet, still lots of movement with the ones I have right now, probably by next appointment they will go up a size. This time I picked lavender top elastics and metallic purple on the bottom.
He put a figure 8 elastic on my top tooth to the right of my front teeth (it's been sunken back forever and it's one of the main reasons I really wanted braces). He says the figure 8 will help pull it forward so it is levelled with the other teeth that are cooperating very well. Then he says the tech will finish up and moves on to his next appointment.
I prewarned the tech my teeth were still sensitive and I needed her to be gentle. She had to remove my bottom wire and put a new one in because somehow the centre of the bottom one had shifted over by a whole tooth, which she says might explain the poking I had in my cheeks weeks ago. It was the strangest thing while the wire was out.... all my bottom teeth felt so loose and I was sure as I swallowed, I could feel the whole row shift as though they were pulling back, it was such an odd and kind of funny feeling. She wrapped thin wires around the teeth on each side of my bottom gaps to help close the extraction holes faster (like power chains, but small and probably slower.) It's too bad, because I was seeing so much movement from the teeth that used to be behind the canine in the bottom of my head. There was suddenly a big gap between the two and I used it as a measure that my teeth were for sure moving. Since that wire has been put on though, that space has almost closed up already- I do know it's for a good reason, just sad to see my "first" success measure go.
Anyway, the adjustment was only painful on some of the teeth, not near as bad as anticipated. Certainly some jumpy parts, but I'm a tough girl. I alternated OTC pain meds (tylenol and advil) as suggested by a pharmacist after the appointment and most of the sensitivity has already gone. Like before, it seems to vary and change areas of my mouth. One day one tooth is loose, the next one on the other side it hurting. Nothing new really.
So all in all, the process was not as bad as I thought and looks like things are going well. I took a look at the model there and saw the smaller metal brackets which still have me thinking I want to switch from ceramic... but I haven't made the move yet.
My current anticipation is for my dentakit supplies to arrive. Once I've tried them out and the excitement fades, I plan to look into investing into a proper electric toothbrush lol. I just can't seem to stop getting all the gadgets.
And yes!! We borrowed a digital camera and snapped some progress shots!!! Luckily the big crater from the canine in the bottom is healing up nice, so they're not as graphic as they might have been closer to post-surgery. Actually, in most of these, you can't really see the hole at all.
I think I'm going on seven weeks since being braced.
I'm very excited to show off my teeth because I've hyped it up so much on here. Tell me what you think!!
New bite shot:
![Image](http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5975/im003328nz9.th.jpg)
Top of Mouth (with build-ups):
![Image](http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/6986/im003332rs1.th.jpg)
Bottom:
![Image](http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/3585/im003342lh1.th.jpg)
And a couple of open (not biting) front progress photos:
![Image](http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/6641/im003338pq3.th.jpg)
![Image](http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/936/im003339xr6.th.jpg)