put back together

I'm all put back together. We finally got to come in on Monday afternoon, and I went straight to the orthodontist. I thought they would do something special - I don't know, put a powerchain on to close the extraction gaps, put a different wire in, attach the teeth differently.... But, no. They just put it back on my teeth, wiggled the other tooth that's in a similar position, and sent me on my way.

On a happy note, I bit into a sandwich today! It didn't exactly feel good, and food was stuck EVERYWHERE, but I bit! My teeth feel surprisingly good today... in fact, too good. I keep wondering if my teeth are even moving, they feel so good.

Here's a picture of the bracket hanging off. And yes, I have a peice of some sort of orange food in there. Probably one of the orange pieces in the scones that were impossible to get out. Ah, well.

pop!

Not a long post, as I'm stuck in a hotel and I imagine there is a line for the computer, but my bracket actually POPPED OFF my tooth yesterday afternoon (it actually made my head spin it hurt so bad, and my teeth have been so sensitive it's crazy ever since). That particular tooth has been pretty painful the past few days, and it looked like the bracket was coming off, but it's sure completely off now. It's hanging on the wire, bugging the crap out of my lip and pulling all my other teeth out of alignment - since now they are weirdly pulling in a different direction. Yay for big chunks of wax that look SO GROSS but work alright.

I was hoping to get into the orthodontist tomorrow morning, but we flew into Spokane for a layover, and the airport was shut down a few hours later for weather. So I'm missing an extra day of work, AND I'm in nasty dental pain. Booooo.

Now, the goal of this wire was to close some of the gap left by my extraction, and then rotate the teeth and remove some of the crowding. I think my wire's wire got crossed (haha, sorry), and while my gap isn't closing, my teeth are trying to remove crowding and line up like good little soldiers.... but there isn't room! I woke up this morning with some pretty sore front teeth, especially one that leans back into my mouth - it turns out my wire is trying to force that tooth through a space about half it's size... and the bracket is actually pulling itself off the tooth. If you look closely, you can kind of see it.

In another note, I think I'm glad to be teaching middle school through all of this. I will never be able to develop an embarrassing braces habit (like picking at them with my tongue in public, like I hear is common) because every time I do something slightly out of the ordinary, my kids call me on. Today: "Hey! Hey Mrs. S! Why do you keep poking your braces out of your bottom lip?" I paused, and realized I was doing it unconsciously. This morning during first period they caught me picking banana out of my braces.

It's too bad my orthodontist is out of town. I'm off to take the braces dancing in Salt Lake City this weekend.... It's their big swing dancing debut!

Thanks for all of your well-wishes and support! Have a great weekend!

braces (halfway)

I have my bottom braces on! The past week, I've had nightmares about missing my appointment somehow, and then on Monday morning Nick woke up at 10am... my alarm hadn't gone off! And my appointment was a half hour away at.... 10am. I've never once been late to an appointment of any kind - not kidding. I'm a get-there-twenty-minutes-early-just-in-case kind of gal, not a shoot from the hip get there whenever kind of gal.

But, everything worked out fine - my bottom teeth are going to take 6-7 months longer than my uppers (half of the time!), and he said there isn't really a reason to have my uppers on yet, in fact, that I could wait a considerable amount of time before getting them on. (However, I want them on NOW so convinced him to let me get them on at my next appointment, March 31st).

Other than being more disappointed in myself than you can BELIEVE, I'm doing great! The teeth are tender, but my lip is holding up well (all those years of clarinet playing, I'm sure). Eating isn't a problem, as I'm STILL crazy sick and can't hold anything down, so I don't really eat. (No worries, I'm back to the doctor this afternoon).

I can't wait to watch all the progress. He said that with this archwire, they're trying to shrink the gap, un-rotate my teeth, and eliminate some of the crowding up front. Sheesh!

On a final note, does anyone out there gave the Damon Braces system? And if so, is it weird that my orthodontist is allowing me to cut my own archwire when it starts to poke out the back? It sounds weird to me, but I'm not complaining.

getting closer...

I'm ten days away from braces, and can I just say I'm scared? I've spent the past three days at home sick from the crazy side-effects from the antibiotics (but I just took my last dose, hurray!), and I've really been reading up on other people's experiences, on studies, on everything I can get my hands on....

And, is it completely vain that I'm getting my hair re-highlighted the weekend before my braces go on? It's been a few years since I was blonde, but I don't think I can face braces along with glasses and muddy brown hair.

Yah, I'm vain. So what? :)

Infection

Well, my jaw is feeling completely better, but on New Year's eve my left socket started hurting pretty badly. The next morning I woke up spitting blood and it hurt even worse than on the day before. It's progressively gotten worse and worse until I finally called my dentist yesterday (I was hoping to make it until my appt. on next Tuesday since he's out of the office and I had to call him at home).

He says he's pretty sure it's dry socket or some kind of infection, prescribed me more pain meds (ugh, I don't like taking them) and some crazy antibiotics.

So, I'm up at 3:30 am because I have to take them every six hours on the dot, and am not allowed to lay down within a half hour of taking them.

At least they haven't made me sick yet.