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!