CHAPTER ONE: BRACE DAY
Finally! Finally, finally, I have my braces on! Well, on my top arch, at least. They feel pretty weird and it seems like my lips need to stretch or something to be able to fit over them. Haha! But I am super excited because now it is real. Now I'm actively on the path toward straight teeth and not being ashamed of my smile anymore.
I dreamed about braces last night. In my dream, the back brackets kept popping off and I would have to hold them in place with my fingers. The orthodontist office was in this weird subterranean complex. Very high tech! I woke up and laughed about it because I think it is funny that braces are ON THE BRAIN!
They gave me some pills to take before my appointment that would reduce the amount of saliva in my mouth. 45 minutes after taking them, they didn't seem to be doing much other than drying out my eyeballs. However, on the drive over to the office, the pills kicked in and my mouth and throat went really dry.
I arrived and they got me into the chair pretty quickly. The assistant put in the lip spreader as well as some cotton pads to keep my inner-cheeks away from the back molars. She cleaned my teeth and then sprayed it with this .. dry, gritty stuff. It didn't taste bad it was just odd! Once my teeth were ready, she put the tray with my brackets on my teeth. The orthodontist had figured out exactly where they should go using the mold she took two weeks earlier so the brackets were perfectly positioned in the tray. I had to bite down and hold it tight for a few minutes while the glue did its thing. Then she pried the tray off and had me rinse out my mouth. One of the brackets came off with the tray so the orthodontist came over to put that one on herself. She got really excited when looking at my mouth and told me that my teeth were going to start moving very quickly -- I hope she's right! After the lone bracket was attached, the assistant had me rinse and brush my teeth again. Then it was time for the wire! It went in pretty easily and all the doors closed without difficulty.
At that point, she went over hygiene with me and showed me how to use the floos threader. I told her that I was planning on getting a waterpik too and she gave me this funny look. I thought she was going to be all:
'Oh no, don't use those! Those are bad!'
..which I found really confusing because everything I have heard about them has been positive. However, she didn't say that at all! Instead, she informed me that they were giving me a waterpik so I didn't have to buy one myself! I was pretty jazzed about that because now I can spend my Target gift certificate on something else. WHOO HOO!!
Next step is making an appointment for the tooth exposure. They showed me the 3D x-ray they took of my head and my impacted canine looks like it is all the way up in my nasal cavity. Those xrays, by the way, were SO COOL. Holy moly. I wish I could get copies (or, well, that I could get copies without spending a heap of money) because it is so totally rad to see a picture of my skull from a bazillion different angles. Because it is full color and so crisp, it seriously looks like someone took my head, peeled away the skin and muscles, and took pictures of my skull.
They didn't have a date for me in regard to putting brackets on the lower arch -- the top teeth need to do some moving first so my overbite gets corrected. As it is now, I'd just be biting off the lower brackets. First adjustment is in 10 weeks; we'll see how things are shaping up then.
Here's a quick picture. I will post some more later from various angles and all that but for now, I think I wanna make myself some lunch and soak in the tub.
THANKS FOR ALL THE SWEET WISHES, GUYS! Whee-haw!
