Happy Brace Day to me!

So my first brace day anniversary came and went without me even noticing. I can't believe it has already been one full year but I guess its a plus cause I am about half way thru (hopefully more).

I have actually had two appointments since my last post. The most recent one being last week. I basically did the same thing in both appointments . The first appointment resulted in me having the wire ties at the top teeth doing absolutely nothing as far as I am concerned. My bottom teeth seem to be the sticking point.The biggest change is that the archwire on my lower teeth is now square. I was told that this is the point when they start rotating your teeth roots into the correct position. I could pretty much tell that I would inevitably have to do this just by looking in the mirror. I was actually suprised at the instant pressure that this wire put on my teeth. I had some slight discomfort for the next two days which was completely new to me since I have had a pretty much pain free experience thus far. I did manage to confirm with the dental assistant that my midline was indeed a bit off but he did not seem to concerned saying that 'it will fix'. Of course this led to the next question...WHEN??? It seems that I will have to wear rubberbands at some point in time to get that sorted out. That won't be for awhile apparently cause my bottom teeth need to get with the program first. I had also deluded myself to think I could get through the whole treatment without rubberbands. This is even after my 10-year braces veteran friend told me there was no way around it.

My appointment last week was only to replace the square wire with another square wire. After having so much progression so quickly in the earlies I was kind of annoyed that the first square wire did not put things exactly where they should be in the first rounds. My ortho did say that I 'responded very well' to the wire. I keep goading her to cut more time off my sentence which she is probably sick of hearing me say. My personal new estimate is before Carnival next year lolol. Cause I don't want to play mas in braces (again). The ortho assures me that I am fooling myself, positive thoughts or not.

One of the very nice dental assistants did give me a bit of a boost cause she had not seen my teeth in a few visits and was amazed at my progress. It probably has been a bit of my own fault cause I kind of slacked off with the flossing due to my recent hectic schedule. I used to floss at least twice a day in the earlies. I read somewhere (which was confirmed by the ortho) that plaque build up restricts teeth movement and as I have previously mentioned this would have me most paranoid so that I had to keep constantly picking between my teeth. This past two months I have been really bad with it...it just takes so long. And although I am quite skilled at threading the floss under my braces without the use of implements like floss threaders, it is still a pain in the ass.

The ortho off course had to reproach me for my evil tongue piercing. I'm pretty much attached to it and have not taken it out even though I have literally had it for like nearly 10 years.I had promised to switch out the metal bar with a plastic one for the treatment but did not like how it felt.It caused more irritation than anything. I had went for a few visits with the metal one in and she never said anything about it. All of a sudden with the last two visits she is on my case! She asked me if I would pierce me eye. I was like ummm yeah ! lol! That kinda pissed her off cause she was like "NOOOO I mean your eye ball!Or your finger tips" Apparently all these areas including my tongue have all these nerve endings and sensory stuff that get messed up when you pierce it. Welll so I can't taste salt very well anymore but hey, I always liked salt. I told her that I was a lost cause and her time would be spent better scolding someone else.

I was not at all amused when I was told that my next appointment would be in two months. That sure seems like a looooong time when my tooth does not look like it has far to go. Funnily enough, it actually seems to be getting more out of alignment with my arch now that its rotating inward. When you spend as much time looking at your teeth as I do you start to see all kinds of faults. (I think I found a funny white spot today). The ortho did say we were all waiting on that one front incisor to get in line. I have no idea why its being so stubborn when it just has to nudge itself in place.So onwards and upwards I suppose.

Sentence reduced!

Well I seemed to have accidentally deleted the pics with my powerchains that were supposed to update my last post. I have also been a bit slack with my posts seeing that it was Carnival time and my Carnival blog got most of my attention. I missed a post with my appointment in December but it was really no different than the one in November anyhow. All i did was change my ligs and powerchains.

I had a very positive appointment on Friday. I made sure to eat my belly full of curry for lunch before the appointment because I had not had any since October! I kept forgetting when my appointment until it was too late to get the curry in. While I was buying the lovely beef roti with pumpkin and mango a guy came into the store and I guess the look of anticipation was clear on my face casue he said to me ,'Doh wory, its coming just now". Lol. I was like a crack head waiting for a fix.

Well after making the same mistake twice and getting CLEAR powerchains I made a point to tell the dental assitant to try and find some smoke powerchains this time. His response, to my suprise was "You are not getting powerchains again, the space is closed". Ummm OK THEN!! Instead on the uppers I was given a new archwire at the top with wire ties!! I still have regular ligatures at the bottom. An inspection by the ortho revealed that I only have one tooth on my lowers that needs to fall into position. She also told me that the wire ties at the top were to keep my teeth where they were so I hope that means they are more or less finished! She noted that I would have to file my front teeth to even them off. I am not sure if its just my eyes playing tricks on me but I think my upper midline is still slightly crooked. But then again it could be the uneveness of my teeth edges. I did not even know I had a chipped tooth till she pointed it out.Neithe rmyself nor my mom can even recall me chipping a tooth. I need to ask my ortho if thats as good as its going to get. I am sure no one will notice but me but at the same time, after paying all that money,I will keep it on 3 months longer if I can make them perfect.

The FABULOUS news is that my progress is so good that she said that I took 6 mths off my treatment time. Just that ONE tooth to move where it should. Which means I iwll be de-braced in a year or less!! And I have not even reached my first year anniversary yet!! That means I may be debraced to play Carnival next year! Quite a few of my Carnival pics seemed flawed when all I can see is my braces.I think the ceramic braces sometimes makes you look like you have really large teeth in pics. I don't even understand why this one tooth ( my bottom central incisor) is taking so long to get into place. It was not even the worst of the lot and I was kinda suprised that it had not fallen into place with my last two appointments. You know I am going to be so obsessive about cleaning my teeth to ensure that there is ZERO plaque that could prevent it from moving 0.001mm. The news still made my week.

Better yet I thought that the wire ties on top and the silver ligs below freed me from my curry ban. I was so excited to be able to eat freely without worrying about stains. Well I suppose the curry I got Saturday was some kind of super curry because I was shocked to see that my silver ligs still got a faint yellow tinge!! Just my luck I woul do that the day after I just got them changed. The colour change is not very noticable, but when you scrutinise your teeth like ppl with braces tend to do , you notice these things. So I can get away with curry occasionally but I guess I can't over do it.

The intake lady at my ortho kind of confused me a little when I mentioned my wire ties to her cause she said that they move teeth faster. To my understanding the ortho is not moving anymore just securing my upper teeth ....I guess I will have to ask about that next time.