Thirty with Braces

My braces came off today and I don't like it! I know we waffled on wether they would come off for months but I wasn't prepared for it to happen today. My appointment was at 1:30 and took about half an hour.

I had the ceramic upper and lowers as well as that cursed power chain and metal bands at the back. A few of the ceramic brackets cracked when the ortho was removing them. It wasn't painful, just a different kind of pressure and disconcerting.

You never want to feel/hear *ANYTHING* crack inside your mouth

The ortho then proceeded to scrape off the glue with that spinning power tool I cringe at. This part sucked for very obvious reasons. The great news is that despite 1 1/2 years of drinking soda, enjoying tea and even doritos there doesn't seem to be any staining!

Then I had a three hour window while they made the retainer. I was (of course) widely smiling while doing some nearby shopping and was complimented by two strangers on my smile!!!

My gums were kind of swollen and I had some minor bleeding when the braces came off. While I didn't feel an alleviation of pressure when the braces came off (probably because I was so tense from the subsequent cleaning) the retainer felt ridiculously tight when put on. My gums started bleeding again and by the time I got home the clear retainer was so full of blood it looked like part of a Halloween costume

I celebrated with honey bbq wings and a subsequently thorough, (comparatively) fast and enjoyable flossing! Then I brushed my teeth with the Sonicare and my teeth felt so SMALL! My brushead touches both sides of the teeth when brushing the tops!

The retainer itself is fine - kind of shiny but will dull with age. I'm not used to snapping it in and out either but the worst part?

The worst part is the lisp *sigh*

I was fortunate enough to have unaffected braces speech but the retainer is having a field day with my overbite. I'm trying to figure out a way to speak without having my mouth well up with saliva after each sentence. Also, I had to call an automated service earlier and had to remove the retainer because the machine couldn't understand me

I remember how down I was after the bottom braces came on and I know I'll get accustomed to this too but right now I'm unhappy with it.

On the upside my teeth look great and I'm very happy with the end result but I still miss my braces. I had them for a while and was so proud of them that they became part of my identity, as weird as that sounds. Having a retainer is nowhere as cool as having braces, in my book