Progress

As predicted the braces did not come off today. I've been sporting silver wires wrapped around my bottom braces for the past few months to keep them in place while the uppers finished aligning.

Well somewhere along the way I developped a teeny gap one tooth off from the center. Yep - right off center bottom row. Yes, I floss. No, I didn't realize that gap was there *rolls eyes*

So my lowers are newly braced with clear ligaments (I forgot how hard it was to see those ...

So that power chain has been whipping my mouth into shape! I think the errant tooth is almost back to where it should be (according to my ortho, not Mother Nature ) and its been moving all its power chainned buddies along. Last night I had to take a Motrin in the middle of the night because the pressure was so intense!

Of course now the bottom teeth are getting into the realignment action so I'm sure they'll be sore for a day or two. Its not as bad as the tops yesterday and I'm ...

So uhhh, no the braces didn't come off yesterday. In fact in the last month one of my teeth moved back to where it was pre-braces

I have 3/4s of my top row wrapped with silver wire to keep them in place while the other 1/4 had the regular clear bands on. They were supposed to move around to fill in a small gap. Instead of filling in the gap one tooth opted to go retro

So now I have a power chain on that part (rest still wrapped) trying to force that tooth ...

I went to see my dentist for a cleaning. Aren't they awful with braces? I always end up with a face full of sprinkled water *roll eyes*

He was very excited to see my progress and said it looks like I'm almost done being braced. On the downside my gums were randomly swollen on cleaning day (idk why) so he told me to rinse with warm water and salt for a day or two until they go back to normal.

Of course swollen gums + braces + thorough dentist meant I did a tiny bit of ...

ACK! My ortho says my braces may come off next month ALREADY! The tops have been on for a little over a year but I am so attached to these things

I do have a gap on the left side next to an incisor. Pre-braces I had a gap between my front teeth and during the bracing process it has migrated around my mouth. I got another power band on the top (the bottom metal bands stayed put this month) and the ortho said the band will probably close the gap this month.

I don't ...

Look at that - I got my braces exactly one year ago today!

Its honestly been the best investment I've ever made. I love my braces and give the biggest smiles. My confidence and aversion of shredded meat have both skyrocketted.

I've learned
- that bottom braces are the worst things in the world.
- just how small rice grains can be.
- that other people can totally see you tounging braces after a meal
- to appreciate flossing
...

I've been highly MIA from...everything! Back in September I took advantage of JetBlue's All You Can Jet promotion where you could fly anywhere in the country for a month for only $599. I went to Seattle, Portland, LA, Chicago and New Orleans. Then I came home (a girl needs to do laundry) and left two days later to visit my parents in Dominican Republic for roughly a month.

Yes, I'm unemployed

Also, because of my travelling I missed two ortho appointments in a row ...

Sadly the two teeth didn't rotate as much I'd hoped. My chain was swapped for yet another extreme one today. I'm not sure if that's the real name or if my ortho nick-named it but its a pretty heavy gauge and enjoys filching portions of my meals for mini-snacks later.

I forget what he called what they installed on my bottom braces (vague enough for ya?). Instead of each bracket getting an individual band I got one big one that looped over about 6 of my bottom teeth. It looks like a ...

My appointment today was pleasantly dull. The ortho and his vice ortho were both very pleased with movement. I got buttons and chains behind two teeth last month in order to rotate them into correct position. He said it would take a while to get them into perfect alignment so sadly the chains are still there.

I really hate the chains. I'm always fraying my tongue on them or trying to fish food out from between them. They're a necessary evil though and I can feel what a different they've ...

I mentioned earlier this week that two of my teeth are rotated so I got buttons and chains attached. They are the two right behind the canine on the left side of my mouth and I can't stop biting down on them!

If I'm having real food its too painful to bite but if my mouth is empty or I'm snacking around I keep biting down on that side to feel that weird pressure that signifies movement.

I really hope the buttons and wire come off next month though. I keep ...

I went in for my (lost count) adjustment today. Since I haven't posted here in a month (life has been hectic squared) let me do a little catching up first.

My tooth that was almost on its side is successfully vertical now! I forget what its called but instead of a regular rubber band the ortho wrapped arch wire around it to force faster movement last month. Well it worked and now I can't even pick out what tooth it was! For today's adjustment he used a regular band again.
...

I saw my regular ortho today even though I wasn't scheduled to come in this month. I made the appointment a few weeks ago when I was concerned about the possible chipping although I've "more or less" gotten used to eating without really closing my jaw.

He shaved down the side brackets a little which made it more comfortable and said if he moved the brackets down the teeth would get pulled out and look uneven. By this point I'm so used to it that I didn't really question. ...

When I woke up this morning my mouth felt kind of weird but I couldn't figure out what was wrong until I started brushing and pinpointed that telltale soreness on SIX bottom teeth. Only one of the top teeth is moving right now so I'm ignoring it. I've never had so much movement at once!

As far as my untrained eye could tell only one of the bottom teeth was poorly positioned and one other could use a little adjusting but there was nothing major going on. Now I'm really curious to see ...

I saw the fill-in ortho this morning but he didn't do anything

He said with my overbite the teeth are bound to bump into the bottom bracket and that my upper teeth are more likely to break off the bottom bracket than chip. He didn't want to remove the bottom brackets since that would delay treatment and went over my before pictures to show me the bottom teeth have moved in the last two weeks (which I knew).

So basically he didn't want to do anything to interfere ...

I'm finally going in to the office Wednesday morning to see about the Bumping Bottom Braces issue. My regular doc is away so I'm seeing a nomadic doctor who is covering once a week until he gets back.

I've kind of adjusted to not fully closing my teeth in these past two weeks but it makes my jaw sore and if I close my mouth in my sleep the bumping jolts me awake. Its worse than nails on a chalkboard *shudder*

I'm kind of nervous about seeing someone besides my regular ...