lileepers

I had my first adjustment appointment yesterday. My orthodontist was super excited about how much my teeth had moved! He said I looked "radically different" haha He's an interesting guy

His assistant hadn't seen me since I got my braces on, and she asked me if I had done something different to my hair or if I had changed my glasses. It wasn't until my ortho pulled out my pre-braces dental molds (and I was instantly horrified) that she realized that the difference was MY TEETH! It was awesome, and totally made my day.

SOOO I ended up getting both wires changed. I have a steal wire on the top, and a non-steal white (!) wire on the bottom. I have to say - the white wire looks awesome! My ortho didn't tell me he was using the white one, and I was pleasantly surprised when he handed me the mirror.

I also have two crazy looking loops in the top wire that I have to hook rubber bands to. This will put pressure on the wire, and pull my top teeth inward, aligning them with my bottom teeth. I'm supposed to wear the rubber bands 24x7, even while eating. I'm not crazy about it - especially since I'm going on vacation next week - but I'd rather wear them 24x7 for a month than wear them 12x7 for three months. Make sense?

I was warned that my new wires are much stiffer than my old ones, (and that they might give me a headache) but so far the pain hasn't been that bad. My banded molars were really sore this morning, but I took some advil and it went away by the time I got to work. It has now been one full day, and my teeth feel pretty close to normal again, though I can already feel my bite shifting a little, and I'm expecting it to be totally out of whack by my next visit.

And here's a picture of my new crazy get up:

The rubber bands aren't *that* noticeable while I'm talking or smiling (unless I'm laughing with my mouth wide open or smiling really huge) I think I can deal with it for a month-ish

I also wanted to point out (with my little blue arrow up there) that my bottom tooth that was behind the teeth next to it is now out in front with the rest of the troops! He's (apparently I have male teeth? LOL) still a little cramped, but making great progress!