Moonlit Narratives Blog

Dr. L assured me the dental x-rays from last visit showed no cavities and everything seemed fine.  Dr. B tightened the braces as usual but added a dusty blue spacer in between two of my right lowers since a tooth was a bit down-turned and needed correcting (center picture).  Pink and grey elastic ligatures.  Nothing new to report.  I wonder when I will finally be ready for retainers?  The lowers keep needing an adjustment here and there (annoying).  The spacer has caused a little pain since last night and most of today (Dr. B warned me this would be the case).  Nothing that warm rinses and soft foods can’t fix.  It’s bearable for now.  I’m sure by tomorrow, it will be even better.

Nothing really remarkable to write about.  I asked for pink elastic ligatures and I was pumped to finally visit Aruba after numerous times of begging my husband.   As an aside you should definitely visit Aruba!  Get the all-inclusive  package- so worth it!  We had a blast but I wish we had stayed for a week.  I want to go tubing someday even though I’m afraid of it.  Oh, and stay at the Tamarijn Resort because the beach will be your backyard.  If you have any questions about Aruba, please feel free to ask and I will do my best to give a detailed response.  Now I know why my friend has a time-share there-  it’s GORGEOUS with great weather!

A couple of personal issues came up; unfortunately causing me to delay this visit. Initially the appointment was scheduled for April 23, 2009 but was postponed until today. I asked for green elastic ligatures this time to celebrate the evincing of Spring… I have to have a little fun with this braces experience somehow. I’ve had less problems with pressure sores recently. It’s probably because there’s a little less movement of my teeth. I suppose they are more or less where they need to be; that is, give or take within millimeters.

May 7, 2009

Another routine visit. This time I requested purple elastic ligatures (my fave color) although I think the pinks are very nice. Strange right? I made it a point to look on the tray to see if my cleaning has been efficient enough (a small reward when I saw that everything was relatively clean). I would have felt embarrassed if I saw the contrary. I take this maybe a little too seriously. I’m still very frustrated by the gaps in-between my teeth (there are two spots in particular I’m watching like a hawk). After Dr. B tightened the braces, one gap almost disappeared while the other one got even bigger. It was a low point to see that. I know I’m just impatient. After returning home I began to feel that all too familiar discomfort. Well, tomorrow will be a bad day =(; another round of soft foods I suppose. It’s rough to feel hungry and not be able to have what you want and at a normal eating pace. Hopefully, it will be like usual and the pain will dissipate by later on that day. I dislike turning to pain killers but will do so if it gets too much.

Update on February 21, 2009: I noticed my front uppers are flared out again =(. I’m eating almost like normal except my bite feels a little off. This is probably from my teeth shifting. This is the second time I’ve felt like this since I had the braces placed. I imagine that everyone goes through this and like the previous time, the teeth will find their comfort zone again.

*Here’s the pic I promised; as always, thanks for visiting my Blog*

Yesterday was another routine visit to ortho. Nothing really that remarkable. He tightened the uppers and lowers. Dr. B added elastic to the few front lowers. I did tell him I was concerned that the gap was taking so long to close. He responded by saying that the progress was as expected. I requested pink elastic ligatures this time since Valentine’s Day is approaching. Next time I will go with purple (my fave color). Of course today I’m in discomfort so no calamari salad for me (as I had hoped) =(. The most tender spot is the right side upper big front tooth. As the day is wearing on, the discomfort is subsiding. It was another round of soft food tonight. I nearly jumped out of my skin this morning from brushing over the tender spot =(. Luckily, my lowers are not nearly as tender. My over-bite seems to be gradually disappearing…WOOHOO… A small first victory… Here’s a pic of my yucky teeth. It’s hard to hold that mouth position for a picture to be taken but I do try my best. ‘Til next month…

P.S. I’m not sure if I ever posted this but it takes me tops 10 minutes to clean my teeth at night and just a few minutes in the morning and after meals. It didn’t take me too long to adjust and I’m sure that it’s the same for anyone else who is adjusting to braces. If you are reading my blog and are planning to get braces, just remember– no big worries.

January 22, 2009

Just had my lower braces tightened yesterday with elastic ligature changes. I’m a little disappointed that yesterday he left the upper braces alone. He said he was concerned about closing the bottom gaps and wanted to leave the uppers alone this visit. I really hope that my teeth will look nice at the end. No surprise that today my lowers are tender but thankfully not enough to need pain killers. I’m trying to treat them gingerly and eat soft foods or at least not rush through eating. I wonder with all the advances in orthodontics why the process is still so painful? It’s hard enough on adults; I just can’t imagine how kids go through this?

I mentioned to the dental hygienist, I noticed a little bleeding on my three front-most lower teeth recently (during my proxabrush cleanings). Dr. B said he didn’t see any gum inflammation at all. I was surprised that this happened after months of going through the same thorough routine. She told me hormonal changes could be the culprit and recommended rinsing with equal parts water and peroxide to resolve this issue.

I was actually a little nervous today. Why? I have no idea. I’ve been through enough dental procedures within these past several years, I really don’t have an excuse to be nervous anymore. The extraction went pretty smoothly. Didn’t feel a thing. I made sure they gave me enough lidocaine gel before using the lidocaine-filled syringe. I still can’t believe a healthy tooth had to be sacrificed =(. Dr. L examined the slightly “loose” tooth and thought it was within the norm of having braces. I sat in the waiting room again trying to put pressure over the “surgical” site to stop the bleeding. I was determined to not leave without a full mouth of archwires and elastic ligatures. I was warned Dr. B would not proceed until the bleeding ceased. Remember I had to plead with him to make this a back-to-back procedure and he was reluctant to give-in. The lidocaine wore off about a half hour after the extraction and I started to feel some pain. I began to worry a little but, I’m so grateful the pain disappeared by the time Dr. B was ready to work on my braces. Though I complained about the clear elastic ligatures taking on the color of my food, I wasn’t brave enough to choose among red, blue, green, or purple. I hate to admit this but I would have went for pink or smoke color if he had them (this is the kid in me). So now it’s round two with the clears and more potential (okay, guaranteed) staining. I still have a big jar of pickles left that no one will help me eat. My husband hates pickles. Right now I’m slowly trying to finish my salad but I have a minor aching from the braces so I’ll just drink tea or whatever and try to eat something soft later. The visit in total took two hours but now I can finally start my countdown to beautiful teeth. This is not an experience for the faint-of-heart. I think the weirdest part of today’s ordeal isn’t the braces but the gap in-between my teeth (I can feel the edge of one tooth and the gap on the other side). Can’t wait until the gap closes; I’m hoping it’s about a month or less…that’s why I wanted the archwire for the lowers so badly. I was instructed to avoid rinsing my mouth for 24 hours due to the extraction (probably to not interfere with clot formation) but I think I’m going to bend the rule a little and do some gentle rinsing later tonight. I don’t want to go to bed with food stuck to my braces.

September 18, 2008