So this morning, your humble neighborhood Jetgirl hied off to the local orthodontist to voluntarily inflict the ultimate in pain and torture - that’s right, ladies n’ gents. I’ve got braces!
As a kid, I never had any problems with my teeth. No cavities, fillings, root canals, nada. But my wisdom teeth (being the inconsiderate bastards that they are) decided they’d rather have the place all to themselves, and so commenced the pushing and shoving and general displacement of the more senior inhabitants of my gums into the dissheveled state they are in today.
Quite frankly, I’m going to miss my fang, but in the end I think it will be worth it. And I’ll have the pleasure of ripping those quarrelsome third molars right from their sockets midway in this process as well. Serves them right.
I wish I could garner oodles of sympathy by describing the horrible amount of pain and agony I am enduring, but honestly aside from the general weirdness and some difficulty pulling my top lip over my brackets, it’s been quite an easy ride. However, I’m sure that will all change in the morning.
At least I’ve got an excuse to use the phrase “waxing my brackets” now.
Been there, done that! Just remember that yogurt, ice cream, and mashed potatoes are your friends–especially after the dreaded tightenings! And Midol isn’t just for PMS anymore. Good luck!
Breezy, they tell me I’ll be in them for 18 months, assuming all goes well ::crosses fingers::
Actually, I fairly well gorged myself on sweets and stickies last night Rue, so the temptation is not there ::g::
lauramarlane, yes, I’ve got metallic blue elastics on now. I decided against the ceramic ones. I figure if I’m going to have the stuff in my mouth, might as well go old school full-metal. And so far, yogurt is very much my friend ::
How did the job interview go? Were you able to pronounce polysyllabic words?
Ask your dentist if it’s all right to use clove oil when you have localized pain. It’s cheap and really effective, numbs tissue in seconds. You can get it in those little Jiffy toothache kits.
And remember not to smile for flash photo shots, you’ll wash out the film with all that glare.
Ah, the wonders of technology. No such thing anymore, my friend. The wires are never tightened per se, they’re made of some sort of space-age substance that, when cold, is as flexible as a cooked spaghetti noodle. When the wire is heated to room or body temperature, however, it becomes rigid. I go back in about 8 weeks to have a newer, thicker wire put in, but no tightening by the ortho.
Oh, and Zenster, the interview’s not until tomorrow. I’m now quite as worried now that I know I can speak coherently, but I’m still worried about getting myself fed tomorrow. Clean-up after lunch today took me a good 20 mins. Oi vey!
Don’t forget the corn on the cob. That’s something else you have to say goodbye to for the duration. Oh, I’m sure you’ll try it once, like everybody does. But trust me, once will enough.
One thing that noone else mentioned yet is the wires at the ends; that they clamp off. Mine were never clamped fully it seems, so the back of my cheeks were really scratched up from the exposed wire; not fun. They gave me some wax to put on, but it didn’t really help that much.
Tinsel teeth! Just kidding, I had to go through braces too! I usually didn’t get the option of colored elastic bands, I always got the wire ones shudder. Do you have to wear those rubber bands that go from top jaw to bottom? Those are the craps.
I never had spacers. They just yanked four teeth. (They did put me out for that, thank God.)
NO TIGHTENING??? Dang! I AM jealous! Every month for about five days I’d be hurting. You are LUCKY.
As bad as we’re all trying to make this sound, my teeth look VASTLY better than they did pre-braces. Good luck with yours. Metallic blue and NO TIGHTENING…oh, I could just scream!
When your teeth hurt just get a slushy, and take an advil. That always did it for me.
And of course, when I had braces, I always had the lady in the office tell my mom that eating at the Olive Garden would make me feel better. haha I was such a scammer. haha
You do look adorable with the braces! What a cutie-pahtootie!
Here’s to hoping they won’t hurt at all, and that you won’t have to wear those rubber bands. Cause the rubber bands TOTALLY suck.