2/18/14 - Braces go on

I got my braces on Tuesday, Feb 18th 2014.

I was so nervous and excited I couldn't sit still.  The weekend before my mother had been up to KC to visit, and that Sunday she went to the store with me to pick up all the soft foods I could stomach.  I was all set up with a fridge full of pudding, cottage cheese, applesauce, and one big pot of soup, and I had Ritz crackers in the pantry (they get pretty malleable if you suck on 'em first).

I. Was. Ready.

When it was time, they took me back, laid me allll the way back in the chair, and stuffed my face with this weird frame thing that pulled my lips away from my teeth.  I imagined I looked a lot like this:

The first thing they did was break out the tiny little dental air compressor and air off my teeth - to start with, they needed to be dry.  Then they applied the first of two solutions.  I was told it would taste disgusting, but really was more like lemon juice, and smelled like vinaigrette (which I enjoy).  It wasn't until they rinsed it off and it went down my throat that it was transformed into something absolutely VILE.  But, then it was gone.  They aired me off again, and applied a second solution that was bitter and awful and NOT rinsed off.  It was there to act as an agent that would allow the cement to form a good, reliable bond with the tooth.  Then they got started applying the brackets.

My brackets are clear, but I can make them different colors if I choose, and I can choose different colors each time I go in, so that's something I'm considering (especially since the assistant there told me that sometimes the clear ones stain, especially with regular wine consumption).  I'm only getting braces on my top jaw, because my teeth on my bottom jaw are almost perfectly straight, and I can say I'm truly happy for this.  Discomfort aside, it took quite a while for the things to get applied - one by one.  She'd dab me with a little of the cement, place the bracket, push, scrape away excess cement, then zap it with an ultraviolet light to "set" it.  When she was done, I was instructed to brush my teeth to clear away any gunk (which was a very weird sensation with the brackets on), and then they ran the wire through.  When I go in for adjustments, what's actually done is the wire is replaced with one of a differing gauge.

The doctor told me I'd have tooth movement immediately, and that I'd see results happening even within the first week.  BOY was he right.  Immediately after the wire was placed, everything got all yanked out of place.  My bite is all messed up - my molars are not in the same position they were, I cannot close my teeth together properly, and no matter what I do, I cannot get my top front teeth to touch my bottom front teeth.  I felt pressure, but not really any pain.  In spite of painlessness, though, there was no way I was going to be able to chew anything - my teeth just... didn't work right.  But, they went on smoothly, and the journey is underway.  Bring on the soft foods!

I now look like this (and good grief - nothing like braces to really accentuate how crooked your teeth are, I feel like a troll):