Silver power chains!

10-12-10 New grille with silver powerchains



10/11/10 - Wires out before the dentist



10/12/10 Up close - first day in powerchains

The past two days have been really busy tooth-wise. Yesterday, I went to the ortho in the morning to have the wires taken out to prepare for my dental cleaning. I had a pokey wire that I had been a bit lazy about getting cut so it was nice to have the wires out. Plus, I got a chance to dust off my regular floss for the day.

The dentist and hygenist were both super excited that I had taken action to get my jaw alignment issues taken care of. They couldn't believe how much wider my palate was. They took a bunch of x-rays and it was neat to see how the bone is filling in. For the cleaning itself, I was a bit nervous that I would have a lot of plaque build-up because of the braces, but the hygentist said my gums were really healthy and actually looked much better than they did in April. I thought it had to do with all the extra brushing I have been doing with my braces. The hygentist suggested that I purchase a waterpik and start using straws to prevent staining. The dentist recommended that I come in every four months for a cleaning.

To take my cleaning to the next level, I purchased a high-end waterpik from Amazon.com. I had cheaper one before, but the water presssure was too much and after a few months the device was moldy. This new one has 10 different settings! I think that'll be a lot better for my second surgery. I also bought some straws to help avoid staining from my daily blueberry smoothie.

This morning, I got up to make it to the ortho 5 minutes before my appointment at 7:00 AM. Since I was few minutes early, I waited outside with a couple of other adults who had also scheduled 7 AM appointments. It reminded me that I'm not the only 'grown-up' out there going through orthodonture. After I got into the office, I wrote my name on the board and sat in the waiting room. 15 minutes went by and they still hadn't called my name. I went up to the front desk and asked them about my appointment. I was told, "Heather, your appointment is at 7:30." On snap! I got confused because I scheduled my next dentist appointment yesterday for 7 AM. Too bad I had 7 AM on the brain—it would have been nice to get a few extra zzzz's this morning!

I had very good news from the orthodontist. The bottom teeth are already in a perfect arch. The next step is to just to move some of the teeth individually into the correct alignment. The top teeth have moved enough that they can now use a heavier wire and powerchains to close the spaces all at once. Powerchains are a string of ligatures that pull all the teeth togther. This was pretty exciting news! I thought I was going to be dealing with the gaps for a lot longer. Since this morning, the gaps are already starting to close up. The ones between my front teeth and lateral incisiors look a lot smaller than yesterday—you can see the difference between the picture with wires and the one without.

The only thing with the powerchains is that since they move the teeth quickly it causes a lot of soreness. I can feel a lot of pressure in my mouth. I haven't taken any ibuprofen today, but I will load up before I go to bed. As they say—no pain, no gain. :)