the third visit

today i had my third visit at the orthodontist's office. i wasn't sure what would be happening today, and i was hoping it would just be time for new wires.

alas, i was wrong.

dr. arango said that my crossbite looked pretty bad and that he wanted to put in some rubberbands. Boo! so they were installed, and i have four bands on the right side of my mouth and two on the left. plus new wires. ow!

dr. arango mentioned that there is also a surgery to correct the bite that would run around $10,000, but that he thought rubberbands do a fine job too and are obviously cheaper.

it's a little weird not being able to open my mouth very wide, but i'm already used to how they feel. the only thing is eating... i have to take them out to do that, which is hard to do at work (i'm usually just grabbing something here and there and popping it into my mouth).

also, the assistant asked if i wanted colored or clear rubberbands, and i chose clear. i think i'd feel super dorky with colored ones!! :)

pics:

my tongue looks like a slimy weird creature, but you can see the rubberbands!


look how open my bite is now!!

They're so on

This is from the 26th--I haven't had internet!

Well, it's done!

I was worried that they'd have to postpone the appointment--I have massive, painful swelling going on in the right side of my mouth due to a wisdom tooth that decided to start breaking through my gums a couple of days ago. Dr. Arango (ortho) told me to ask the dentist if I should have the wisdoms out when I went in for my cleaning about a week ago, and the dentist said he wanted to call Dr. Arango to discuss it…but that never happened. Sooo, I had to endure those huge plastic pieces that held my mouth open as they dug right into my inflamed gums. Ow.

After eating lots of popcorn and gooey candy yesterday, I figured I was ready for my appointment this morning to be banded. Other than the pain of my wisdom tooth, getting the braces on was only slightly uncomfortable. I wasn’t really sure what the ortho. assistant was doing in my mouth for awhile, and I couldn’t really ask J When she told me to go brush my teeth and come back to put the wires in, I couldn’t keep my hands out of my mouth! The braces are so foreign and big!! I feel like I can barely hold my lips over my teeth, and I’m even having trouble speaking clearly. I’ve been so focused on researching the surgery that I haven’t really looked into or thought much about the braces. I forgot that the brackets and everything would be crooked at first and then straighten themselves out, so that’s a little weird to look at in the mirror!
I cried when I got home and saw my reflection; the braces make my face stick out even more! I always felt like having nice teeth drew people’s eyes away from my jaw, and now the braces draw more attention to it. I can’t wait until this is all finished!
I haven’t tried to eat anything yet, except for a yogurt. Will it be hard to chew?
Also, I just realized that I can’t bite my nails anymore…I can no longer grip them between my teeth! So long to that bad habit! J
My next appointment is January 10th. Will the brackets have straightened out by then?

Anyway, now for pictures…
I apologize for the bad quality, I was taking these in the bathroom with my camera phone (I swear I’m not that pale in real life, haha!). I’ll have better pictures someday when I buy batteries for my digital camera.
Okay, here are the pics from this morning, before I had the braces put on:






And then after:







And up close:





And that's that! Now off to watch the World Series!