My appointment was set for 1:00 in the afternoon (it had originally been set for 3:00 but Dino moved it to 1:00 to alot (sp?) time for teeth cleaning. After seeing various videos on YouTube of people getting their braces on and what the aftermath felt like, I felt oddly calm about going for my appointment. The only thing that had me rattled was the whole teeth cleaning thing because imo, that's one of the worst forms of dental torture with all the things they use to clean your teeth lol. So that I don't end up boring you with long details about my appointment, here's a short synopsis of what went on...
- Got teeth cleaned by Dana, one of the hygenists. Also got a couple of x-rays done, one of them a panoramic one where you bit down on this stick and the machine went around your whole head. The X-Rays were purely for insurance reasons, since we'd switched dental insurances during my mini-break from orthodontic treatment. She also removed those God awful spacers, which felt like a relief once they came out, gah, no feeling like it! =]. Also, surprisingly, my X-Rays looked good, no decay or anything, which was odd because that was the first time in a few years that I'd gotten my teeth cleaned professionally lol. This took until 2:00.
- Waited in the waiting room for close to 20-30 minutes afterwards for Dino to be finished with one of his patients. This, imo, was the worst part of the whole appointment because I was just sitting there and thinking of everything that could go wrong with this whole thing.
- At around 2:15-2:30 somewhere in that timeframe, Dino called me back. He started off by sandblasting off my "dots" (attachments) from Invisalign. After that, this barbaric red mouth stretcher was put inside my cheeks so that he and his assistant (no older than me probably) Brittany could see every tooth in my mouth. Bondo was beginning to be placed on my teeth.
- One minor detour!!!: Dino had to laser off a piece of gum tissue on my right (your left) tooth, the third one from the front (sorry, I'm not good with technical teeth terms lol). I was skeptical at first because I'd had to do this same thing sophomore year with my cosmetic dentist, Eric Compton from the Compton Dental Center in Munster where he took off gum tissue from all around my mouth and novocained the whole thing to death and it hurt for weeks afterward =[. Thankfully only one tiny area got numbed and I didn't feel the shot or the procedure being done. This probably had to do with the stretcher in my mouth blocking out everything else but whatever lol. It only took 2-3 seconds out of my initial placing of the brackets.
- Brackets were glued onto my teeth and a wire was threaded through them. He actually used a WIRE CUTTER to cut the wire off. Like a real one! I felt like I was somebody's Girl Scout project or something lol.
- Got O-Bands (the little rubber bands they insert in the middle of the brackets to hold the braces in place and what gives the braces their "color"; I'm going into detail about this later) inserted. IMO, was one of the longest parts because by this time I was extremely bored.
- Was given a package of rubber bands. I was told to hook it first on the top canine and then hook it on the tiny hook where the back molar band was. Took a while to get a feel for the hooks but I eventually got it.
- Was able to go home!!! =]
Before I write about my first full night with braces, here's a small list of what I was unsatisfied with...
- Dino now told me that my estimated treatment time is now a year!!! I don't understand where the fuck that came from because he had said at the last appointment when we were discussing treatment plans that I would only have these on for six months. I'm not sure how things changed down the line or if he is saying this to avoid having to say an earlier date in case something goes wrong, idk. All I know is this: only like two fucking teeth are out of position! I know I'm probably bringing in the demons, but I think even six months is too long for these poor teeth to be in metal brackets, which brings me to my next complaint...
- Ever since I found out that I needed to switch to braces, I had a preconceived idea on what color I wanted my braces to be and that was clear. Before my B-Day, I'd discovered these braces called In-Ovation C, which were clear, ceramic braces that didn't stain, had a clear wire and were virtually invisible, like the braces form of my Invisalign. I knew that these were too good for Dino's office to have so I inwardly chose an alternative; I would go with metal brackets but choose clear, white, or gray O-Bands to at least attempt at making them invisible and also more mature. I am going to be 20 in a couple of months, wearing colored braces is so childish. But when the time came to pick O-Band colors, none of the aforementioned colors were among my choices. I ended up picking purple, which is my favorite color, but I'm not happy with them. Anyone from a mile away can tell that I got braces, despite the brackets being small, no bigger than my invisalign attachments (which was a relief because my teeth are hella small and I was afraid the braces would cover my whole tooth lol) and I look like a kid, which doesn't help much because I'm already short and look like I'm 12-13 as it is so this new installment doesn't help much. I'm glad that I'll be going through some O-Band changes before classes start August 31st so that I can pick at least somewhat of a mature color.
Anyway, as far as my first braces night goes, it went well. I was even able to eat Chicken Fingers and Potato Wedges from B-Dubs for dinner that night not only because I wasn't in a lot of pain but I don't have brackets on every tooth. On my top teeth there are only five brackets with a wire covering the bare teeth and connected to the molar band and same on my bottom teeth, only I have six brackets there. Since I chew with my back teeth as you all know, I was chewing where just the wire was and was able to eat normally (well as normal as you can get with a metal mouth lol) =]. I was Adviled up for most of the night so with the exception of the bracket rubbing up against my lips as I laughed or grinned widely and some shifting/dental work soreness that I expected, I really didn't feel any pain at all. My only major annoyance was my rubber bands because at that time I wasn't getting a good feel for them and despite Dino's insistence to wear them 24/7, even for eating and brushing, I took them off and put them on for both of those instances because his assistant Brittany told me later that she was told to do that with hers as well but because they were constantly snapping she took them off to eat and brush so I decided to do that as well.
Next entry... Days 1 and 2! =]
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