Week 51

Okay, so I think I've been a pretty good sport about this whole braces thing (I have to be, considering the fact that i willingly signed myself up for it), and I've been pretty damn good about using elastics (I wear them religiously. I do not want to extend my time in braces unnecessarily). But these stupid box configuration on the molars? They're really trying my patience. Really, really, really trying my patience.

It's not even so much that they're hard to put on. I've got the hang of it now. It's the fact that the right sided one just doesn't want to fucking stay put. I have no problems putting on the elastic for the left side, and having it stay, but the right side? Oh boy. I haven't really quite figured out how to make it stay, and when it does, it's more luck of the draw than my technique. I swear, it'd be so much fucking easier to put the box configuration on if the first molar brackets had actual fucking hooks. But nooooo, the hooks that they do have is curved the wrong fucking way for these box elastics! (they're PERFECT for hooking the powerchains though. Just not fucking elastics.) And on top of trying to hook the elastics onto essentially two curves, the elastics have to sit over the powerchain ends on the first molar! And the powerchain ends aren't exactly thin and delicate. They're rather bulky. And they take up like, 90% of the available space on the damn hook. So it's no surprise that I spend up to 5 minutes just hooking the elastic on the right molars and hoping that it will stick and not slide off on whatever attempt I'm on.

I know it'll all be eventually worth it, and I definitely won't whine when I have that perfect bite down pat and straight teeth to boot, but right now, it's just a very very trying time with the elastics. But I can feel the elastics working "more" on the right side than the left--it feels tighter on the right side than the left side, which I attribute to the fact that my right side may have a bigger open bite than my left. I mean, I'm in these goddamned box configuration to make my molars touch after all, so it would make sense that I would feel the most pressure on the side that has the bigger gap between the top and bottom molars.

On other news, the gap between my lower right central and lateral incisor is now mostly closed, and I can see some difference in my front teeth with the repositioned brackets. On the down side, my upper left lateral incisor looks to be slightly higher than my upper right lateral incisor, so that means there may possibly be another bracket repositioning in my future.

And thus, next week will be one year of braces for me! Time sure flies.

Week 50

Week 51. See how my upper lateral and central incisors are more leveled with each other when compared to the previous week? Also,see how my upper left lateral incisor is a bit higher now?

Week 49, 50, and a trip to the orthodontist!

Okay. So I totally am living the whole "be careful of what you wish for" saying right now. See, I was complaining/whining that basically nothing was really happening for the past little while, and then I went to my orthodontist appointment today, and...let's just say, I am now the living proof of being very careful what I wish for in the future. I mean, Jesus Christ, had I known what I'd be expected to do after today's appointment, I would never have dared to whine that things were sooooo boring in the past little while. Fuck, I'd take boring to what I have to do now.

So I haven't given the updates for Weeks 49 and 50, mostly because nothing was happening. Nothing exciting happened (in hindsight, that is actually good. Preferable even). I did feel my bite changing subtly, but it wasn't anything to write home about. Ergo, I've been real lazy about posting my week by week updates remotely on time, because there just wasn't anything to update on. It sure got tiring really fast writing about the same things over and over again, about how there's no visible teeth movement, and that the gap between my lower right central and lateral incisors was still there. So I've been lazy. But here are the pictures from the past two weeks.

Week 49

Week 50

If you can spot the difference between the two, then good for you. Because I sure as heck can't.

Onto the orthodontist appointment!

As far as appointments go, today's wasn't bad. It was a pretty typical appointment where the tech took off what needed to be taken off (in my case today, the powerchains. For some reason, the wires didn't go out today), the orthodontist looked, prodded and had me open and close my mouth a bunch of times, told me the treatments he wanted done today, and the tech carries out the instructions left by the orthodontist. So in that regards, today's appointment was fairly typical, and seriously nothing to write home about.

The treatments that the orthodontist wanted done today however....

...let's just say it started off pretty typical too. He wanted three brackets repositioned--on my upper central incisors, and on my upper left lateral incisor respectively. He wanted those repositioned as the four front teeth of my upper arch aren't all leveled with each other, and he wanted to change that. Fair enough. Whatever. I've had brackets repositioned before, so this wasn't anything new. And the tech I had today did an excellent job in prying off the brackets. Nothing broke, and it wasn't painful at all. I hadn't realized she had the brackets off until she told me she was going to start polishing the glue off my teeth! The brackets were then repositioned, double checked by the orthodontist, and cured into place. The wire was then re-inserted. Didn't get any new wires because I'm on my finishing wires now, and I was told by the tech last time that it meant that were was no heavier wire to step up to. So I don't expect wire changes from now on. Just small tweaks and changes here and there.

The orthodontist also wanted me to be on a different elastics configuration this time around. And he wanted a box configuration on my molars on both sides...because my molars weren't quite touching, and he wanted them to close. Otherwise though, he said my bite is looking pretty good. I suppose with this tweaking of my molars, my bite will be pretty damn good at the end of it. But boy...box elastics on the molars are not fun.

I mean, elastics in general aren't fun, but I think I've done a fantastic job so far in terms of being diligent in wearing them. Sure I've complained about wearing them in general, but I don't think I've ever disliked an elastic configuration as much as I do my current one. And it's been barely....three hours since I got put on them. That's how much I don't like them already.

See, with the other elastic configurations, I can see what I'm doing, and that really helps with putting them on my teeth. And with most other elastic configurations, they were fairly straight forward and simple to apply. But this one? Let's just say I seriously struggled with putting it on at the orthodontist office (and that's with only doing one side. The tech did the other side for me). The hooks on the molars are insanely hard to get to even with the elastics tool, and there's some legit finger gymnastics involved in latching the elastics onto all four molars on either side of the mouth to make a box. The tech did sympathize with me, and asked the orthodontist if there was another configuration I can do to achieve the same result, but the orthodontist was adamant on this stupid box thing.

I think I figured out a way to put it on now, but I seriously can't say this is easy. For two seconds on the drive home, I was considering on not following the full time wear thing for this configuration, and just do what I can with it...because it's THAT annoying. I was convincing myself that I didn't need a perfect bite to be functional, but that thought didn't last long. In the end, I figured that since I'm paying the office a nice sum of money, I would be doing myself a huge disservice if I veered off course now. I mean, I'm sure all this annoyance will be worth it in the end. And the end is definitely a lot closer in reach when I follow the instructions perfectly.

But it still doesn't make the fact that box elastics on the molars are just a plain big fucking pain in the ass. I'll stick with it, because I have to. But I'm really hoping that this is a 6 week deal, and that I won't have to have them anymore when I go back to the office in 6 weeks.

My "after" picture from today's appointment. Those four front teeth are going to be getting leveled!

Box elastics on the left side of my mouth.

Box elastics on the right side of my mouth

Week 48, Month 11

It's officially one more month until the one year mark of me having braces. And lot's have changed since last April. My teeth look much, much better than before, and I'm sure my bite has improved. So it's all been good so far. Can't believe that in a short four weeks, it would've been one year in braces. I mean...it really only feels like yesterday that I willingly put myself through the torture device known as braces. But, time flies!

The only down side with my current finishing wires is that there's just not much going on that I can see. There's just literally no tangible changes that I can observe on a week to week basis...and I've been looking, trust me. But I suppose that's what it's like on the finishing wires....they're there to finish the braces journey, and there shouldn't be any big major change s that happen with these wires. Which, you know, it's good to know that I'm at least on the final stages of my braces journey, but on the other hand, it's just so damn boring when I look in the mirror and nothing looks different. Like, I don't think anything's really changed since I got these wires on. I'm sure the orthodontist will disagree, and say that there's movements and changes and all....but on a tangible level, I really can't see much.

But hey, I've got an orthodontist appointment in about two weeks, so maybe things will be changing by then!

What my teeth look like, pre braces. I can't believe I let that edge to edge bite drag out for as long as it did...and all the gaps and the crossbite on the right!

Month 11. Things are looking much more neater and straighter now.

Week 48

Weeks 46 and 47

...so I'm really not awesome at this week by week thing, as evident by my lack of weekly posting. But to be honest, I was just very, very preoccupied by the Winter Olympics. You see, every two year, I turn into this huge sports fan, and I religiously watch the Olympics, even though I probably can't tell you too much about any of the events. But I will sit tight on the couch and watch as much Olympics as I can. Gotta cheer on Canada, you know. I mean, we just had our most successful Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, as long as you ignore the embarrassment that were curling and hockey. But we did win gold in the two new sports in this year's Olympics, so I guess that's something. And ice dancing was a whole world on its own.

(But I'll forever be haunted by the embarrassment that were curling and hockey. It was just...let's not talk about it. I know there's no such thing as we were "supposed" to get a gold in curling and hockey. But fuck, to go from winning a gold in both men's and women's hockey and curling to winning one single bronze in men's hockey is embarrassing. We fucked up, and we fucked up good)

I suppose that I should actually talk about braces and teeth, seeing as this blog isn't an Olympics blog. These past two weeks...well, I'm still not sure what the finishing wires or my current elastics configuration are supposed to do. I don't see any teeth movement. Not sure if bite changed. I mean, I'm sure the wires and elastics are doing something, but I just haven't a clue what they're supposed to be doing. The elastics are an annoyance, but that's nothing new. The gap between my lower right central and lateral incisor is still there, but I think it's getting better...marginally. Sure hope that changes will come with my next appointment, which is on March 28.

In other news, it's officially 5 more weeks til one year with braces, so I guess I'll have a bit of a milestone to look forward to.

Week 46

Week 47