Week 54

Another week, another post.

Well, I'm definitely getting better at putting on the box elastics for my right molars now. I'm able to hook the elastic into a box configuration on the first try successfully about 80% of the time, which is a lot better than like, 10% of the time, which is where I was at when I first started this whole molar box configuration thing. I'm still not sure why I'm able to put on the box configuration on my left molars pretty much with 100% success rate on the first try, but not my right. It's definitely got something to do with the angle, and the way I hold the elastic hooking tool in my right hand vs left hand...but anyway, the point is, I figured how to hook on the box configuration elastic for my right molars with a much better success rate than when I first started. Which makes the whole thing way, way less frustrating than it was.

If it continued to be as frustrating as when I first started out, I couldn't promise that I'd be all that compliant with it. I mean, I've been pretty good with being compliant with everything the orthodontist has asked me to do, but this molar box configuration thing definitely tested my compliance. The first weeks, when I was having so much trouble with hooking the damn elastic (and having it stay) onto my right molars, I was half convincing myself that I didn't need perfection, and that it was just fine with me if my bite wasn't a perfect Class I bite. It was that frustrating. But all's that gone now, and thank god I decided to stick with it through the frustrations.

(I might not be needing a perfect set of Hollywood teeth, but having a functional and correct bite is pretty damn important. And I'm not throwing away nearly $4000 just to end up with an imperfect bite over something that I had control over.)

I feel like I am more aware of my molars touching each other, which I suppose mean that the elastics are doing their jobs, which is a good thing. I really just hope that this is the last of elastics I'll have to deal with for a while. Except for three glorious months, I've been in elastics for the entirety of my braces journey so far, and it's getting a bit...annoying and old. I mean, if it comes to it it, I'll wear elastics for the entire time I'm in braces if have to, but I'd rather not. Especially not after having experience the amazing freedom and ease that is braces without elastics. So I'm crossing my fingers that on my next appointment, the orthodontist won't find another reason for me to wear elastics. The same way I'm crossing my fingers to finish my braces journey sooner rather than later.

Week 54