Week 38

Christmas has come and gone, and the holidays are just about over. The end of another year is fast approaching us, and a new one is just around the corner. This will be my last post of 2017...hopefully 2018 will bring everyone joy, hope, peace, serenity, good karma and success!

(And teeth movement for me. Maybe even an end date for braces! A girl can always dream, right?)

I am finding that I am able to eat more and more food that I previously couldn't, not because the food items were on the "banned" list, but because my teeth hurts from biting down on them. I've avoided broccoli and veggie stems for this reason, but I had steamed broccoli the other night, and nothing happened other than I was able to chew on it without much trouble. Same with veggie stems. Now, this is not to say that I'm ready to chow down on steak, but this is good news nonetheless. And I'm now able to tear into food with my front teeth again! When I first got braces, there was none of that. Because it would hurt like a son of a gun whenever I tried to rip food using my incisors...that and I never realized just how much I use my incisors to tear into food until I couldn't use them anymore! But things are looking up for me, food wise. At least I'm not exclusively stuck on the soft food anymore....though tough, chewy and hard food likely remains a no until the braces are off.

(And boy, the list of foods I want to eat when braces come off is starting to grow. You really don't know what you will miss until you can't have it anymore. I could definitely use some beef jerky right now. Or caramel filled candies. Fuck, it's difficult when it's the holidays and you can't eat half the stuff people bring to work because of your teeth. I miss Ferrero Rocher damn it! And crunchy cookies! And cereal that haven't been drowned to death in milk. Good thing I can still eat canned tuna and cheesecake and sushi and pho...because if I can't have those, I'm not sure I wouldn't be going stir crazy at the thought of potential two years without them.)

I've got a dentist appointment on the 8th for cleaning, and then it's off to the orthodontist on the 22nd for a routine check in. I sure hope none of those appointments are too eventful...though I do wonder if I'm going to get a wire change when I go in to see the orthodontist. I've been in these wires since August, and they really aren't doing much for me in terms of teeth movement. So we'll see.

To celebrate the end of the year, I'll end it with a Things That I've Learned (So Far), year end edition:

1) If you're thinking about getting braces, do it. Your teeth won't change if you don't take the first step in getting them changed. I've always wanted to straightened my teeth, and I've been sitting duck on that ever since I got a "real" job. Not sure what I was waiting for. I should've gotten it done like in my early 20's. But it was only this year that I did something about it. Better late than never, I suppose.

2) Pain is a package deal when it comes to braces. Embrace it. Learn to deal with it. Because that's not going away anytime soon. Every new wire adjustment will hurt, repositioning brackets will hurt, eating will hurt, the pressure of the wires, elastics and powerchains against the teeth will hurt. Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. Tylenol and Advil are wonderful for the pain. And sleep.

3) Piggy backing onto the last statement, if possible, schedule your appointments on a day where you don't have work the next day. Because nothing sucks more than going to work with a sore mouth from your orthodontist appointment the previous day. Thankfully, so far, I've been able to mostly schedule my appointments on days where I don't work the next day.

4) Brushing and flossing with braces are a real hassle, but it's one of those things where the more you do it, the better you will become. And, if nothing else, you will develop better oral hygiene habits because of braces, and that's always a plus. I mean, I used to floss maybe ten times a year (before going to the dentist, and the short period of time after seeing the dentist), and now, I floss daily.

5) Your mouth will adapt to the braces and you will learn how to eat with the braces on. It won't be necessarily a smooth ride, but it will get there. And you will realize how much of certain teeth you use to eat when you no longer can use those said teeth for eating (like me and my incisors). You also will realize just how much food you can essentially just swallow with minimal to no biting involved. And when you find a side of the mouth that hurts less when eating, you will use that side like there's no tomorrow.

6) Yes you will develop a minor lisp. Yes it sucks. Yes it's noticeable. But good news, is that it goes away relatively quickly. So...there's not much in terms of advice from me other than suck it up and keep talking despite the lisp.

7) You will become hyper aware of other people's teeth and you will scrutinize your own teeth everyday in the mirror. It's just something that happens as a result of getting braces I suppose. And I've noticed that many adults wear braces, and that like 99% of the people with straight teeth have had braces at one point. The 1% that naturally have straight teeth are blessed in ways that most of us aren't. And that most people do not have a perfect bite or perfect teeth. Perfectly imperfect.

Week 38. The camera on my new iPhone 7 is amazing. That's all I have to say.

See you all in the new year!