Week 85, 86, and a trip to the orthodontist!

So I had my appointment today...and let me tell you, morning appointments are hard. I don't even know why I voluntarily picked a morning slot for this appointment. I've always went in the afternoon, and it definitely works better for me. I mean, I'm just not a morning person at all. And nothing is going to change that. So I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to this appointment slot for today. I woke up later than I should've, barely made it out of the house on time, and I basically slid into the parking stall at 10:20 exactly. 10:20 is when my appointment is. Lucky for me, the office was, as usual, running behind, so I wasn't actually late. But still. No more morning appointments if possible!

I told the orthodontist and the tech about the upper right pre molar touching the bottom tooth, and they don't seem to be too too concerned. I'm going to try again at my next appointment to tell them that it's really not comfortable....although I'm not too sure if the pre molar isn't supposed to touch the bottom tooth. Maybe it is. I don't now. Googling doesn't really tell me much. So I will definitely try again for the next appointment and see what he says.

So I did not have molds made for retainers today. The orthodontist wanted to rotate/move my upper right lateral out some more, so he made a bend in the wire for that tooth, and did some more IPR for my four front teeth. Also, he instructed the tech to put some kind of elastic underneath the that general area of my mouth. I believe that elastic stretches from my canine to my lateral incisor. Not too sure. And yes, it hurts. Totally felt it when the tech pushed the wire in (she had to use a lot of force to put it in, so yeah, definitely felt it). Then the powerchain went back on. Plan for next appointment is to evaluate for debracing (same as the goal for this appointment), so we'll see where things are then. I also, not surprisingly, need to wear the same elastic configurations that I was using before. Definitely closer to the end, but not quite there yet.

So that would've been the end of my appointment today if I didn't feel something snap off in my mouth on the drive back home. Whatever snapped off was around my upper right canine/lateral incisor area (where all the work was done!), and the pain was immediately gone. So was the pressure. And I knew that something was wrong. Thankfully, I was only maybe 10 minutes max from the office, so I simply drove back, and explained to the receptionist what happened. They were able to get me back in a fairly speedy time, so props to them. I know they're busy, and basically I was an extra slot that they did not plan for.

So what happened? Turned out that the bend the orthodontist had put in was a bit too strong for the bracket to handle, and the bracket broke in half, according to the tech. The top half came off, but the bottom half remained glued on. I've never had a broken bracket before, so I guess technically this is my first. Nothing of my own doing, of course. The tech reassured me that it doesn't count in my 5 complimentary bracket replacements, as it wasn't anything that I did to make the bracket break. So the broken bracket was removed, old glue sanded off, and new bracket replaced. The orthodontist seemed amused at the fact the bracket broke; to be frank, I was too. Never had to it happened to me. The orthodontist changed the bend in the wire so that it wasn't as strong of a bend. The tech then put the elastic chain around the brackets, then the wire, then a powerchain on top. And I was finally good to go.

Really hoping I can be done braces in 2-3 visits time, but we'll see where things lead me. I'm close, and I'm almost there, and I'm starting to get a little antsy with still being in braces, but I guess a few more months won't hurt. Already committed to braces for this long already, what's another few appointments?

I've been thinking about life after braces, and I'm not sure if I'll be a huge fan of retainers. They just seem to be so much more maintenance than braces. Braces are already on my teeth, I've got no choice but to go along with it, whereas retainers require a certain discipline to wear it. I'll be getting permanent retainers, as per my contract, so flossing around those will be interesting too. But you know, I'm not about to throw away $3700, so you bet I will find ways to discipline myself into wearing those retainers as prescribed. I can't believe that we're finally in the home stretch of things, and that within a few months, I'll be (hopefully) braces free!

Week 85

Week 86. After my eventful appointment. You can see that I have a new bracket on my upper right lateral incisor.