Friday 6 March 2009

Braces and Beers!



Second adjustment time came on Monday, and I managed to make it a very tough one for myself!

Back in Jan when I made my first few appointments of 2009 I had completely forgotten that the day before this one would be St David's Day - meaning a big party for all of us Welsh, and after celebrating well into the night I woke up the next morning with a hangover stright from the depths of hell! Immediately called work to tell them that I wouldn't be in, but what of my appointment? Dr H is generally booked up weeks in advance, cancelling would only delay my next adjustment and ultimately prolong treatment time, so despite feeling like the living dead it was out of bed and into the bathroom trying to make something presentable out of my dishevelled self. Didn't really want to inflict my morning-after breath on poor Dr H and his team, so after an intense cleaning and swilling session I was ready to face the world.


This time the adjustment lasted 50 minutes. Dr H announced it was time to increase the pressure on the top and brought out a strange looking rectangular wire for me. He also wanted to open out a gap in the lower set to bring back the tooth he rotated into alignment, fitting a spring device accross the teeth either side of it. Not sure why this is going on as I thought this was the tooth that was to be extracted or shaved down to ease crowding, but hey, he's the boss! He told me to come back in 8 weeks, by which time we should be making "good progress". Oooh, does that mean we can start involving Mr T in things? I really hope so!

But back to the square wire that's now fixed on top. At first sight I was NOT happy, it looks much thicker and more noticeable than my previous ones. It's also painful, and I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out if my throbbing head was down to the new wire or the hangover (I suspect a mix of both). A few days in and the rubbing has kicked in so i'm getting through a lot of wax, but i've chilled out a lot over the appearance as I doubt anyone other than myself can see much of a difference. Needless to say i've learnt my lesson about not going on massive benders just before appointments...



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, good for you doing braces. I did them last year at the tender age of 52; a second round since my teen braces were done when they didn't stress wearing a retainer afterwards. Wrong! Anyhow, everything's great now, so hang in there, it's worth it. You might check out www.ArchWired.com, the website for adults in braces. There's also info at www.braces.org, the resource website from the American Association of Orthodontists. Best wishes.

Katherine (Kate) said...

Haha, LOVE the priorities post celebration! Those square wires are a treat to get used to , aren't they?

Oh and with the ripped up mounth? I am convinced that any over imbibing really does wreak havock with the metal turning to schrapnel in your mouth. Even if it's been well after an adjustment or new wire, drink more than 'normal' and it's a given my mouth will be raw for a couple of days. My guess is on the dehydration factor. :)

Discantus said...

Hi Kate, any further news on THE date? Sooo close now!

I'll definitely be remembering this experience next time i'm tempted to over indulge, so not worth the suffering!