Two for one
Again, I failed to post anything after my July adjustment. It was too depressing. I’m SO tired of wearing braces. I actually stopped wearing my elastics during the day. Shocking, I know. I just totally lost motivation. I felt like the song End by The Cure – "I think I’ve reached that point where giving up and going on are both the same dead end to me." Granted, Robert Smith was talking about a relationship but I honestly feel like I’m in a relationship with these braces, an abusive one at that. And I want out.
Now that I’ve gotten all of that off my chest, let me tell you about yesterday’s adjustment. But first I have to take you on a trip down memory lane. A long, long time ago, when I was a child, my cousin and I were playing around and I fell mouth first onto a very unforgiving marble floor. I lost a piece of one of my front teeth and a ton of self esteem. Eventually, I got the tooth fixed. I’m still working on the self esteem part. Fast forward about 20 years to this Sunday when the composite filling finally decided it was time to divorce my tooth. Bad timing as my NZ trip was only a couple of days away.
I had a 12pm ortho appointment. Although my dentist is a friend of mine, I called the office first to see if they could fit me in before using the "friend card." They were able to squeeze me in at 2pm. When I told the ortho about this, he said he’d leave the wire out while I went to the dentist. My friend did a great job !
Back at the ortho’s office, he had the wire I’ve come to know so well ready for me. He added some more bends to it and said I could stop wearing the elastic that goes across my mouth. This is great news ! He also said that things were looking really good and that the braces might be able to come off this fall. WHAT ? I know, we’ve all heard these promises before and I’m skeptical at this point, but I couldn’t help but fantasize about the possibility of having popcorn for Christmas dinner. Unfortunately, this is not a finish line I can sprint to but this visit gave me some motivation to get back to being militant with my elastics which will undoubtably help speed things up.
I was looking for a speed vegan cookbook, but got your cite instead. Thanks for the great recipes! One random act of kindness deserves another. I suffered through braces for 3 years in my teens (with similar visits to the torturedontist as you describe), but I didn’t handle it with the same grace that you do, and I didn’t look anywhere near as drop dead gorgeous as you do in your photos.
Thank you ! I seriously think I looked hideous in braces, but I appreciate the compliment and sympathy. I don’t think anyone can understand the discomfort involved unless they’ve gone through the same process.
i just found your blog.. i am in my last month of braces after 5 years. i am/was missing my lower #5 that caused all types of problems… finally i am almost finished but i felt ur pain about non stop elastics, etc.. i wore elastics on my right side for four years straight.. sucks! but on the bright side i have 3 more weeks but painful closing elastics and a stiff ass wire, but i smile and it’s perfect! thanks for the blog!
Thanks for stopping by ! I can’t imagine going through this for FIVE years. Bloody hell ! Three years was bad enough. Sounds like it’s paid off though. Good luck !