Had the best adjustment so far yesterday. It took all of 30 minutes and two awesome things happened. They were finally able to get the big manly wire in (which they weren’t able to do last time). And, when reminded of the target date, the orthodontist declared "Oh good. We’re looking very good." Woot ! I’ve been having nightmares of my two year ordeal turning into three (or more !). So, I was VERY happy to hear those words. I’m still wearing elastics, but asymmetrically now – triangles on the left, and class II on the right.
Next appointment is not for another 8 weeks – two days after my last race of the season. Couldn’t have timed it better myself ! When there’s so much going on, you gotta focus on the little things that just work and let the ones that don’t slowly fall into place – much like orthodontia I guess.
I had my tenth adjustment today ! Wow. Time certainly flies. I got a new top wire which will hopefully level things out now that… the gap is closed ! Yay ! And, I have to wear my elastics in the shape of triangles. Exciting stuff. Next appointment in 5 weeks. Stay tuned.
Today’s adjustment was short and uneventful. Dr Short just tightened the top wire. The next adjustment is in two months. I’ll get a new top wire then. In the meantime, I’m supposed to wear these two elastics on the right side for 12 hours everyday.
Today’s adjustment wasn’t too bad. I told the orthodontist about 3 concerns I had. He dismissed 2 of them saying he’d fix those "minor" issues towards the end of my long journey. It’s still too soon, he says. Ha ! Torture is never fast-paced.
He did actually do something about my third concern. I am missing one tooth on the bottom and the tooth next to it was moving inward. He put a powerchain from tooth 2 to tooth 7 and a spring from tooth 5 to tooth 7 over the gap. This is somehow supposed to put tooth 7 back into alignment. Orthodontia is amazing voodoo.
I also got a new wire on the bottom and he "tightened" the manly man wire on top (ouch !). The gaps are closing slowly but surely. My next adjustment is in 6 weeks and he thinks they may be totally closed by them. Woohoo !
Had my seventh adjustment yesterday. By now I know better than to expect a simple "in and out" procedure. I was right.
I went from a sissy wire to a heavy manly man wire. The assistant working on me had a really hard time trying to get the new wire through the last two molars, so Dr Short told her to stop at the adjacent ones which is what caused that weird shifting problem before, so of course I wasn’t a happy camper.
I have to keep telling myself this man knows what he’s doing, but it’s hard after everything I’ve gone through with medical and dental staff. After my bike accident a few years ago, I had to correct the nurses who were trying to xray my right arm which was virtually unharmed while my left arm was the size of my leg and covered in blood. It’s scary, people !
I was in too much pain to complain yesterday but I plan to call the office when I don’t feel like punching a wall anymore. You can never be too careful and I am paying crazy money for this torture.
OK, so I lied. But I didn’t know I was lying at the time. The pain, like someone had punched the left side of my face, didn’t set in until roughly 6pm. It sucks but I can see progress already !!
Holy moly. You know the patient at the ortho that is there when you come in and still there when you leave ? That’s me !
Today, Dr. Short decided to change four brackets, two that had been broken for months and two that weren’t positioned correctly. I’m glad he’s taking the steps to correct it all since the broken brackets were starting to get to me and progress had been slow because of them.
The rest of the visit was uneventful. The spring (to help close the extraction gap) was once again postponed to the next appointment (in April). On the bright side, I’m not in too much pain since I’m sporting another sissy wire, but I’ve been promised a big manly one next month. Yikes !
Thought I’d try a different setting for today’s adjustment report.
Like many long term relationships, I thought my visits to the orthodontist would start to lack excitement after the sixth month. I couldn’t have been further from the truth. During my fifth adjustment this morning, Dr. Short pulled this out of his bag of tricks: two more brackets, one for each top end molar (#7s). Apparently, the teeth next door (#6s, where the wire stopped) had started to “cave in” somewhat. I had noticed this and it had bothered me immensely. I was planning to bring it up during my visit, but Dr. Short beat me to it once he saw today’s status x-ray. To be honest, it looked A LOT worse in the x-ray. Anyway, I’m glad he caught it and is taking the steps to correct it.
So I now have brackets on all my teeth except for one in the bottom. I got a new top wire which is surprisingly thinner than the one I was wearing before. They took the spring off (for now) as well as the “lace” that was still holding my six front teeth together. I have to keep wearing elastics and was given an additional three packs “just in case” after I told them I’d be out of the country for three weeks.
My next appointment is not for another six weeks which is totally fine with me and my teeth. 
