Today was the big day. Two hours after walking into the clinic, I walked out with significantly more metal in my mouth! It's been almost 7 hours since the appointment ended and although my teeth are feeling uncomfortable, I wouldn't say they are painful. So either the pain is coming, or maybe I've just gotten used to it by now with the SARPE. The appointment did confirm one thing - I still have little to no feeling in my upper jaw. I could easily tell when Dr. Roy was applying the glue to my bottom teeth, but did not feel anything when she applied the glue to the top. I'm starting to become a little concerned that the feeling won't come back. It's been 4.5 months now after all!
The appointment itself was fine. Under the advice of my fiancée's mom, who is a RN, I took 2 advils and 2 tylenol an hour prior to the appointment, but in hindsight I do not think I needed anything. When I got there, they basically sat me down, cleaned the teeth a little, placed the brackets, and fed the wire through. Easy as pie (which I can't bake, so maybe that's a bad analogy, but you get the idea). You can't see what's going on as the brackets and everything are being applied - you have to wait until afterwards. It was a little nerve-wracking looking in that mirror the first time, but honestly, it was not as bad as I thought. It's still bad. Lots of metal. But not as bad as I thought.
After I left, I picked up some special toothbrush heads for my Oral B Triumph. I got the whole spiel on how important the cleaning is, and I definitely plan on keeping up with the cleanings as best I can. I think having the Triumph will help out a lot.
The expander is still in my mouth. The way the expander is, no brackets were required for the teeth the expander is attached to (the top 4's and 6's), so the wire was simply fed through. When the expander is ready to be removed, brackets will then be glued to those teeth.
I asked about timing, and Dr. Roy said that we'll have a much clearer idea after the next few adjustments. Initially, I was told the end of 2010. I never actually believed that was a possibility though, so if it's not then, I won't be THAT disappointed! My next appointment and first adjustment is happening on October 14, four days prior to my 27th birthday. Ugh, 27. That's officially "late twenties" isn't it? I'm in my late 20's and have braces.....weird?
Now on to what you've been waiting for - the pics. Attached below are pictures taken last night before the braces, and the same ones tonight with the braces. I'm going to try to take pictures once a week again to track the progress the braces make.
Enjoy the pictures and I'll post again soon!
