The sun will come out...

Tomorrow! Upper braces come off tomorrow! Did I mention that I'm getting the upper ones off tomorrow??? Yea!
5 bucks say that I am too excited to sleep tonight, wake up in a fog, and drive halfway to work before I remember the appointment.



Anyways, last night of elastic-ing the mouth shut before bed! (btw, I tilted my head in this show - I don't think my mouth is this lopsided anymore!)

In the chair

Blogging from the orthodontist chair - my new phone rocks.  Upper debanding next Tuesday!

and on and on and on

Meh.  5 more weeks.  Well, 3 weeks to check on my progress – Dr. Weber wants to see two teeth on the right side move a little closer together.  Then another week until they take off the top brackets.  Then yet another week until they have my retainers ready, at which time they will take off my bottom brackets, and I’m done. 

I had sort of hoped to have these things off before our big Halloween show, but oh well.  Better to get them as good as possible than to rush for vanity’s sake (yeah, still trying to convince myself of that!).

The receptionist asked me if there was any particular food that I was craving.  I thought that was odd – I suppose she meant hard or chewy candy or something, especially since it’s October and so close to Halloween and all the sticky food that goes along with this creepy holiday…  I told her hot wings – I haven’t been able to eat them well, without pulling the meat off the bones.  But then again, at the point, I hadn’t have breakfast yet, so anything sounded great!

 

The light! Can you see it?

The one at the end of this long orthodontic tunnel?  It's on!  I went in for my orthodontist appointment this afternoon.  There was no discussion of delays due to my infection.  The infection which has miraculously (finally) felt better the past two days...  Instead, the assistant snipped off my back wires, wrapped my front brackets in thinner wire, and showed me how to use my finishing elastics!  Yea!  She told me I'd wear them for 3 weeks at night, but Dr. Weber came over and told me two weeks.  So, I go back on the 5th of October, and then I'll probably have 2-3 more weeks after that and then I'm D-O-N-E. 

My ow-ies are not gone, but they don't hurt nearly as bad.  I haven't worn wax since Tuesday night (mostly because I ran out).  They did, however, get rubbed open and bled all over the poor lady's hands and instruments while she was trying to put the elastics on... oops.  Not that I could have controlled it, but I'm sure she was just as grossed out as I was.  Ew.  Dr. Weber had her take photos of the infected spots, so that they could compare them next time to see if it's not getting better.  He thinks I'm somehow getting them caught in my teeth/brackets, because they are not flat against my cheeks, but raised - and may have to be taken off...which sounds painful.  Hopefully not.

But nonetheless, almost done!  Almost done!  Almost done!  Yea!

the scoop on the goo

Stephanie asked for more info on Gishy Goo.  While no expert, I can at least link you to their website.   www.gishygoo.com J  I meant to take a picture of my stash but toss the empty syringe before thinking about it.  It’s basically a “flavored, thixotropic, polyvinyl siloxane silicone elastomer” that you squeeze out, roll between your fingers and gob onto your brackets.  It tastes really great and feels pretty darn good.  I don’t like the fact that it’s opaque and therefore highly visible when I smile or talk.  At least with wax, the person you’re talking to doesn’t necessarily know what they’re seeing! J  But comfort becomes far more important than style when your face is being shredded by brackets, am I right?

 

I have no clue where you get this stuff other than from the orthodontist.  It was the first time they’d offered it to me, so maybe it’s new?

 

I officially ran out of the goo last night, and am wax-free at the moment.  That’ll last until I need to eat or have to speak in a meeting at work.  I bought more wax, but am trying to see how long I can go without.  Back to the ortho tomorrow afternoon to get a verdict on the state of my teeth.

possible delay

OK, I’m getting nervous about this.  My mouth is still not healing from whatever infection this is – the icky cankers are still there, despite a new medication.  I’m told this one takes a while to work, but it has been an entire week.  I ended up going in to see the orthodontist last Monday because I was still in a lot of pain, so they switched me to a different treatment.  Ooh, and gave me Gishy Goo, which I’ve never tried before, but is quite nice as an alternative to wax.  Gotta love anything bubble-gum flavored.  But still… this is going on 3 weeks now and I haven’t been able to floss much or wear my rubber bands…which undoubtedly means that I’m delaying my “release date”.  I am scheduled at the ortho this Thursday to get the last route of torturous rubber bands and stuff put on, but I’m guessing that Weber will push it off until I’m less swollen and pained.  Which means that everything gets pushed back.  Ugh.

 

I just can’t figure out what I did to cause this.  Surely it’s something I did or didn’t do…too many tomatoes?  Too little of one vitamin or another?  Who knows…

 

freak show

So, apparently I am just a freak of nature.  I saw the surgeon this morning (my xrays look great!) and he confirmed that it was highly unusual for anyone to get an infection like this.  That means I’m incredibly lucky right?  Maybe I should also play the lottery.  Ugh.  That would explain why Google wasn’t finding me very much information on “infected canker sores”.  Great.

 

However, 5 days into my course of antibiotics, my mouth does feel better, so that’s a plus.  I pulled off all my wax last night, brushed and rinsed really well  and carefully applied my night-time rubber bands (the first time in a week).  I did not, of course, remember to put on lip balm or anything, so my lips managed to stick themselves together during the night and when I unpeeled them this morning, I bled all over the sink.  Sorry, TMI.  The lip balm is now ON, permanently!  Hopefully this will all be even better by tomorrow night, when we go out to celebrate my birthday.  Because I would like more sushi, not soup, for dinner. J