Naked Tooth!

I went to Mexico over New Year’s, and that darn bracket on my lower molar all the way in the back came loose again. So, by the time I got back and was able to get into the ortho, it was about 5 days already. It was already pretty ripped up back there from the wire, and I could never really get the wax to stick so I gave up and figured I would just deal with it. I am sure that the bracket coming loose didn’t help, as the wire had more liberty to move around back there and rip things up more.

I wasn’t able to see Dr. L again, so a different ortho took care of me yesterday. The assistant told me that I should have clipped the wire since it was so torn up, there is no reason for me to be a human shish kabob. She did tell me I was taking impeccable care of my teeth, though. She said that it looked like they just put the braces on yesterday. That made me happy, since I know that the better I take care of them, the more quickly they will move. The ortho on duty took a look and decided not to put the bracket back on, since I have another appointment for a wire change at the end of the month and he wanted my cheek to heal up. He said Dr. L can place the bracket then. I was worried that it would delay my treatment plan, but he said that in no way would it compromise the speed of my treatment, he was actually very pleased when he looked at my before pictures to see how quickly things were moving. He even said that if Dr. L were there, he may even have wanted to change the wire. Darn, I wish Dr. L would have been there … I guess I just have to be patient and wait until the end of the month.

So, they buffed off the glue and snipped the wire, turned it in and left me with a naked tooth! The assistant told me to do several salt water rinses a day to help things heal. I also had her change a couple of the ligatures on the brackets that are not self ligating because they were stained. My mouth feels great! No canker sores, and I can feel the sores in the back healing up already.

I took a pic today to see the difference and how things moved. I can really see the movement now. Although they still have a ways to go, you can really see how they have moved apart, as they don’t overlap nearly as much as they did at first. So, 5 weeks into braces, I think I am doing pretty well!

I am posting another pic … I still don’t like how yellow my teeth look, but I just have to deal with it for now since I am taking as best care of them as I can. I will definitely go in every 3 months for a cleaning, though, vs. 6 and see if that helps any.