My 30th Year - Rachael S. Dunn Gets Braces

An adult braces journal (among other things)

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Week 28 Appointment

I'm an idiot and never took photos of the baby pink power chain and ligatures. Oh well. I'll remember them fondly anyway. Even though the lovely pale pink color started to quickly lose its appeal as it discolored after seeing too much tea, soda and red wine. I'm trying hard to avoid these stain-producing drinks, but it's hard. I love hot tea. It's my favorite. And I've been drinking clear diet sodas like Fresca and Sprite Zero, but every once in a while, I need the caffeine! I'll blame the red wine on Andy. I could forgo red for white or some other alcoholic beverage, but Andy likes his reds. And if that's what we're having with dinner, I'm not one to turn down a drinky drink.

Now, the baby pink power chain is gone -- replaced by a new power chain. I had an appointment yesterday, Feb. 14 at Atlanta Orthodontic Specialists. Dr. Michael Stuart decided I was ready for the reverse curve wire! He called it a more aggressive wire than anything I've had so far. There was a little tenderness in my upper jaw last night, but I have to say, I've not really experienced any extreme pain except for during the first few days while my mouth adjusted to the metal brackets.

The reverse curve wire will help move my teeth forward to help correct the overbite. I did read some stuff on the internet yesterday about how it's often considered extreme therapy for adults and isn't often done, blah, blah. But I trust Dr. Stewart. The shape of the wire is crazy and I'm amazed the assistant could even get it into my mouth! But it's in there and is hopefully doing it's thing, quickly...

I have a new power chain, which is attached to all of the brackets except for the very back ones. I guess at the teeth all start to move forwards, they also have a tendency to spread out and gaps may appear. The purpose of the power chain is to counteract that affect so the teeth all move forwards together without creating gaps. I selected a slightly darker pink chain this time. Maybe next time I'll try the fluorescent pink one. That should pop right out!

I absolutely need to take photos tonight. I need to take a 28 week picture and need to document the new wire and dark pink power chain. The primary purpose of the blog was to document the orthodontic process, mostly with photos. I'm annoyed that I got lazy and missed taking a picture of my first power chain!

I have six weeks between appointments this time. Still no solid news about the bottom brackets.