Bye, Bye, Brace-Face

This post shows 2 major things. The less important being that my hair goes extremely flat in no time at all...in dry climate. That sucks. The more important being that I GOT MY BRACES OFF!!!! It's a good day. Pearly whites showing again, and now they are straight. And now I'm going to keep them straight. Wearing retainers was not "cool" back when I needed them the first time around. Ok, they're not cool now, but at least they are clear. I have to wear them 24/7 for 6 months. They are SO hard to get out. (Like, so hard there's no way I'm doing it in front of somebody because it's disgusting. Did you see the movie Date Night? Remember the scene when she came to bed and he noticed she had her retainers in and expressed disappointment that she wore them to bed (because that meant he wouldn't get any) so she took them out and slobbered all over the place? Well, that really happens.)

There are pro's and con's associated with this little problem:

Pro: I can't drink Dr. Pepper with them in as it will cause my fairly weak teeth to be eaten alive by all that sugar trapped inside the retainer.

Con: I can't drink Dr. Pepper, and that will cut out at least 300 calories a day. Let's be honest, I'm still going to drink it, just not 24/7. More like 22/7 now.

Pro: I can't eat with them in at all, which means snacking will be cut down quite a bit.

Con: I won't be able to just eat a bite or two of something around someone without shoving my fingers in my mouth in an attempt to pry the thing off my teeth, and if I happen to get it off, the string of saliva that follows it will likely kill my appetite for said snack.

Pro: Syd thinks I'm cool again now that we both have retainers to put in their case when we eat dinner. She was very excited for us to have this in common, and couldn't wait to do it together.

Con: I sound like a kid with her first retainer and can't say my S's properly. It sounds more like a "sth," and it's a little embarrassing.

Pro: My teeth are going to stay straight if I wear these things as prescribed.

Con: I have to wear them for 6 months, all day long, every day, except to eat and brush.

I am very pleased with the results. My teeth are very straight once again, and will be whiter in just a couple more weeks. The Dr. gave me teeth whitener I can put in my trays at night and brighten them up a bit!

Dr. Dana was happy to get rid of me, I'm pretty sure. I was one of those patients who he wasn't too fond of. I pointed out issues with my teeth that he missed, and he didn't seem to like being told of things he probably should have noticed himself. My midline was way off and he hadn't noticed until I mentioned it and asked how to fix it. He tried to tell me that it just happens sometimes and that it can't always be fixed. Well, that wasn't acceptable to me, so he magically thought of something that ended up fixing it, for the most part. It's still off a bit, but one of my teeth was so loose I was scared it was going to fall out under the stress of the bands on it trying to pull my midline back into place. I decided I'd keep the tooth and have the midline off a bit. I'm happy with it, so that's what matters in the end. They are much better than they were when I started out! :)

Yay! No more brace-face!