On the 8th Day the Braces Stopped Hurting

It's true. Sometime around 11 this morning I had a startling realization. "Hey, I don't think my teeth hurt any more." I didn't so much feel a sense of relief as a sense of, 'I knew this day would come.'

I did.

Even though my last 7 days of posting have consisted of me squealing and complaining. In the back of my mind, I got through those 7 days -- mostly the first 2-3 -- by focusing on one day at a time. And knowing that this too shall pass.

But it has been an eventful day. When I awoke I felt strong enough on my right side to try my granola breakfast. Which went great, as long as I took small spoonfulls and chewed slowly. And then, just as I was finishing, I felt something poking the inside of my cheek. "Dang. I popped out my wire."

So it was back to Dr. Waldman's. I don't know if it's a record for a patient to return 3 business days in a row. I was proud of myself I didn't have a problem over the weekend -- that would have been really annoying. But I was ashamed to have to go back to the office.

Dr. W was his usual ebullient self. He didn't blame me or belittle me at all. He talked about how lucky I was to work close to his office, but he was sure it was bad for my daily schedule to have to take time to have to keep returning. So he cut the wire off of bracket no. 7 on each side and bent it back. Now that sucker is locked in there. Took him about 30 seconds. He made it clear it would not effect my treatment at all. (He didn't even bracket the no. 7s on the bottom, so the 7s at the top are a bonus.)

We talked a little shop about what I had discovered when I realized the wire was not anchored at the back, as if it were the suspension wire on a bridge. Instead, it merely slips into a hole. That means the force the wire exerts is in the wire itself, pulling the teeth towards the wire.

Dr. W compared this wire to the kind I had way back in the 70s, (remember, those days when they'd evolved just past 'get-in-there-with-a-crowbar' or something). He said then the wires would get bent out of shape by the teeth, and the orthodontist had to really tighten them up to get the treatment effect.

Of course everyone in the office was super nice. I may have to call them tomorrow just to say I miss them.