With Wires Comes Happiness...

My journey began on November 23, 2005. My life had taken a drastic turn when I got the news that braces would not correct my bite and that surgery was in my distant future. I entered the tourture chamber where I sat down for the first of many appointments. I remember my orthodontist- Dr. Francisco Villalobos putting on all my brackets with that nasty cement that cures with UV light. Time crawled and my nervous/excited nature turned to fear. I could feel my teeth contorting with the new wires pulling them unwillingly. Finally, the assistant gave me a mirror and let me gaze at the monster in front of me. I felt so uncomfortable and my mouth felt so foreign to my body. I think I was scared because of how the wires were bending up and down in my mouth. Little did I know that the bendy wire would disappear as my teeth straightened.

I went to work the next day and could only remember telling people, "I got braces!!" with total disgust. I worked with many customers and felt as if I told everyone of them that day, just because I thought they were all staring into my mouth! I told myself that I would never get through this and I would never get used to this thorn in my side...

Time managed to creep by and I almost forgot I had braces within a few months time. Life began to go back to normal as I fell into my routine. I began anticepating my upcoming adjustments, just because I loved to see the progress! With the progress always came the 3-day-stretch of achy teeth, but I knew something was happening for the good. Pretty soon the wires were getting replaced with bigger, stronger wires and the pain was soon subsiding. My teeth were reaching their pre-surgical point, and only fine-tuning was needed.

About a month ago, I got my kobayashi ties put on (those little twisted wires that seperate the dentoalveolar segments from each other) I was supposed to have my surgery on July 16th. 2007, but it got bumped to August 14th because my insurance didn't cover the first hospital (Even though I was told by the receptionist that it was...) I recently swallowed a bracket from my rear molar and am wondering about what I should do. The wire isn't poking me, but I need to know whether I need it post-op or not.

So now that we're up to date, I'll continue my journey on more public circumstances... :-)