Monday, March 24, 2008

First Maintenance Visit

Sorry that it took me a few days (okay, over a week) to post an update re: my first real maintenance visit. I went in last Tuesday.

First of all, I had to wait OVER AN HOUR before I was brought into the room. I guess since my Ortho is only at my dentist's office twice a month, they sometimes get behind trying to jam everyone in. Very annoying... I hope this doesn't become a reoccurring problem.

When I finally got started, the first thing the technician did was to glue my two attachments onto my top teeth. The only real discomfort with this process is having to wear the clear plastic mouth expander they put in your cheeks to keep your teeth exposed. You wear this while they are putting your braces on as well. It kind of sucks. It feels like your bottom lip is going to split open. Then, when she was taking it out, she kind of pinched the inside of my top lip, which made my eyes tear uncontrollably. Aside from that, a painless procedure.

Basically, first they clean your teeth, then they dry them very well and apply a liquid to them -- which I am assuming is some type of acid -- to roughen the surface of the tooth a bit. Then they take an [existing] copy of your aligner and apply the adhesive/attachment material into the spaces in the aligner where the attachments fit. They put the aligner on you and it sits for several minutes curing (setting). The only slight discomfort with this (for me) was that the aligner was very tight. I got used to it after a few minutes, but she struggled getting it to snap on my teeth.

After, she rinsed my teeth off and put my normal aligner back in. I am now on aligner #2!!! Woo Hoo! And from here on out, I will change my aligner every two weeks. I am already done with the first week, so I'm already halfway to aligner #3!

Once it was in my mouth, I asked if I could practice taking it out... as I had heard horror stories of removing the aligner right after the attachments are place. I was able to [fairly] easily get it out. Keep in mind though, I only have two attachments... some people have as many as ten! I can see how removing the aligner -- when you have multiple attachments -- could be quite the challenge. Make sure you practice before you leave the office!

Once that step was done, it was on to the traditional braces on my bottom teeth. This is where things started to suck a bit. First, she removed the existing band and wires. Then, she placed either end of the wire in the back-most brackets on either side. Once the wire is anchored, they go bracket by bracket, using either bands or wires to fasten the wire on.

Previously I had all bands. Since things were moving along nicely, she used steel wire ties on the teeth that need the most adjusting (for either misalignment or rotation). As she tightened the wire around the bracket -- on the teeth that are the most painful as is -- it hurt quite a bit. A lot in fact. I thought for sure I would be in excruciating pain that night but I was actually okay. It was the tightening of the wires that hurt the most.

The appointment took about an hour in total and my next appointment is in 6 weeks. At this next appointment they will do something called "slenderizing" on the bottom teeth. This procedure helps to shave down the edges of the teeth -- where there is overcrowding -- providing room for the teeth to shift into place. Sounds a little scary, but I was told it is not painful (famous last words coming from someone in the dental industry). I asked if they could do some 'slenderizing' in other places too... like my butt, thighs and legs. Unfortunately they can not...

2 comments:

Unknown said...

If "slenderizing" is what I think it is, it is indeed painless. They filed down some of my teeth because they were too long and it didn't hurt a bit. Definitely felt weird afterwards, though, running my tongue along them.

BFW (Tammy) said...

Thanks Lauren!

I actually think the slenderizing is what they do BETWEEN the teeth. They sort of file the spaces, make them wider -- and providing room for the teeth to shift.

We'll see!