Friday, July 30, 2010

Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers

Well, it's been 3 days since I've gotten my spacers. They're not painful when they're sitting there, but the ones in my upper left quadrant are sticking out a bit so it feels like I'm chewing on rubber when I close my mouth. Very weird feeling.

The only time I do have problems is when I try to eat. Chewing is not my favorite thing right now because that's when I really feel the movement of my teeth. It also feels like the molars on my right side are higher on the bottom or lower on the top arch. But, it looks like I'm just going to have to stick it out.

Four more days to go and then I'll be getting braced. Check back again soon!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Chewy

So, soon after I posted the previous blog entry, I walked to the Downtown area of Huntington Beach to go catch the route 1. While on board, I resumed playing Sudoku on my nook.

This was not a good idea, because I ended up missing my stop and had to walk back to the previous stop, about a good mile away. I called up OCTA to find out when the next route 35 was leaving so I could get to Dr. Graham's office and found that it was leaving the next minute. "Run, Forrest! Run!"

So, I ran and got to the bus about a minute after it was supposed to leave, but the driver saw me running and waited. I hopped on board and grabbed a seat in the back and the driver doesn't have the air conditioning running. When I got to my stop, I had to yell at him to stop or else he would have driven right past it.

Now, irritated, I walk into Dr. Graham's office. Soon, the waiting room is full of patients for their 10:30 appointments. We all got herded into a 2nd waiting area, then get called in and assigned different seats.

Soon, one of the dental assistants joined me and asked if I was getting all my spacers put in. I didn't think about this at first and said "Yes" before I remembered that Dr. Graham was going to brace me on the bottom first to make room for the upper brackets. The assistant came back with the spacers and I told her what was going on. She inspected my bite, then went and got my chart. She then made a quick consultation with Dr. Graham and started placing the spacers between my molars and 2nd bicuspids.

I think the spacers are blue elastic bands that they use for braces. When they place them in, they stretch them out so that they're like a slightly thicker piece of dental floss. They then spring into their normal shape and move the teeth apart form each other so there is space to place the metal bands.

When the assistant was finished, she told me that she's looking forward to the finished results of my surgery. She related the story of her ex-husband and told me that his underbite was even more severe than my own. The results were, in her words, fantastic. Of course, dopey me, I forgot to ask her name or look at her nametag. Oh well, I'll be in next week.

Next week, I go in for braces and the whole thing really begins in earnest. Forward, ever forward. Check back here next week.

Back On Track

Well, less than an hour and a half to go. In about 90 minutes, I'll be in Dr. Graham's office to finally get my spacers for my braces.

This appointment was reset after news came that the Judge Malette threw Emperor Schwarzenegger's case out of court. When word came on that Friday, I called the following Monday to make my appointment.

This procedure involves placing pieces between the molars to make room for the application of metal bands that will be used as anchors around the molars. Next week, I will be getting said bands around my teeth and be getting braces placed on my bottom teeth so they can be moved into their position and also so I won't be breaking off my upper brackets when they're applied.

This reminds me, I also have to ask Dr. Graham to refer me to the x-ray clinic so I can get another encephalographic radiogram to show that my jaw is no longer growing and that the jaw distance is being caused by the bone and not the braces.

Time to go! Check back later.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Hosed, again

Well, I was supposed to go in and get spacers put on today, but being that I'm an employee of the State of California, I now have to worry about whether or not I am even going to be able to make my rent, as minimal as it is, for the next couple of months thanks to Governor Schwarzenegger's plan to reduce all employees to Federal Minimum Wage until the budget is passed.

Until then, ALL appointments regarding an orthodontist are now indefinitely on hold until I get my full paycheck. I simply don't know if I'll even have the ability to pay my regular bills.