"Your teeth are wiggly."

At my 6-month cleaning on Monday, the Dental Hygenist (who is a total sweetheart) said "You're doing a great job keeping your teeth clean around your braces." And then she qualified it by saying "Although, most of the people I see with braces are kids, and kids don't brush their teeth without braces, let alone with them."  Ha!  She also stopped in the middle of polishing to wiggle one of my bottom eye teeth and said "This tooth is really wiggly!"  She's absolutely right, of course, but I kind of wish she hadn't mentioned it.  Now I'm going to be paranoid that my teeth are going to immediately fall out of their sockets after the braces are removed in 20 months.  At any rate, I'm free of cavities for now.  And that's all I was hoping for.

I had a heavier archwire installed on Thursday.  Yes, I used the word "installed" because it was a lengthy ordeal for the Orthodontic Assistant (who describes herself as having "man hands").  I felt kind of bad, but it's not really my fault that I have the weird brackets that open like doors.  Anyway, they didn't touch the bottom teeth, just the top ones -- I am thankful for this because they hurt like crazy.  Dr. Lazy said that she would let the archwires do their thing before putting me in bands to correct my crossbite.  There was even mention of installing more appliances on the inside of my top teeth to pull them outwards.  This frightens me.  Overall, Dr. Lazy seemed really pleased at how quickly my teeth have moved.  I saw the pictures from my first visit (before braces) and it's even surprising to me how much they've moved in 4 months.  I don't know why I waited so long to get braces.

Anyway, here's me at just a little over 4 months of brace face: