"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:

Body Image

I clicked on a link a friend had posted on FB about young girls' body images being influenced by fake air-brushed girls in magazines. And something inside my memory opened and released this long-suppressed memory of me being about 8 or 9 years old and, after being told on a daily basis by my brother that I was fat, I finally snapped and yelled at the top of my lungs "I'm fat and I need ultra slim fast!" It makes sense to trace back my current body image issues to when I was a kid. I don't think my parents stopped my brother, well, 1. Because he ruled the house and they were kind of afraid of him, too, and 2. I don't think they knew that he was permanently damaging me. But I wish they had. I wish someone had stuck up for me and told me I was not fat (because I really wasn't-- I was a normal-weight kid who turned into an anorexic pre-teen who turned into an obsessive adult). And even now, I need constant reinforcement concerning my weight and appearance. At least now, I'm smart enough to know the answer isn't Ultra Slim Fast. Do they even make that anymore?

First Archwire Adjustment

I had my first appointment after getting the braces on. They took out the archwires and I got to floss my teeth... which was a high point in my week. Flossing through the archwire is pretty time consuming and I don't really enjoy it. So, having them all exposed was fabulous. And I could tell with certainty that my teeth have moved. Anyway, after flossing, they stuck the same archwires back into my brackets and sent me on my merry way. I think it took about 10 minutes total. I had been bracing myself to expect a heavier wire and be in pain for the next week or so, but nope. I'm good to go!

Right now, braces really aren't that bad.

Smooth Operator

I've been drinking a lot of smoothies these days. It took me a long time to fully appreciate them. I had heard that they're a great breakfast idea because they are easy to digest and can pack a Vita-C punch first thing in the morning. I think I was hesitant because I really enjoy chewing, but when I got the braces on, chewing became unappealing. Anyway, I've had some Vega Shake 'N' Go powder in the cupboard since last year. I bought it before my first round of P90X thinking I'd have it after workouts instead of their pricey recovery drink. When I first tried it, I was like "blech." It kind of tastes like stevia and chalk by itself. But after I started incorporating it into smoothies with fruits and non-dairy milks, I began to really dig it.

Anyway, for posterity, here are my two favorite smoothie recipes. Roughly.

1/2 cup frozen mango chunks

1 cup non-dairy milk (I like unsweetened soy here)

Espresso powder (1tsp) OR 1/2 cup cold coffee

1 Tbsp Vanilla Almondilla Vega Shake N Go

1/2 cup frozen pineapple chunks

1/2 cup unsweetened soy yogurt

3/4 - 1 cup non-dairy milk (I like vanilla hemp milk here)

1/2 cup (or enough to thin it out) coconut water

1 Tbsp Vanilla Almondilla

I've been trying to cut down my caffeine intake (coffee), and I can honestly say that these smoothies generally keep me pretty energized. I do get hungry earlier than I did when I ate oatmeal regularly, but for the sake of keeping my metabolism up, I think it's wise to have a smoothie and then a small snack rather than eating a huge dense bowl of oatmeal and then waiting another 4-5 hours to eat again.

Over the last year, I've been pushing pretty hard on the fitness end of the health scale. I assumed that was enough-- that I could continue to eat like I had and I'd magically become all fit and sexy. When that didn't happen, I got kind of discouraged. Since I started P90X2 (December 28ish?), I've been chiseling away at my diet and seen better results. I don't claim to be perfect, but I feel pretty good about the state of things.

And because I am a narcissist, here are my guns.

Three week update

I've had the old brackets and wire for just over three weeks now. In spite of the literature in the handout (nothing hard, sticky, or sweet), I've been eating pretty much what I want... which includes liberal amounts of chocolatey substances and nuts.

Which is probably why my teeth hurt today.

I had some raw broccoli for lunch that I had to cut into itty bitty pieces. I'm not a fan of eating around other people. Makes me self conscious. Anyway, the front left side of my top set of chompers is pretty tender. And I thought the only time there would be discomfort was after an archwire adjustment?

Speaking of which, I have my first adjustment in 3 weeks. I know the teeth are moving, although they don't really look that much different. I guess is to be expected.

Day 2

Or is it Day 1 still? I technically have not had these things on my teeth for a full 24 hours yet. Sleeping with them was fine. I sleep like a champ anyway, so my only concern was waking up with ripped up gums.

The worst problem I am coping with now is that my mouth feels dry when I talk and I make that gross dry-mouth sound. Also, my gums are, indeed, ripped up. I had a tooth filled on Tuesday and it's definitely more tender now than it was before.

Oh, and I can't chew. I can't chew at all. Any foods I put in my mouth need to be soft enough to either immediately swallow or mash against the roof of my mouth with my tongue. I'm not sure how long this will be a problem.

The verdict so far: tolerable but not pleasant.

BB: Before Braces

Back in October, I made an appointment with the dental school faculty practice to get an estimate on how long and how much braces would be for me. Turns out, quite long and quite expensive. It's something I've wanted to do for most of my life and I keep getting older and my teeth keep getting more crooked, so it seemed like it was probably now or never.

Fast forward a few months to Groundhog Day 2012. I'm eating popcorn and a crunchy granola bar for breakfast. For lunch, I'm having my favorite samosas and chutney. These will be my last 2 means sans-braces.

The estimated time is 2 years, although I am expecting longer. The estimated cost? Almost as much as I paid for my car 7 years ago. Will I keep up with this blog to document my progress? Doubtfully. But, I thought it would be nice to capture my last day of crooked-ass-hillbilly-teeth.