Five weeks in! Wow, time flies...

Hello again! Its been a whilst, but been busy with work and then took some time out to go back home and visit the UK! As far as my teeth are concerned, I don't really think too much has happened - although it does look like one of the laterals has moved downwards and lined up with the centrals. I was getting a gap between the centrals and laterals before the powerchain was put on across from [2] to [2] (and am now also sporting .16 NiTi's on both arches to go with my first powerchain!), but now I think I may be getting a gap between the laterals and canines.

Am looking forward to the expander, I feel kind of stagnant at the moment where I took my vacation and now Dr O is on vacation! I'm definitely ready to progress a little now! My next adjustment is on the 31st March, when I should get some more spacers in preparation for the RPE! Should be fun...

The End Of The First Week

Well I've nearly survived my first week with having braces, and apart from a small amount of tightness and discomfort I can't really say that its been anything to complain about! My upper laterals and centrals definitely feel tender, and I seem to be getting a gap in the centrals - but I go back to Dr O on Wednesday for my first adjustment, so I can complain adequately then about the gap! My lips have probably been the worst affected, and I don't even mean the insides of my lips. My lips just feel constantly dry and tight, not really sure what that is all about.

My lowers don't even feel like they have a wire on them - well, they have a .12 NiTi I believe, and the uppers a very respectable .14 NiTi. From what I understand, both are baby wires. I'm wondering whether my lowers will get switched to a .14 when I go in on Wednesday, but I don't imagine my upper getting switched until the banding and expander happen next month. Anyways, my darling baby has just managed to rent me a copy of Wario Ware : Smooth Moves for my Wii - so I'm off to play. Will update with photos over the weekend!

Day Three With Braces

Today I had my first day back at work with the braces, quite successful - most people seem to think they were cute. Pain hasn't been too bad today, although eating has been a challenge - heres to hoping that I manage to lose some weight before going back to the UK. I managed some mushy cereal for breakfast, a cheese sandwich at lunchtime...soaked by three bottles of water by the time I was finished. A chocolate pudding for snack, and then some scrambled egg & fake bacon for dinner. I'm definitely feeling good for all the extra water I've been drinking, good for skin and the body as a whole.

...And They're On!

Everything went very smoothly today, although the appointment took a little longer than anticipated. I have full lowers and everything up to the [5]'s done on my uppers. There was a slight change of treatment plan, which is why the appointment ended up being quite a bit longer than scheduled. We spent some time talking, and have decided to do another RPE along with the braces - Yay! Fun! So I don't have my uppers banded, the bands were fitted, impressions were taken and I will have the RPE fitted after I return from my visit home next month.

I definitely listened to all the advice from those who have gone through this before me - plenty of water to be hydrated, but paid a visit to the restroom before getting started. Lots of lip-balm, and salt water rinses have also helped. The lip spreaders weren't so bad, although my mouth and jaw did get a little tired of being open for such a long time! I also had this strange thing to bite down on, which caused a couple of gags, but nothing too bad - Michelle was wonderful and did a great job throughout the whole appointment! Ryan, bless him, has quite a hilarious photo of me in sunglasses, lipspreaders and trying to keep warm under my blanket (Dr O keeps his rooms fit for the artic! ) The etchant and glue stuff was a little bitter tasting, but nothing too bad. Ry stayed and watched the lower bands and a couple of brackets go on, took some rather amusing photographs of me, and then departed for the nearby Best Buy to amuse himself whilst I got finished up. I have a .12 wire on the bottom and a .14 on the top, nothing too heavy at this stage. No elastics yet, I'm assuming not for a couple months now that we are moving ahead with a second RPE.

So far it has taken me around twenty minutes to clean my teeth and floss, hopefully I will eventually improve on that time! I was shown how to clean and floss whilst I was still at the office, but its definitely not that easy for the first time. The brushing wasn't too bad, and I also have some inter-proxy brushs for getting between the archwires and cleaning the brackets nicely. Flossing was definitely the hardest part... I usually use those little bits of floss that are on a stick, much much easier than trying to work with a piece of string! However, that is no longer an option (except for the back teeth on my uppers ) I bought some of this Oral B Super Floss, the stuff thats stiff, fuzzy and then floss. Its pretty tricky stuff though, but I've found that coming down through the archwire somewhat easier than going up. I hope this flossing lark becomes easier with time!

So far, no pain - and Ryan even took me to the Olive Garden for dinner tonight. I managed to bite into the breadsticks just fine, and managed a meal of Pasta with no problems. I'm definitely eating slower, but with cutting everything up real small, it wasn't too much of a hassle. I did however give up the after dinner mint, chocolate just isn't appealing at the moment. I had my dentakit, and was able to clean up easily after the meal. I think thats quite an accomplishment, eating in a restaurant on my first day with braces!

Here is one photo, but its late and nearly time for SNL!

The Night Before...

Tomorrow is the big day, I have my appointment to get my braces on! I'll be glad to get rid of those darn spacers, they're just aggravating now - fortunately, not painful anymore. I've told a couple of people that I work with, and so far, everyone has been way supportive of the decision. I'm lucky in the fact that no one has been in the slightest bit pessimistic towards me, in fact, this afternoon before leaving work, my co-worker and I were discussing possible colour combinations for the lower ligs, and I've promised to text her a photo tomorrow after they're on!

All in all, I'm looking forward this - by the time I'm thirty I should have an amazing smile! Bring it on!

"Death penalty sought for man in Kirkland family slayings"

You always read articles like this, and see reports on the news and think how awful it is, but it is always somehow abstract and removed from you - because you don't know these people or have a connection with them. They never touched your life, or brought you any joy. As human beings, we feel compassion and sorrow for the families of victims of crimes such as these, but then move on to feel thankful that it wasn't our loved ones.

Growing up in the UK, I've never been in a culture where the death penalty has been a part of life, or even accepted as a method of criminal justice or sentencing. Its one of those things that I don't quite think I'll ever get my head around understanding, I never grew up in a society that uses death as a form of punishment and I think I'll always find the concept somewhat creepy.

However, I now find myself on the other side of the fence - Olga. Olga was one of the Orthodontic assistants at the dental office I worked at, and very close to Dr O. They'd worked together for many years, he'd trained her up to be her assistant from no dental background at all - and being an ortho assistant was something that Olga really took to, and was very proud of. Being an ortho assistant isn't what I'll remember most about Olga though, her proudest accomplishment was always her family. She loved her husband and boys so much. I've never met a young woman with such conviction, she had such strong beliefs and was so sure of herself for someone in her twenties.

Today it was announced that the death penalty will be sought for the bleeping a-hole (excuse my language, but it I believe it justified) who did these awful things. I find myself in somewhat of a conundrum, I am, on most accounts, someone who doesn't really agree with the death penalty - although I'm not sure I am explaining that quite as articulately as I possibly could. I guess the best way of describing my feelings would be to say that the thought of it just creeps me out. But here I find myself personally affected by the situation, the loss of someone I cared about and a heinous crime against her and her family.

Here I find myself not upset at this verdict, and not creeped out by the fact that the man who did this will most likely be sentenced to death - in fact, I truly hope he is, and I hope it comes quickly - after all, bleeping a-hole killed my friend. Have my feelings towards the death penalty concept changed? I can't answer that. My husband pointed out, that for everyone convicted and sentenced to the death penalty, there is a family and people like me linked to a victim, who are grieving for the loss of someone they cared about.

I don't think the closure and peace will come from his death, but from the knowledge that he'll not harm anyone else. Unfortunately for Olga, its too late - the only thing we can do now is remember her and for the sake of other families, make sure that no one else is ever harmed by his hands.

This Time Next Week...

I get my braces!! My appointment is 2pm, next Saturday afternoon. So this time next week I'll be preparing to spend the next two to three years of my life with a whole load of junk in my mouth! I'm kind of excited to see how my smile will turn out after my braces, and I'm hoping that this will all be worth it. I think I'm prepared, I still need to get one of those mirrors that have the extra magnification, and the toothbrush heads for braces for my Oral B Triumph.

Yesterday was mine & Ryans two year anniversary, we went over to a very nice little Italian place at Crossroads and had dinner. I've been eyeing up that place ever since we moved to Crossroads, but we've never gone in until last night. I definitely think my cousin Claire would approve, they have a lot of different wines available! After dinner, we went to the Cinema at Crossroads, and saw Ben Stiller's new flick, "Night at the Museum", which actually turned out to be a really funny film. I was sat there at the start thinking it was really silly, when all this stuff in the museum just starts coming to life, but then it really took a comedic turn and I haven't laughed so hard at a film in a long long time, two thumbs way up!

The whole anniversary was rather low key this year, due to the impending $$$ that we need to pay out on my braces. I figure my braces are going to cost us a total of $3000, and thats not counting the $20 a month for my insurance premiums, or the $15 a month for office visit fees. But still, I think its around 50% coverage, so I can't complain too loudly. Its definitely a lot cheaper than the £££ I'd be paying out if I were still in the UK.

Last night was a rather late night, as we didn't even get out of the cinema un til midnight. Today has just been about relaxing, spending time together and eating good food! I really don't anticipate my braces stopping me eating anything, I know the RPE didn't. It may have slowed me a down a little to start with, but within a week or two, I was eating everything and anything I wanted! I'm hoping it'll be the same with the braces. Roll on next week!