PART 21: A Little Bit of Action

Had my ortho appointment today, and it was an eventful one. I had three backets removed, making four in total (see Part 16), and had them replaced with new ones - repositioned to get the root of the teeth standing properly. Then the regular stuff went back on, arch wires and such. Luckily, no elastics were needed this time. I wasn't wearing them consistently enough anyway.

I spoke to Dr. Chiang and he said that things were looking good, and that he expects only a few more months of work. "Maybe summer," he said. Well, I'm keeping my hopes low, because my high expectations have always come up short. Nevertheless, I take it as good news.

PART 20: Slow Progression

Well, I warned you. The last few weeks have just been orthodontic work, and it'll be the same from here on in. Really, detailing (orthodontics after surgery to make things all fit well) is nothing to write home about.

I saw my surgeon a couple days for a quick check-up that lasted all of about 5 mins. He looked at my teeth and said everything looks fine. The right side of my jaw looks good, and he expects that my orthodontists will change the elastics on my braces to make my left molars touch more.

I asked about the uneven roof of my mouth, and he took a look. He said that because my upper jaw needed to be cut down the middle, in order to get the teeth oriented correctly, it's possible that he needed to turn it slightly, which would cause the roof to be unbalanced. He said the tongue will get used to this with time.

The bottom line was that he said that my operation went as well as I could have expected it to.

I also realized that the wretched smell I sensed (see Part 15) may not have been my doing at all. When Dr. Reichman put his little mouth-mirror (don't expect that to be the official name of the tool) in my mouth, I smelled the same odour. And I'm pretty sure my mouth was clean before heading in. So I blame his smelly equipment.

Next update sometime towards the end of the month after I've had my ortho appointment.