PART 23: Looking Down The Stretch

I had another ortho appointment two days ago, and I guess things are coming along smoothly. There's a little wrinkle that has introduced an interesting situation. I have two reasons to want my braces off:

(1) I plan to convocate with my Master degree on June 8th, and
(2) I may be leaving the country in July for work

This obviously poses some problems when it comes to orthodontics. While I'd hate to rush things, I wouldn't want to be in a new country wearing braces and needing to find another orthodontic to finish the work (after having paid my current orthodontist for his services). Since I don't know when I'll be back, I'd hate to have my braces on for months and months and months, just waiting to return to have them taken off.

So I brought this up with my orthodontist, and he said it would take 6 months to get the teeth in an ideal configuration. He gave it some thought and said 3 months might be do-able. Well, 3 months may have to be do-able, won't it. So I guess we're putting the rush on things to meet this possible deadline.

Because we're pushing to get things done as quickly as possible, you can imagine that there's a lot more in my mouth than usual. So here's what's going on:

- To close the gaps, I have a "chain" (a rubber chain that links from bracket to bracket) along the entire top and bottom rows of teeth
- I have three rubber bands, hinged at 9 places -- only one of them is very visible, but it's VERY visible.

That evening, my gums were hurting like a b..ch, since there was a lot of movement; but things were much better the next morning, and even better today. As most people with braces will attest, the gums have an amazing ability to adapt after it's been through this kind of thing a few times (i.e. a few tightenings).

And that's where it stands. We'll see if the braces come off before July.

PART 22: Update

Through the month since the last posting (been busy), it's been a time of uncertainty. I don't know what I should be worrying about at this time and what is expected or considered normal and will pass. I'm at the 3.5 month mark of what I was told would be a 6-month recovery period. Here's the quick update:

- For the most part, things seem to be okay. I can bite, chew, and grind. I can't handle very crunchy things yet, not without a little stress. When I try to break through the surface of such foods, I can feel a little pain in my lower jaw; so I usually move the object (food) around to break through it with other pointier teeth.

- The right portion of my chin still has no sensitivity. This is especially annoying when that part itches, because I can't just scratch it to make the itch go away (since I don't "sense" the scratching). Hopefully this will slowly improve. I haven't felt any improvement for the last month however.

- The left side of the roof of my mouth is still overly sensitive, especially near the gum. I feel this particularly when I brush my teeth. It's probably more annoying than the chin thing since it affects me when I eat. Like, which I chew on that side, there's a lot of feeling with each bite, and it slows me down. The right side of the roof of my mouth is fine. Keep in mind that this probably has something to do with the fact that I had my upper jaw split down the middle.

- I've been noticing a lot of jaw clicking. My surgeon's work should not have changed my jaw "movement" since the break in the lower jaw was done along the side of my jaw. Nevertheless, I find that I can make my jaw click louder and more frequently than before by moving it around (opening, closing, laterally, etc). It doesn't happen all the time, but enough for me to be very aware of it and to want to bring it up the next time I talk to my surgeon.

So with these different feelings and non-feelings, I'm a little concerned with where I am right now. I hope that these are all problems that will vanish quickly, or even just eventually. For now, I'll just sit tight since there's nothing I can really do about it. Now wouldn't be a good time to have surgery again to fix it anyhow.