Soldiering on

5 months 14 days

Blogging steam is back, it appears…and so is my general enthusiasm for life. I was a little grumpy in the last post…which does happen to ordinary and otherwise peace loving human beings such as I— happy times and grumpy times are all part of life.

Interesting thing about this blog is that it’s usually quiet, then out of the clear blue it gets mad traffic. I am still yet to figure out the science there.

ANYHOO…

I had decided prior to my fifth appointment not to have any expectations.

As soon as I was propped on the dentist’s chair, the dentist-assistant, perhaps in his early 50’s (also mentioned in  http://gotbraced.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/introducing-pinky-braci-ani/) began to prepare to remove the elastics. That is when I noticed something on his arm.

“You have a tattoo!” I gasped in disbelief. He pulled back his arm to hide it. Too late.

Now, this guy is the picture of a pastor in a story book. A tattoo is the last thing I expected. And especially one shaped like a love heart with cupid’s arrow striking through.

“I was in the military in the seventies.  We did this for fun. I have them everywhere.”

The orthodontist walked in as the assistant told military stories.

It was back to work. Mouth open, elastics removed. Hooks screwed loose and then voila. They removed the arc wire!

“Will I brush my teeth?” I asked eagerly.

“You brought your toothbrush?” the orthodontist asked.

“Yep.”

And that marked the end of that idea. Needless to say, there was so much to do; I didn’t get to brush my teeth.

In between putting a new arch wire, and cutting it to fit, conversation ensued.

“So where did you grow up?” asked the dentist.

“Mombasa.”

“Haiya, so you went to school  there?”

“High school was in Nai,” I said.

“Which one?”

I told him. 

It turned out we cleared high school the same time. He went to a high school that we interacted with much, back in the day. This is like WAY WAY WAY back. (Hyperbole is allowed in blogs, is it not?)

No wonder he had this young-ish thing about him.  

There was much —“Did you know so-and-so?"   — that went about after this revelation.

Back to braces….(and more recently rubber bands)

I have worn rubber bands for more than a month. I have also discovered that nearly everyone so far that I know; who’s had or has braces, wore rubber bands at some stage in their treatment especially towards the end. And the way I thought it was such a big deal. It was breaking news!! *sigh*

I seem more aware of the rubber bands than I did before my fifth appointment. I try to stretch them for fun. The other day, I opened my mouth wide to try and snap it to show off to my workmate. They took forever to snap, but when they did it was PAINFUL.
The other night I wore two - to speed things up a bit...It was the classic case of lock-jaw..not felt that tight in my life. My head spun from the pressure!No more double-double- for this here lady!

Oh, and I can play a melody too!! Well, not a real melody but it does make a stringed-instrument sound, it does! Oh oh and most of all I always eat with them. They snap 80% of the time but that does not deter me. The motto is “stay or snap but no taking out!.”
I nearly forgot to mention, there's absolutely no scarring with the rubber bands. It holds those offending teeth so tightly together they have no opportunity to go near my delicate inner cheek! WoHooo!!

My fellow bracefaces friend (both former and current) all think I must be in the last stages for my orthodontist to have me wear rubber bands. I am trying not to get too excited about this. Trying not to think about the possibility that it could end sooner than I imagined.... just in case it doesn’t. I want to leave room for that. I crush easily,  you know, I need to create soft landing way in advance. Meanwhile, I soldier on!

So my birthday is coming up soon. In 4 days…Yay!! This is a special and very significant birthday J. And I plan to do a very special blog. Look out!!

(Still clueless about  how many) days to go

Hello rubber bands!! …..Enter Vampire

5 Months 7 days!

Last month was my least blogged month, which is ironic because it had some of the most dramatic updates.

I went to for my fourth appointment last month and my bottom teeth have aligned almost completely. It’s hard to believe that once upon a time, my bottom left canine jutted out. Because it is now firmly in place.  Amen!

I expected they would change my arch wire, as was done on the second month. In fact, I even had my toothbrush ready for a comfortable brushing session when they remove the wire. Instead, they changed my elastic in a less than 5 minute procedure. The orthodontist kept asking for a certain tool that he said I needed, but this was not located. I was already feeling disappointed. My dental clinic is out of town and to go all the way there, a more than two hour journey (to and fro) and find there’s missing equipment is quite upsetting.

My orthodontist then began to insert a new thing into my mouth. “Let’s go to the mirror, I show you how to put this on.”

To my amazement, it was, a rubber band, that was to be held on the four hooks of my canines.

Now, up to this point, NOTHING had even remotely suggested or prepared me that I would ever wear rubber bands! I may have seen them online during my initial research, but I didn’t pay much attention to them as I assumed that they are for the more severe cases.

I laughed in disbelief for several minutes as I looked at my reflection in the mirror. 
“Haiya, seriously?” I kept saying.

“Yeah,” the dentist said, with a straight face.

“How often?” I could barely open my mouth comfortably as the rubber band kept my teeth from going too far apart.

“24/7.”

“And eating?” I was still in shock.

“You eat with them on.”

I began to envision my life. IT WAS OVER. How was I going to walk around with a very visibly brightly coloured rubber band in my mouth? From the side, I looked like a vampire!

I had a coffee meet up that day with my gal Faith, but before meeting her, I swung by a cybercafé to read about this new gadget in holding my lower and upper teeth together.

Alas! They do exist, and I am, apparently, not the first. My heart rate began to calm down a bit when I read the positive things people said about them. The positive things being that they do accelerate the treatment period and you will be glad you got them on.

With that small consolation, I went for coffee and cake, and was dismayed to discover that my mouth couldn’t open wide enough for the cake to pass. And even sadder that I couldn’t remove the rubber band because I needed to take a picture I coz didn't memorise how the dentist had showed me and I’d have to be putting it on— on my own.

Life with rubber bands is far from  glamorous. What keeps me going is keeping my eyes on the goal. Sometimes they snap broken and give me (and everyone around) a scare.

Most of the time the problem is the metal torture. My mind is a real battle field I tell you. They say it's typical of the melancholic personality type, which I am purported to be. (I am not keen on all that psychology hogwash - forgive my strong language).

So I keep thinking , that they must be thinking…The things people do for beauty! or how vain I am, or my goodness what’s that ridiculous thing you've got in there. or isn't this going too far!

Interesting that no one has actually said these things to me! Oh I do need help !! It’s more than just braces and the horrid rubber bands!

I know I shouldn’t care what people think, but sometimes it bothers me. I do not want to come off as vain, or on the flip side, with low self esteem.

That said, time heals, including these torturous feeling…and I am gradually getting over whatever hang-ups I may have had about rubber bands. I am purposing every day not to give up prematurely. I now wear them proudly. 

Before I would only leave the house with the colourless ones. Now I wear green orange, red  bands to work! 

I have truly come a long way in the last month. I noticed my upper and lower canines are now touching. I am guessing with consistent wearing, it will only be a matter of time before the rest of the bite closes. I hope someday I’ll look back on this with gratitude.

I am beginning to truly appreciate my orthodontist’s expertise and candidness.

Apparently, the other treatment he would have performed would have moved my front teeth in place, but moved my back ones as well, and that’s a whole ‘nother mess.

So kesho, I have my 5 ^th appointment! (How about that aiy!) I have no expectations. Let’s see how that goes.

So August was a dramatic month. Both in my brace face experiences and in life in general. The drama wasn’t necessarily positive, but I do thank God, for these seemingly negative and painful things, do keep us human and humble…

Still no clue, how much more to go