Treading

I have certainly not been meeting my obligation to my readership. But it's not my fault! There's just nothing exciting happening. The arches are all lovely and round. The crowding is gone. That pesky second gap is gone. Everything looks great from the front. But now we have to work on that tilted #31. And it's had over ten years to get in the predicament it's currently in so I have no idea how long it could take to right itself. I'm a month away from my next adjustment so it's all about patience right now. Boring!

Well here's a tidbit for you to chew on. Make it last, things could be slow for awhile.

Did you know Dr Charles Tweed was the first certified orthodontist in the US?

Way to go Chuck. Your mother is proud of you.

Rebanded

Yesterday's appointment with Dr.Styrt was sort of uneventful. They did fit me up with more spacers for my upper 7's though. I'll be going back next Tuesday to get the banded brackets put in. Closer and closer...

10,000

I would have never guessed that my face would be this interesting to anyone else.

Thanks and Cheers.

Trivia #2

"There are nearly 4 million people in orthodontic treatment throughout the United States. Three out of four are younger than 18."

Here's to being in the top 25%

Surprise

Got a call from Linda at Dr.Misleh's today asking if I could come in. It's usually not a problem for me to hop in ahead of my scheduled appointment. In fact, it's kind of nice. That way I don't spend the entire morning dealing with pre-cleaning anxiety. Everything went well and I'm convinced the straighter teeth really are helping them stay clean. I haven't changed anything in my brushing routine since I bought an electric toothbrush a few years ago and my cleanings don't usually go as quick and easy as today. So Dr.Misleh was right way back when he said I should reconsider getting braces. Less nooks and crannies for plaque to hide makes keeping those teefers clean much easier.
Oh and I wanted to say I've been really good about not eating all those orthodontically unfriendly foods and candies but I've constantly been having dreams about chomping on things like gum and caramel.
Obviously, things have been slow on the updating front. My apologies.

Peeps #2

Here's the latest shout out to Trish, Kira, Kelly, Wonderful Jessica and the rest of the lovely ladies over at Dr.Styrt's. (And Dr.Styrt too.) Dental alignment couldn't be practiced by a finer, friendlier, classier group of people. I had an adjustment today and was showered with good news like jelly-beans on Easter morning.
First of all, who can lick the roof their mouth with their tongue? That's right, I can. Kelly ground that buggering RPE out and my tongue feels like it's moved out of a New York apartment and into a French chateau. The roof is really tingly when I touch it and Kelly said to be careful of hot foods because it needs to get roughed up a little bit before it can handle that sort of thing.
Next, I was given new wires. I think they're both 17x25 nitinol wires. For those less geeky as me, they're rectangular. How is this different than square? Well, without going into the physics of how a rectangular cross section is stronger than a square cross section (and way stronger than a round cross section) because of the amount of material that is further from the neutral axis, just know that it is a stronger wire and you'll probably be happy I spared you the details.
And finally, Doc said things will take as long as they take to be ready for surgery (which I agree with) but his guess was somewhere around 4 months from now. 4 months! I've learned not to hold my breath when waiting for the praise of the orthodontic deities, but I'm kinda stoked.

Back Home

Well Europe was a blast. We were undefeated in the Netherlands tournament and finished in the middle of the pack in the Czech tourney. All in all a great time and amazing experience. Saw lots of wired adults in Holland. And I stayed with a lady who had a BSSO recently. She was in the "I-don't-want-to-know-any-details-just-do-it" camp so we didn't get into it too much. So, just wanted to stop in. And for Dr.Tawfilis, no unlucky accidents.