A twenty-something's journey with braces

Friday, October 3, 2008

Update: 1 week into Phase II

It’s now been a week since my last adjustment, and things are finally back to normal. The tech wasn’t kidding when she said that would be a hard “jump” – within 24 hours my teeth HURT. I had trouble biting/chewing soft cheese pizza Thursday night. This is the first adjustment that has made me feel like I did when I first got the braces on.

I probably spent 3 days reverted back to my post-B-day routine of soft foods cut up with a knife and fork. But since then things have improved, and I’m back to eating pretty much normally, including some stuff – like nuts and crunchy things – I probably shouldn’t. (Shhhhh…I am very careful when I do that, I should point out.)

And I’m also getting used to having an actual BITE again, instead of two touch-points (the turbos). Even though my teeth meet now, it doesn’t feel like they’re quite *perfectly* lined up. But I imagine as I continue in braces that will improve, and I read on another braces blog [link] about a “bite adjustment” that involved shaving the points of the teeth down to improve alignment. I think that would really help me. We’ll see if I still need it in a few months.

I do wonder… There are no brackets on my very back teeth (second molars). My impression going into this was that they eventually be bonded and added into the “chain” so to speak. But no one’s said anything about that lately, and as my arches round out and things line up, they are starting to look obviously off-kilter. Am I ever going to get those bonded?