1 step forward, 2 steps back

Feeling frustrated - I've been set back a few weeks.

That stubborn tooth has got a new brace in a sharper angle to try to encourage it to move. But, the wire I was wearing wouldn't fit so I've had to go back to the wire I finished wearing about nine weeks ago.

But, instead of the naughty tooth moving, all the teeth around it are. So, I've ended up losing the perfect alignment of my bottom four front teeth as two of them have moved off into a straight line.

Difficult to explain, but basically I'm going backwards in my treatment. And it was all going so well.

Ho hum, they definitely won't be off in time for Christmas as we thought - my new goalpost is for them to be off in Feb, exactly one year after getting them on.

Meanwhile, the experience of having a brace removed was... enlightening. These ones are made of porcelain so the crrrrackkk sound it made when my orthodontist broke it off sounded like a tooth being shattered. It wasn't particularly fun, and I'm sort of dreading the experience of getting all of them removed, but the end will be worth it.

I read somewhere that when Tom Cruise had braces on, he had them all removed each time he was doing a movie, and then reattached when he wasn't. I'm impressed!

Almost nine months now

I've been a bit rubbish at this blog thing, but just to say they have moved so quickly that I'm a little shocked and in awe of modern orthodontics! My top arch is completely straight and can have the wire off. In fact, they've been straight for about 8 weeks now whilst I wait for the bottom row to sort itself out, and then I'll have all the braces removed at the same time.

Frustratingly, there is only one tooth that is holding the whole thing up - it is stubborn beyond belief and will not turn in like it should. One tooth, that's all I'm waiting on.

I have what is hopefully my penultimate appointment tonight - my dentist is going to try moving the position of the bracket on the offending tooth to see if changing the angle will help. It better had. I'm sick of these things! I've had stacks of IDS (inter dontal shaving, I think) which is some strange little machine that takes away miniscule amounts of the enamal to provide space. It didn't hurt but made my ears feel funny.

I'm used to the braces now, but at the same time very much looking forward to not being conscious about my teeth for the first time in almost 20 years! Oh, and I really want a glass of red wine.