I had spacers put in last Tues and scheduled an appointment to get my braces on tomorrow (Monday).  I wanted a good teeth cleaning before these babies found a home on my teeth, so I went into my dentist for that Thurs morning.  They took out the spacers, which was super freakin awesome.  Like, no lie, I have never looked forward to a teeth cleaning like I looked forward to this, just so I could get a little relief of having the damn spacers out for an hour.  Sweet baby jebus, that was awesome.  The upper left one was killing me!  About 30 minutes after she took it out, all pain was gone.  But I guess I was in pain for good reason-- when I went back over to my orthodontists office to get the spacers back in after the cleaning, they said I already have made enough space for the bands to go around the molars, and if I had a few hours to spare they could just do my braces now instead of putting the spacers back in.  Whoa!  I was not expecting that!!  Doh!  I hadn't had anything to eat all morning.  Hell, I hadn't even had my coffee yet!  And what's worse, is my husband had plans that night to take me out to my favorite seafood buffet that night for my last good meal before getting braced.  What the hell was I thinking when I looked at the assistant and said "yes?"  Seriously.... What. The. Hell?!  Looking back on it now, I sssssoooo should have allowed myself that last meal! 

Oh well.  So, 3.5 hrs between two dental chairs (my cleaning and then getting the braces on), and it's done-- I'm all braced!

What an awkward feeling having these things in my mouth.  My mouth feels huge and I feel like I'll never be able to close my lips comfortably again.  I know that will pass and I'll get used to these things, but for right now..... yea, it sucks.  Eating was awkward, but not painful on that first day.  But the days since?  SSsssssuuuuccccckkkkkssssss.  Thank God for the wax they give you!  My mouth is so cut up and sore, especially where the hooks are in the back.  And speaking of that stuff in the back, they put bands around each of my molars and these teeth have the hooks on them.  I got nothing done with the teeth right in front of my back molar since the surgical facility where I am getting my jaw done requires all 4 back molars to be banded instead of bracketed.  So, that will require another dose of spacers in 4 weeks, and then a week after I'll go back and get the bands and the wire put all the way back.  But anywho.... yes, I'm sore.  I could not even think about biting into anything with my front teeth right now.  And then in general I just don't even want to chew on my back teeth since moving food around in my mouth causes my lips to move over the brackets and it's just making the open sores even more sore.  Luckily, I thought ahead and made soft soups to stock the freezer with (butternut squash, pureed asparagus and broccoli leek, split pea, etc) so that has been my saving grace.  Well, that and the dental wax!

I keep reminding myself no pain, no gain.  And on the bright side, I've already lost 3-4 lbs!  Saaawwweeeeeettttttt!  And even though it seems like FML right now, I did manage to eat some yummy noms and spend the day yesterday at a music festival up in Napa.  Here is a quick pic with my husband:

I need to take pictures close up of what my teeth look like now and then keep up pictures every month or something to see how everything progresses.  I'll have to post them when I get a chance in a few days!

I don't want to start off my my orthodontic journey by whining....... but I'm gonna anyway.  I had a final consult with the ortho today to just sit and clarify everything we're doing.  He did another exam on me to just take a look and make sure what he had planned is good for what I've got going.  We talked again about exactly what is going to be done, and there are some changes-- some for the better, and some for the not so better.  First, the braces are going to go much quicker than I thought.  Maybe only 6-8 months until I'm surgery ready (and I know that will depend on how fast my teeth move. Hopefully they're not stubborn), and then they are fitting me in a new system called sure smile after surgery and that should speed up the rest of my time in braces by a lot after that.  All fantastic news.  Not so good is the fact that they're torn on doing just my upper or both my upper and lower jaws.  Now they're leaning towards both.  Bbbbbooooo!  I was actually pretty relieved that my bottom jaw didn't have to be done.  Oh well, I'm committed to this whole thing now.

So, why does this already suck?  I wasn't expecting to have anything done today, but they put my spacers in at the end of the appointment.  Getting them put in didn't particularly suck.  Pretty painless and they went in easy.  And really no pain right after everything went in.  Just felt weird having something constantly stuck between my teeth.  I HATE that feeling.... like, really bad.  But now my teeth are achy and I have a headache.  And the teeth on my left side are squeezing up and together and there is a lot of pressure and clicking.  And the thing bothering me the most is when I bite down, now my teeth aren't fitting together right on that side.  Ugh.... hopefully this isn't an indicator of how bad the braces are going to suck.  I know I've heard people say the spacers are the worst part of it, and some people say they were no sweat.  Hopefully I'm one of those people where they are the worst part, because I can't stand these right now.

And yes, you heard me right-- braces are going on next Monday the 13th!!  10am right before I go into work.  Hopefully I'm not too sore after for the rest of the day.

I have to stay away from hard/sticky stuff, but I am seriously treating myself to some awesomeness before these braces go on.  I think I'm going to go to local asian seafood buffet.  Yummo :)