Braced!

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!

I look like I'm 12! Doh!

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:

BottleRock Festival in Napa Valley

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!