Had my second adjustment 4 days ago on Thursday. I ate a huge meal at the indian buffet before I went (don't worry... I brushed and flossed at home real quick before going to the office after that, but there is only so much you can do after eating indian. lol). I had to smoke a tri tip afterwards for some guests eating with us before heading to the Depeche Mode show. Poor me cooking all that yummy food I wasn't going to be able to eat, so I wanted to make sure I was full for the rest of the day. Indian buffet definitely did me well!
Anywho, I figured this adjustment was going to suck since I hadn't really had my teeth yanked on good and hard since the last adjustment 13 weeks ago. I woke up kind of anxious that morning for some reason, which is odd since I've recently become comfortable with my ortho visits. This was the one visit were I didn't need the added anxiety. I walk in and a very new looking assistant comes out to the lobby to get me. I don't mind being the guinnea pig. Even for new people when I go to donate blood and all. Everybody has to start somewhere, you know? I am not up to speed on the training these assistants get and what they know coming out of school, but this girl seemed not only new, but REALLY new. Seemed a little confused and clumsy over just taking my wires out, let alone anything else. I think she spent about 20 minutes doing that. It wasn't until she was taking off one of my stoppers or ties, she slipped with an instrument that looks only what I can describe as pliers, and she flung them into my top bonded teeth so hard I thought for sure it wasn't going to turn out well (thankfully, somehow, I didn't chip anything). At that point I think she knew I was done after that, and she asked another assistant to help me. I feel really bad and I hate to say it, but I was relieved, especially since I was anxious walking into the office to begin with. Maybe orthodontists assistants really rely on the on the job training and she was just starting out, which is fine, but if she was that new they really should have them being supervised or helped a little through the initial part of it. This chick didn't even know what a "XXX american standard wire" was when the doc asked her to get one for my new wire. So really, the only gripe I have about that is maybe they need better on the job training supervision for the new people.
I'm glad I got the seasoned person, because even with her they still had trouble with stuff. The bar that stretched between my two very last molars across the roof of my mouth was a pain in the butt to pull out, adjust, and put back in. And the ortho fine tuned my wires putting little bends in each section for each tooth that needed tweaking to wherever. Pretty cool since he hasn't really done that before and my wires were pretty much put in straight. Everything took forever, and the wires hurt instantly. I figured it was going to be that way when everything was so tight they were having trouble shutting the gates. No pain no gain, right?
Good news though... or what I thought was good news: my overjet is down to 4mm from 8mm. Actually, I am really happy with the way my teeth look right now! Part of me, far in the back of my mind, is almost wondering if this is enough for me and maybe I don't need the surgery? Doubt it. And speaking of the surgery, everybody I talked to said your overjet actually gets exaggerated and increased before surgery, so maybe this reduction is temporary. Or at least I hope so. I hate to second guess my orthodontist, but hopefully he knows what hes doing here and I'm not having my overjet reduced for nothing!
I ate almost normally today for the first time since Thursday. Not too bad in the grand scheme of things, but man oh man I was hating life on Fri/Sat when I couldn't even let my teeth touch
Anywho, I figured this adjustment was going to suck since I hadn't really had my teeth yanked on good and hard since the last adjustment 13 weeks ago. I woke up kind of anxious that morning for some reason, which is odd since I've recently become comfortable with my ortho visits. This was the one visit were I didn't need the added anxiety. I walk in and a very new looking assistant comes out to the lobby to get me. I don't mind being the guinnea pig. Even for new people when I go to donate blood and all. Everybody has to start somewhere, you know? I am not up to speed on the training these assistants get and what they know coming out of school, but this girl seemed not only new, but REALLY new. Seemed a little confused and clumsy over just taking my wires out, let alone anything else. I think she spent about 20 minutes doing that. It wasn't until she was taking off one of my stoppers or ties, she slipped with an instrument that looks only what I can describe as pliers, and she flung them into my top bonded teeth so hard I thought for sure it wasn't going to turn out well (thankfully, somehow, I didn't chip anything). At that point I think she knew I was done after that, and she asked another assistant to help me. I feel really bad and I hate to say it, but I was relieved, especially since I was anxious walking into the office to begin with. Maybe orthodontists assistants really rely on the on the job training and she was just starting out, which is fine, but if she was that new they really should have them being supervised or helped a little through the initial part of it. This chick didn't even know what a "XXX american standard wire" was when the doc asked her to get one for my new wire. So really, the only gripe I have about that is maybe they need better on the job training supervision for the new people.
I'm glad I got the seasoned person, because even with her they still had trouble with stuff. The bar that stretched between my two very last molars across the roof of my mouth was a pain in the butt to pull out, adjust, and put back in. And the ortho fine tuned my wires putting little bends in each section for each tooth that needed tweaking to wherever. Pretty cool since he hasn't really done that before and my wires were pretty much put in straight. Everything took forever, and the wires hurt instantly. I figured it was going to be that way when everything was so tight they were having trouble shutting the gates. No pain no gain, right?
Good news though... or what I thought was good news: my overjet is down to 4mm from 8mm. Actually, I am really happy with the way my teeth look right now! Part of me, far in the back of my mind, is almost wondering if this is enough for me and maybe I don't need the surgery? Doubt it. And speaking of the surgery, everybody I talked to said your overjet actually gets exaggerated and increased before surgery, so maybe this reduction is temporary. Or at least I hope so. I hate to second guess my orthodontist, but hopefully he knows what hes doing here and I'm not having my overjet reduced for nothing!
I ate almost normally today for the first time since Thursday. Not too bad in the grand scheme of things, but man oh man I was hating life on Fri/Sat when I couldn't even let my teeth touch
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