I can not begin to tell you the shit I have had to do for my braces. Sure, I didn't have to wear headgear, but I did have to wear rubber bands (aka "elastics") in such a fashion that they did one or several of the following-- 1. stopped me from opening my mouth 2. stopped me from stretching my mouth to yawn or sing or talk 3. they stretched in the front of my teeth and made me look like a freak, even having strangers I didn't even know make fun of me, stare, or ask me what the fuck was in my mouth. 4. caused excruciating pain 5. caused a number of other problems.
I am trying to figure out how many rubber bands I used in the past year and a half.
I will figure out a total estimate and I will post it on here for everyone to see. I know at least that I was getting 2-5bags of bands every 4-5 weeks for approximately 1.5+ years. I still have bags of them sitting in my house. I am trying to find a way to use them...possibly make a sculpture out of them. Some kind of message of being trapped and bound with rubber and now finally being set free.Let me tell you right now. The pain I am feeling is probably the worst the braces have caused me. Right now I have what are referred to as "spaghetti bands" in my mouth. The band is a long and skinny band, resembling a spaghetti noodle. It starts from the back bracket, goes up to the next tooth, then back down, then back up-- 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4, 4 to 5, 5 to 6. Basically, I have a zig zag of bands running on both sides of my mouth. My teeth don't have wires keeping them in place for these next 3 weeks. That is what the rubber bands are for. If I don't wear the bands, my teeth go back to how they used to be. It is an odd sensation when you bite down too hard and feel your teeth shift in your soft gums.
The pain is comparable to a few months ago when I had a spring in my mouth that rested right under my left cheek. It lay so close to my cheek, that when I opened my mouth for anything, it shredded the inside of my cheek and left welts. I had a non-stop infection and canker sore inside my mouth for 2 months. I kind of was glad my mouth was so infected. I wanted the ortho doc and assistants to have to look into my mouth and see what shit I had to put up with while having their contraptions in my mouth. I always hoped it looked really disgusting. ...Eventually that all healed as soon as that spring was removed.
But in three weeks, my dental work is still not finished. I have caps I have to get on two of my teeth. I had peg laterals, now with the help of the braces, they are now just peg teeth, meaning they are smaller than normal teeth. This wouldn't normally need cosmetic surgery to fix, but they are two of my front teeth, looking quite weird with the rest of my normal teeth.
le sigh.... it shall all be over soon. Maybe I will lose weight... not being able to open my mouth or anything.
