The Day Has Finally Arrived

June 27, 2017

This is no turning back now. This is when it finally hits home and becomes real. I came prepared. I took 2 Aleve liquid gels before they started anything. I knew I would have some pain and wanted the painkiller to kick in before I felt anything.

The first thing that happened was they took out the spacers and tried on the expander in my mouth. When they were satisfied that it would fit the way they wanted it, they dried my mouth and used a special dental cement to cement the metal bands in place. To bond the metal bands to the teeth, they held a little blue light up to the area where the cement was and it created a bond.

Then they propped my mouth open with these plastic things so my lips stuck out so that my mouth would not constantly get wet with saliva.

Next, they "painted" my front top teeth with what looked like a nail polish brush. The material was bonding material for the brackets. The ortho came in and set the brackets on my teeth. The little blue light again and the brackets were cemented. They did that for all of my top teeth.

Then, they attached the main arch wire. This is the wire you see over your teeth. They used what looked like a pincher tool to snap or "pinch" the wire onto the brackets with the purple O-rings I selected. That wasn't exactly pleasant. It made me jump a few times.

Lastly, they added some material to my upper molars to create what they call "bite guards" which essentially help my bite to bite evenly on each side. They added the material, blue light, and that was it. Then they had to file them down a little bit because they were too high. Eventually they were evened out.

That was pretty much it. Once that arch wire was snapped in, that's when you can start feeling the pressure of the braces. It took almost 2 hours for everything to be completed.

I signed the contract afterwards.

Freebies I was given included:

• a mirror
• travel toothbrush
• regular size toothbrush
• Mini tube of toothpaste
• floss
• floss threaders
• proxabrushes
• hourglass timer
• dental wax
• a guide for brushing/flossing
• a book/pamphlet with information
• syringe for shooting water over the expander in order to clean it
• tool for the palatal expander

I was told that I need to turn the expander once a day for a total of 7 days. They turned the first one for me there before I left.

The next appointment is 4 weeks away.