Almost time for a bracket

Things are moving along smoothly for my left tooth which made its official debut in February. 2 weeks ago they removed the last part of the chain and the piece that was bonded to the tooth, cleaned the gunk/old glue off the tooth, attached a "button" to the tooth, and attached (with string over the button) to the archwire.


So this week, I went in and they decided to cut the wire with the spring that was extending over the empty space from where my canine is coming in because they determined that the tooth would not come in properly because the wire was in the way. So they cut it free. The only unfortunate part is now I have to work on pulling the tooth further into place on my own, with the use of those pesky rubber bands again. So one rubber band goes over the top of the button and then connects to the little hooks on the 2 bottom teeth below it. And it's tender and sore after so many hours go by with a rubber band attached, exerting force. So there's that.


Oh, and when they were doing the normal traction on the other tooth on the right (where they put string through the next loop, tie to the archwire and cut off the access), 2 loops broke off the chain because it was basically rusted through. I say rust, but that may not be accurate and there probably wasn't actual rust. But you get what I mean. It became loose and eroded from it being in my mouth since August, and broke off. 2 links. Which is an entire month less because I go twice a month. So this is kind of good in that the whole thing didn't break off and they can keep doing the traction, plus there's 2 less links (and 2 less office visits) to go until that tooth comes into place where they can put a button on it. So it may be a blessing in disguise. This makes up for the delay in being able to do the traction due to the chain having to be re-attached twice by the perio. However, because of the 2 missing links, they had to pull the tooth forward more than usual so that was a bit more uncomfortable than I'm used to. But the discomfort did subside fairly quickly. I'm really hoping that tooth pokes through next month. It would be amazing to have both teeth in place by the end of May.


So on my next visit in 2 weeks, they are going to remove the button and put an official bracket on my canine (finally!!) and start getting it in line with the rest of my mouth.