In Case My Face Gets Stuck in the Snow

Or at least that’s what it sounded like to me when the orthodontist said I’d be getting “Power Chains” on my braces. It turns out they’re a bit less exciting than the name suggests. Power chains are just rubber bands that connect brackets together and speed up movement. So yeah, far less exciting.

Today I got my braces adjusted. Traditionally they refer to it as “tightening”, but I don’t think that’s really what happens. This time the orthodontist got a bit aggressive, at least in my opinion. Today’s festivities included:

• Using a handheld power sander, the doc sanded between my 4 front teeth. Basically he made my teeth smaller and smoother so they would move easier and faster. The disturbing part was that he had to change “sandpaper” halfway through because the first piece got clogged. WITH MY TOOTH ENAMEL.
• The wire which is the “tightening” part of the process was replaced with “the big wire” — I’m not sure what that means exactly, but I do know the wire crammed into my brackets was much bigger than the last few. I’m pretty sure that means it will hurt more.
• Thanks to one of my molars being a crown, I only have an “anchor” on one side of my mouth. On the side with no anchor, they used an even larger wire to sorta brace my rearmost bracketed tooth against the tooth next to it. This was because the force of “the big wire” along with the power chain has the potential to make my molar twist…
• And then of course the power chain. That’s the green thing in the photo above. (No, that isn’t spinach, sheesh…) Normally each bracket has its own tiny little rubber band holding the wire in place. The power band accomplishes the same thing, but also aggressively pulls the teeth toward each other I guess? Honestly that part is a bit confusing for me.
• Did I mention he SANDED MY TEETH?!? That’s messed up.

Anyway, my mouth is a little sore. I expect tomorrow, and the next few days, my teeth will all hurt. That’s pretty normal. But for some reason the bulk of “the big wire” along with the power chain has changed the way my braces fit (or don’t fit) inside my lips. I’ve had my braces catch my lip several times today, making me feel a bit like a largemouth bass getting hooked in the lip.

I don’t think it’s going to be fun to pick wax out of this new monstrosity in my mouth. But as we learned earlier this week, my brace-wearing experience is very wax forward.

Wax on. Wax off. Also, I’m not sure how to get a bandaid to stick to a bloody lip. Sigh.

HE SANDED DOWN MY TEETH, Y’ALL