Sporting events

Jason and I went to the Pistons game on Sunday because I was able to buy $10 tickets through my work for a special promotion. A great deal. Usually Jason and I get some type of treat at these events. However, I could not eat peanuts, popcorn, a hot dog, cotton candy (not that I'd buy that anyway), or nachos. What a bummer. I did get a $3 pretzel while I watched him tear through an entire bag of shelled peanuts. Oooh the excitement.

First week: A banana and the treadmill.

I have now had my braces for one full week. All has been going swimmingly in terms of pain or discomfort. My teeth feel fine. My head and jaw feel fine. My lips and the insides of my mouth aren't too damaged. I don't know if this pain-free existence is due to only having braces on one arch, opting for the ceramic braces, or because I have such a high pain tolerance. Ha. I doubt it's the latter reason.

I went to the gym for the first time since getting these on. I ran three miles on the treadmill and nothing adverse happened. The only bummer is that now when my mouth is dry, my lips can really catch on my brackets. Not a pretty sight, but I'm at the gym. I'm not trying to be pretty. The other fear that I ran into is trying to drink from a water bottle while running. Seems I'm fairly apprehensive to do this because I'm afraid of accidentally missing a step and jamming the bottle at my teeth and having something disastrous occur. I suppose this will lessen in time.

One big change for me has been the shake-up of my eating routine. I'm pretty rigid in this regard. I loved my oatmeal with walnuts. I loved having sandwiches for lunch. I ate apples and bananas nearly every day. Well I think I can still have the walnuts but I'll have to be careful to chop them up very fine. Sandwiches, unfortunately, are out. I suppose I might manage in the privacy of my home. But that's too much trouble and too much mess to deal with at work. Apples are out of my routine now. But I did eat a banana. I just broke it into pieces and shoved it towards the back of my mouth, so nothing would collect at the front of my teeth. Again, eating seems to be as much about aesthetics as about function.

I'm adapting.

By now most of my friends have seen my braces. There seems to be a unanimous conclusion that they really aren't that noticeable when I'm talking. I guess they could be lying and just telling me what they think I want to hear, and if that's the case, they are bad liars but good friends. I am definitely growing more used to them. When I look in the mirror, they no longer seem to make up 95 percent of my face. I do not feel nearly as self-conscious as I did in the first 24 hours. I'm pretty comfortable smiling and laughing. Occasionally I do cover my teeth as sort of a reaction if someone gets too close, but I'm wiling to bet that the gesture will fade soon enough.

The best part is that I am now on day five with braces and I have not had any pain, not even really any discomfort either. I have not taken any meds since the first day, I haven't felt the need. This is the best I could have hoped to feel and I'm grateful.

I went back to the ortho this morning for them to fix my unglued bracket. They said that can sometime happen in the first 24 hours if there is too much moisture on a tooth for the bracket to fully bond. The whole process was quick and painless. I arrived early and since they got me in early too, I was out by 8:30 and at work by 9 a.m. That was another relief. If everything else goes as planned, I won't be back until the middle of March. I am so excited to think about my teeth starting to move!