I thought the brackets going on and the first wire being fitted hurt, but that was nothing; the open coil spring sure packs a punch. I’m currently on hour 31 with no sleep purely because of the agony going on in my mouth. I’m fairly certain that in addition to the spring they managed to sneak a pack of gremlins into my mouth who are currently attempting to pry some of my teeth out with pliers. The pressure is unimaginable. I was worried that the spring would annoy my tongue, but I honestly haven’t even noticed, I’ve been too distracted by the agony going on in my teeth.

This tooth had better shift fast and I truly hope the rest of my teeth adjust to the pressure soon, I don’t know what I’ll do if I go another night without sleep. My joking about gremlins might transform into actual hallucinations by that point.

It’s been rather quiet in braces land of late. Most of the initial pain settled down, although I’m still as addicted to wax as ever. However, time since my 1st adjustment has rushed by at an amazing rate and low and behold the time for my second adjustment arrived. This adjustment filled me with both excitement and trepidation. Excitement because I love knowing how things are progressing and because I was hoping to get a new wire on the top and bottom arches; once again I would be able to see changes of the dramatic sort rather than the fractional changes that my movements have slowed down to. I was feeling trepidation, though, because, once again, I was going to have to endure the dreaded tooth dust.

See, two of my more dramatically crooked teeth were tilted outward and upward in such a way that getting a bracket on was next to impossible. They just barely managed to get one on the right tooth but the left was impossible, it had to shift into place some before they could. So I’ve been waiting, watching as my teeth slowly straightened. It’s been painstaking, but in a way some of the most dramatic changes I’ve experienced, as these were the most noticeably crooked teeth in my mouth as well. Today was supposed to be the day I could finally get that last bracket on. The tooth would have to be etched before placement (tooth dust!), but still, I would finally have a full set.

Sadly, though, it was not to be. The tooth hasn’t shifted enough to allow for the placement of the bracket, causing me much sadness and worry that my 18 – 24 month sentence er treatment period may trend towards the latter end of the estimate. This also meant the placement of a dreaded open coil spring.

What is an open coil spring you ask? Well you can look here, but basically, it’s just that, a spring. It’s on the arch wire attached to the brackets on either side of the problem child tooth, exerting force to help move that tooth into place. It’s shifted pretty dramatically since I started down this path, in fact unless you look closely you can’t really tell it’s crooked (whereas originally it was noticeable at even the most casual glance), but it’s still kind of up at an angle:

for anyone wondering, this is also what it looks like when I smile, so you can see the lack of visibility with the linguals and just the teeniest bit of viability with the ceramic bottom arch, which unless you’re up close and personal really isn’t visible unless you know they’re there

So I get to experience 6 weeks of a spring rubbing against my tongue. Joy! Well, this irritation will be a good training ground for elastics, I hear those aren’t exactly comfortable either.

I did succeed in getting a new wire on the bottom, though. Between the coil on the top and the new wire on the bottom, just 6 hours later and I’m already getting that uncomfortable, someone punched me feeling that I got the day the brackets were placed. Time for some soft foods, ice and a pain killer.

One tip for anyone getting an adjustment that necessitates the removal of your wire…bring floss! Remember when flossing only took a minute rather than 20? Well with your wire out once again it can take just a minute and you can really do a good job! With lingual brackets especially, flossing is often an exercise in frustration (it’s like trying to sew an intricate straight line without being able to see what you’re doing), so enjoy being able to do so without any impediments. Once my braces are off I will never again complain that flossing is a hassle. I never knew how good I had it pre-braces.