Banding Appointment

The time is here! The banding appointment! Get ready for 2 awful hours of holding your mouth open and choking on your own saliva, because ooops, they forgot to put that sucker thingy in your mouth! :) I felt bad when she noticed, because she was so apologetic... but I understand they were busy trying to prepare brackets for my new smile.

Time to etch your teeth with the most awful tasting paste that man could create. Do you think they purposely make that stuff as funky as possible just to amuse the dentist with your facial expressions? I think curdled milk may taste tastier that that stuff. Heck, they flavor medicines, why can't they flavor dental pastes? Anyway, back to the bonding... once you rinse that nasty paste, they apply special cement to the bracket and carefully place it on your tooth. Once the dentist is through tinkering with it in order to be sure it is placed just right, they use this bright blue light to cure the cement, which bonds the bracket to your teeth. You repeat this process over and over until all of your teeth that needs to have brackets are well... bracketed.

Now, let me tell you, your teeth feel funny at first, but you get used to it really soon... within a few days to a week. Are you ready for the wire and cute lil rubber band ligatures? This is my favorite part of the whole process... they insert a small thin wire on top of your brackets and hold the wire down with those bands I just mentioned. Now, I am a mom of three, but don't think my age is going to stop me from playing with the band colors. I look forward to letting my daughter pick out my colors, or changing them with the holidays. Why stick with clear or silver bands because your not a kid? We are all kids at heart!  Back to the bands... as the dental assistant applies each band (which is not painful at all) your teeth start to feel tight, but not painful. Notify them if a wire is poking you on your back brackets, so they can trim it... wires that poke hurt!

Now that you are finished... take a look in the mirror and smile!  Your teeth will never look the same again. I won't lie to you, your teeth will be sore, so take Motrin or Tylenol... but be sure to follow the carton/bottle instructions on dosage amount. The next week or two will be awful. Hope you looovvveee Mashed Taters and Yogurt. You won't be able to chew anything... at least not for a week or two. I found the worst pain to be the day after the banding appt.

For those who are nervous... try not to be. Just prepare yourself by eating a good meal prior to your appt. and brush and floss your teeth before you go... no one wants to smell rank breath. Just relax, take an OTC pain pill, and get excited over your treatment!