Americanuck

The long anticipated day arrived today. De-banding!

I picked Sean up from school and we headed over to the Orthodontist’s office. I took one quick snapshot of Sean as a last ‘before’ shot and then we headed inside.

One hour later he came out grinning ear to ear holding a goody bag of the forbidden chewy treats like Skittles and Trident Gum courtesy of the Doctor’s. The same kind of treats he got just before the braces went on. I think that is a really nice touch.

He was surprised how white his teeth are, though he still wants to whiten them up some more. He has a few minor white spots in between a few teeth they want him to treat with MI paste which he will put in his retainer at night before he inserts it. He’s supposed to use it until the paste tube is empty. The purpose of this is the treat these mild spots (I personally can’t even see them) by re-calcifying them and preventing them from getting worse.

We go back for the retainer tomorrow, they took the molds today and from what Sean understands they are a clear kind that just snap over his teeth. Sounds a lot more appealing than the metal kinds I’ve seen in the past.

When we picked up his Brother from work Sean taps him on the shoulder and says “Hey look!” and gives him a big ass grin. Chris gives a smirk and asks him how it feels. “Great!” Sean said “better than I even thought it would.”

I told him I can only imagine how good it must feel to have finally gotten through all that he has and to end up with such a great smile.

We’re really proud of him. He’s gone through a lot and has always come out smiling. Now he has a silver-less smile and a lot more to smile about.

Back in Feb 2006 Sean began his braces adventure with the initial consultation and the lovely spacers and expander that he loved so much (yeah right)

In November of 2006 the braces went on.

In August of 2007 he had his jaw surgery (by the wonderful Doctor McDonald)

And the post surgical swelling that went along with it…
(Although it was way down by this time)

A few weeks ago Sean went for a check up and his Orthodontist said he was almost there. She had him wear an elastic cross-wise to fine tune the alignment

This week it was confirmed. The braces come off next Tuesday!

Big smiles!

Oh mah baby is gonna be able to show off his straight teeth! The day after the braces come off he gets his retainer on which I understand he has to wear full time for a couple of weeks, then just at night.

We’ve told him he better take good care of those teeth and wear the retainer, he’s got the equivalent of a Pontiac Sunfire invested in that mouth of his!

He has requested white strips to whiten them up as soon as he can. He’s also got a list of things to eat that have been verboten the last couple of years all lined up. I see a lot of tacos, popcorn and chewy things in our future.

I took Sean to the Orthodontist today and we got some good news; Sean only has to wear his elastics at night and it’s looking like one more check up appointment and then we can schedule the braces to be removed and the retainer would go on a day later. The doctor said that he would need to wear the retainer full time for a week, then only at night from then on.

I promised Sean that after we get his teeth cleaned at the dentist we would get him some of those Crest white strips and whiten those straight teeth up. He’s really excited about it. I seriously cannot wait to see what he will look like when all is said and done!

After we picked up Chris from work we dropped him and Sean off at their Father’s. Tom had a craving for Wendy’s so he suggested we go there for dinner. Like I’m gonna say no to Wendy’s! On the way I noticed a sign in a new development area that a Carl’s Jr is going up here. It’s no In-N-Out but it’s a start!

It was an evening for arguments there too, a couple gets into a fight after taking FOR.EVER. to order their food (the poor counter guy did a great job restraining the eye-rolls I’m sure he was dying for) They literally asked what Wendy’s served (Umm hello look up! Hey a menu!) and what everything cost. They had who I assume was their daughter with them, a very sweet faced girl who was visually impaired who just silently stood detached there while they fought. The woman especially would not stop bitching, something about him not using a coupon. Seriously my heart went out to that girl because man, to have a harpy like that as your Mom when you’ve already got enough to deal with? She harped at her Husband all the way to the car (and for quite some time in their car in the parking lot as we were sitting by the window they were in plain view).

Then there was the Manager who was REALLY rude to her Staff, in particular to a lady working the grill who filled the order of a guy who did NOT order fries but then insisted he did (the counter lady had gone goodness knows where). The lady didn’t take the order, she was reading what was on the order screen. The manager happens to overhear and says in a very harsh tone “GIVE HIM THE FRIES!!!” then follows the lady over to the fries station to bitch her out some more. I was saying to Tom I can’t STAND managers who yell at their Staff number one, but even more so in public… in FRONT of your Customers? I mean hello, does this woman not realize that these types of jobs are a wee bit hard to fill these days? All I see are help wanted ads. Best not yell at your Staff or maybe you’ll be workin’ the grill yourself there chickiepoo.

You hear all those warnings about crazy drivers out there but who figured they were also referring to those wielding shopping carts?

Like the good daughter I am, I went and picked up my Mother’s weekly groceries at the local grocery store. If I do it, it is generally during the evening when other people fresh off work are more efficiently making their way around the store eager like me to just get it the hell over with. When Tom (the good Son-in-law) does it, he’s more likely to do it during the day when he says the crowds are less. Today was a day where I was able to go during the day and experience that for myself.

What I found were a lot of people, mostly women who were dawdling their way around the store, parking their carts any old which way they want to as I mean seriously who’s in a hurry right?

When I reached the end of the store I realized that I had forgotten to pick up that gross jellied cranberry stuff my Mom likes with her Turkey and because I wanted to have everything I need for the Christmas dinner in the pantry and ready to go on Monday I went back for it. I was about to turn left into the canned food aisle when this very harsh faced and flaming red haired lady came roaring around from the right hand side, crashes her cart into mine at a pretty fast clip and driving me into a handing display rack near the end of the aisle. This ended up forcing the handle of my cart into my stomach and up into my ribs.

For a second I stood there, or rather hunched there with my eyes watering while I heard her make an impatient noise and hardly glancing in my direction just kept going with her head held high. A very nice older gentleman came over to see if I was alright as I had to his words “been made to hit that rack pretty hard”. I smiled at his concern through my watering eyes and told him that I was “indeed OK thanks for asking”. He made a disparaging remark about Ms. Redhead and patted my shoulder and wandered back to his cart.

After the initial pain there has now come that lovely residual ache of being punched in the stomach. I really felt it when I had to heft my Mom’s groceries up to her place from the car. Thankfully it’s more a dull ache accompanied by the occasional twinge on my right side now.

Tonight, I’ve got to face the local mall to take Sean to his rescheduled dental checkup (His office is in the mall). I had to cancel the last one due to a dinner with a business partner and this was the only appointment available with our regular dentist until waaaaay into the New Year. What was I thinking?!?!?! A mall a few days before Christmas? Hopefully I won’t be circling for hours trying to find a damn parking spot.

So wish me luck.

I have been not so silently suffering from tooth-aches for the last couple of months due to my crappy-ass poor genetics. I say not so silently because I don’t think I’ve ever done anything silently in my life never mind chew with pain, and I’ve been chewing with pain.
Over the years I have taken really good care of my teeth, mostly because when I first started working at 17 I was unceremoniously kicked off my Dad’s dental plan and my employer didn’t offer part timers any benefits. So since I was 17 I have had nary a cavity, though as a kid I can’t say the same.

Part of that was my own fault and part of it genetics but I do have quite a few fillings, especially in the molars and they be failing big time now. I guess I have to give them some credit they hung in for many many more years than I thought they would. One of them recently decided however that it wanted to crack and not just a little crack but a good size ouch it effin hurts to eat/drink/breathe air crack.

It’s not so easy to get into the dentist and when you can get it in usually takes a while to get all the stars to align so they can do the treatment. My treatment meant a nice gold crown on my back left molar. My dentist rocks, he has to be one of the nicest most patient dentists out there, not to mention a dude I can really trust yanno? He’s not one of those “Oh well this microscopic mark on your xray COULD someday become something that could become a cavity, so lets fill it now” kinda guys. It also means he’s a busy guy. He’s older and the day he retires I have no idea what I’m gonna do.

Anyway, after several appointments to grind shape and mould my teeth I am now the proud owner of a shiny new crown.

Happily now I can also chew on my left side, I’m a left handed (mouthed?) chewer. I didn’t realize it until I was no longer able to.

I will also happily stop whining about my tooth to all and sundry. And all is right with the world.