It's working!

Here is just a "before" and "so far" photo of my teeth. After putting off my dental health for over 15 years, I crawled into the dentist chair with an aching tooth. I was fortunate that it was not a root canal yet. They did a crown on the tooth and forecast my future plan for several other teeth that had gone bad as well. Shucks, while I'm at it, I let him talk me into braces too. I got all of my dental work done. Had four teeth pulled. (of which mom enjoyed the 20 minutes in which I was coming out of my anesthetic and had no recollection of how "loopy" I was) I had my top braces installed in February and my bottom braces installed in March. It's now June and this is how much they have moved. I'm still adjusting to the different way you have to eat and have found that I get tired of trying to chew my food around these dang things and I just gulp my food down poorly chewed. My poor stomach has had to do a lot more work since these lovely bad boys were installed. I am about a year and a half way from having these things taken off. Some days, I wish I could take them off now, as I get tired of them rubbing my inner mouth raw or biting my inner lip and cheeks. I suppose it will be all worth it in the end. I heard rumor that my nephew would be having braces installed soon. At least I'll have someone in the family who sympathizes to my pains! Actually these haven't been too bad. They just don't tell you all the weird stuff you go through. I went six weeks where my teeth didn't touch and I was pureeing all of my food and I think that's where I learned to gulp my unchewed food down. Because of not being able to bite down, I found that my mouth fell open at night and for the first time since I was a kid, I woke up drooling! They really should warn you about these things! I can now close my mouth, but if I fall asleep with the side of my face buried in my pillow, when I wake up I practically have to pry my inner cheek from my braces in which it spent all night smashed up against. Yet another experience nobody tells you about. They also trick you by putting, what I call, a training wire on to make you think braces are not as painful as everyone says, or at least you believe you have a better tolerance for pain than most of your friends. Well after several weeks, they replace that wire with the real thick wires and you realize they tricked you by giving you false confidence in your ability to withstand pain. I found myself sucking down Advil like my friends suggested after they installed the "real" wire. I'm looking forward to having my next adjustment done right before my vacation to Kansas. I say that soaked in sarcasm, because our Phillips Family Reunions always involve really tasty food, glorious, yummy food, all of which I'll gulp down along side my Advil and bare the uncomfortable pain. Go ahead and feel free to send me sympathy cards... or tell me to just quit being a baby, either way works for me. Here's to my 4,000 dollar orthodontic bill!