Since I got my braces, I have to go to the orthodontist every 4-6 weeks to have them checked. I got them in April and I had them checked in May. Everything was fine on my first appointment. Two days ago on Wednesday was my second appointment. I thought I would just waltz in, have them take a look and be on my merry way. But Mary Jane, the orthodontist’s assistant said with glee “Oh goodie! You get new wires today!”.
“New wires?” I thought. My old wires were doing just fine. They are semi transparent and seem to be doing the job effectively. But Madam Mary Jane said “Those first wires were to make some spaces between your teeth. This new wire is stiffer and will close up all those gaps”. OK, that sounds reasonable. The main reason I got the braces in the first place is because I had developed a gap on the right side next to my canine tooth.
So Mary Jane opened the little hinges on the front of my braces, which are called gates (so I was informed). She fitted me with a U-shaped wire (I felt certain she was putting a horseshoe in my mouth) and clipped the ends to fit my mouth. After that she closed all the gates and Aunt Kimmy was ready to go.
“BUT WAIT” said Mary Jane. “We aren’t done yet”. What more could be done, pray tell? Mary Jane said “That new wire doesn’t work alone. I’m going to install a Power Chain over it”. A what? Power Chain? What in the dickens is a Power Chain? That didn’t sound good to me and it turns out, it didn’t feel good either! Madame MJ body slammed me back into the chair and proceeded to link each of my braces with a strip of braided plastic that had holes at close intervals. She had to use pliers to ‘stretch’ it a bit to the next tooth. It didn’t hurt but it was tighter than that G string on Alix’s guitar. By the time she had strung together each tooth, my teeth felt so tight I thought I could bite through a steel pipe.
Later that day, my teeth were very sore. I tried to eat a green salad but it hurt to chew the lettuce. I was thinking that I should have stolen some of Tyler’s food for this occasion. But the strange thing is that in one day, the gap next to my canine tooth closed at least 1/3 of the way. This morning is my second day with the Power Chain and it closed even MORE! At this rate, I should have no gap at all in just 5 days. Absolutely amazing! And it isn’t sore any more. Hooray for the Power Chain!
