The first adjustment

I had my first adjustment today.

Just as well, because the bands round my brackets had become an alarming shade of yellow. Admittedly I have not been terribly good about keeping away from curry so it is my own fault.

Stephen had a good look at my teeth and pronounced himself pleased with progress. I have been able to see quite a bit of movement in the bottom teeth but it is not so easy to see the top teeth. Stephen confirmed that there has been quite a bit of movement up top, too.

He took off the bands and the wires. Although the pressure on my teeth has not been uncomfortable or bothersome, it was remarkable quite how much I could feel the release of the pressure when the wires were off.

Stephen shaved off the edges of a few more teeth. At first he used a drill attachment, which was fine. But then he got something that resembled a strip of sandpaper (perhaps it actually was?) and rasped it in between my teeth as necessary.

O.M.G. That is about the most unpleasant feeling I have ever had. It did not hurt at all but the crunchy rasping noises and the slight vibration of the teeth felt really peculiar. It was as unpleasant as nails scratching down a blackboard. Stephen could tell that I was most uncomfortable - I think I was waving my hands around a bit wildly in an effort to distract myself from the rasping.

Thankfully it was soon over, but I am NOT looking forward to more of that. Hey, ho - remember the title of this blog.

Stephen then threaded new wires through. He put some elastics on some of the back teeth - I think that is to close up gaps a bit quicker there so the front teeth can move more. Then the nice clean bands went back on. This part of the process was pretty similar to when the braces were first put on. A lot of pressure as the bands go on, and then it all settles down to a low pressure.

I had taken a painkiller a couple of hours before going. Not because I dreaded the procedure, as it happens, but because I felt a bit rough this morning. I'm not sure that the procedure would have been worse without it, though, and I don't intend to bother next time.

I've read on various forums that the first few days after an adjustment can be a bit painful, but I'm not finding that so far. Good.