A New Plan, the Test, and "Bummer"

A New Plan

Well I have been documenting the pain of rubber bands for quite some time. It is this pain that has forced me to see my ortho after just seeing him for a week. So on friday, I saw him. I go to check in and as usual, I am greeted by the receptionists. Well there is one whom Ive known the longest who didn't see me last week. Immediately she says, "Didn't you have surgery?". I laughed and said yes. Then she says, "Wow you look really good". I don't think she realized I am over 7 weeks going on 8. I get called in by one of the techs and she is also amazed at how good I looked. She comments on how a girl just left who had surgery before me and who is still quite swollen and sore. The girl is a teenager. Poor girl. I empathize with her but am glad that I heal pretty well. She asks how I was doing and I inform her of all of the problems I have. Some spacing issues, open bite with my molars, poking archiwires, an incisor tipping, and of course the dreaded rubber band at night. She looked everything over and agreed. The ortho makes his way over and he spent quite a bit of time looking everything over and agrees with my complaints. He recommended a change of my archwaires with some minor adjustments on the wire for some of my teeth, power chains for gaps, and a new rubber band set up. All of which he informs the tech to correct. I have a class II bite in my molars. Just like last week, he stated that I am almost done with braces and that everything looks pretty good. Just my midline of my lower jaw is slightly off. I can't believe how stubborn my jaw is. But I will say that it is getting in line. Just very slowly. The bad news is I still have to wear rubber bands. 2 on each side in the shape of a triangle and of course the dreaded band in the front which I will wear only at night when sleeping. The good news is I was given rubber bands with less tensile strength. I was told the one I was using was the highest strength which is ironically called "Bummer". LOL The new rubber bands are called "Bill". After this appointment, I feel so much better. My teeth were pretty sore but mentally I was so much happier. The tech did say that with "Bill" it would take longer for my jaw to shift. But I didn't care as I rather have less pain.

The Test:

So night time rolls around and its time for bed. Just in case, I took some Lortab before putting on the new rubber band. I needed a full nights sleep. I placed the new bands on and everything was so much better. I had some pain but no where near the pain I had before. I woke up with some minor TMJ pain on the right side. Saturday night I was extremely exhausted but didn't want to take any chances just yet. I again take some Lortab and placed the band. Overall, it was just as good as the night before and in the morning I realized that I was in less pain than before. So there is a glimmer of hope after all.

"Bummer"

Well I have come to pretty much hate the "Bummer" rubber bands after all they have created much havoc (in terms of pain) in my life. But I have been wearing them on each side with no problem. So today (sunday, 2 days after my ortho appt on friday) I have the day off. I decided that I will do some much needed laundry and some cleaning up of the apt. Since I am going to be home for most of the day, I thought I would band myself up like I would do normally when sleeping. I put on the bands and noticed that "Bill" wasn't shifting my jaw anymore. It just wasn't strong enough as I think my jaw is actually shifting now. I was shocked. So after staring at the bag of "Bummer" I finally decided to give them a try. Normally I would have taken some Lortab but I had already taken ibuprofen prior to placing the "Bill" band. I am not one to overdose on meds so I decided not to take any Lortab. I place the "Bummer" band on and looked in the mirror. As usual it shifts my jaw a little past the midline. Now I would just wait for the pain to kick in. It usually takes anywhere from 15-30min. After an hour of cleaning, I realized that I wasn't in any pain. I was shocked. It only took 2 nights for me to handle "Bummer". Wish I would have started off with "Bill" then I wouldn't have had to endure all of that pain. LOL Now I have all of these bags of "Bill" bands. Well knowing my jaw, I might need them tonight. I just hope that I can now move forward with Bummer which in turn means that there will be no more delays in my progress.