I had my dentist appointment today. This is the first cavity I have had in quite a while, and the first since I got my braces a year and a half ago. The cavity was right next to an old filling.
The dentist numbed me up with Novocaine. Then using a combination of high speed and lower speed drills, he apparently removed the cavity as well as the old filling.
But what is really cool is the old filling was a silver amalgam. But the new filling is white, and matches the tooth. I did a search online and found they are apparently “white composite fillings”. It almost makes me want to get more cavities. I wonder if I could have all the old fillings removed and replaced with the white fillings? OUCH! I just looked and found that the white fillings are more expensive than the old amalgam fillings. I hope my dental insurance covers the whole expense. If not, then I will pay it. It looks really nice! Way better than the silver fillings!
During my teeth cleaning appointment at the dentist yesterday, he discovered a cavity on #19. I don’t know all the numbers of the teeth, but it is a molar on the bottom left side. In order to fix it, he said he needed the arch wire removed. My scheduled orthodontist appointment this morning. I was picturing some complicated thing to where I would go to the orthodontist, he would remove the wire, I would then go to the dentist where he would fill the cavity, and then I would head back to the orthodontist to have the wire re-installed.
But it turned out to be nothing so complicated. Apparently #19 was the last tooth on that side with a bracket. He even showed me the cavity. It comes off the edge of an older filling. My ortho said that tooth wasn’t important at the moment for my treatment, and simply cut the wire, and removed the bracket. He did a little polishing on the tooth to remove the glue. The I just had the regular “adjustment” stuff done. I am not sure why they call it an adjustment since they are basically just replacing all the little rubber bands.
When I got back to work, I called the dentist and scheduled an appointment for the end of the month to get the cavity filled. Then early next month I have another othodontist appointment, and he will probably re-attached the bracket and put in a new wire.
I had a teeth cleaning appointment this afternoon. Since I got my braces, I have had my teeth cleaned every three months. Today’s appointment was at the dentist. My dental cleaning in three months will be at the periodontist.
Today’s cleaning went pretty good overall. I take pretty good care of my teeth, so I don’t usually have many problems. The first small thing was a bit of tarter under the gums in one spot. So it was just slightly tender when she cleaned there. There were a few drops of blood in the spit bowl which doesn’t happen much anymore. Since I have gotten the WaterPik my cleaning appointment are most often bloodless.
She scraped my teeth, and then polished them. After she was done, the dentist came in to check my teeth. He poked and scraped my verious fillings to make sure they were still solid. BUT *grumble* he discovered a cavity on #19. He said he would need to have the arch wire removed to work on the tooth. So I am going to have to have my dentist and orthodontist coordinate appointments so I can have the wire removed, get the cavity filled, and then have the arch wire replaced.
I have an orthodontist appointment tomorrow morning. I will talk to him about the cavity, and then they can call the dentist and figure out what they want to do.
Seeing that I am now 43, and have braces for the second time around, I can tell you that things have improved!
When I was kid back in the 1970’s, the orthodontist installed bands around my teeth. The bands were kind of rammed onto the teeth. And then the wire was attached to the bands. They were painful, annoying and very ugly! Talk about metal mouth!
Today, braces are much more subtle looking, and a lot easier to have installed in your mouth! And they are a lot less painful, and ugly to wear!
The process begins with something being put in your mouth to hold it open. They rinse your teeth off with a water sprayer, and the dry them with blown air. Then using a swab, they wipe some liquid on the fronts of your teeth. The stuff is kind of foul smelling, but fortunetly you don’t have to smell it long. Then using a small tweezer type tool, they place the backets on your teeth roughly where they need to go. This stuff was all done by an assistant type person. The orthodontist then comes over, adjusts the position of the brackets on the teeth. Then they lightly scrape off the excess glue stuff. It’s still soft at this point. Once the brackets are all positioned correctly, and the excess glue removed, they expose your teeth to a strong UV light, the activate the glue. This doesn’t take long. Maybe 10 seconds per tooth. Then they have you rinse out. You taste the glue stuff, but it quickly rinse out of your mouth. You will feel the brackets on your teeth and the feel funny!
Now they insert a curved wire into slots in each of the brackets. They will place tiny rubber bands over the brackets to hold the wire in the slot. Have them place the the little rubber bands on the brackets is the least comfortable part as they are pressing on your teeth. But this takes one a minute or two. Then they trim the excess bit of wire in the back of your mouth, and you are done. Congratulations on your new braces!