I got my permanent bridge installed last week. So I called up my orthodontist to make an appointment to get a new retainer. The first appointment was only for about half an hour. I stopped in, she mixed up some paste stuff, and spread it into a mold, and fitted it into my mouth. After it was in there for a minute or so, she pulled it out. That was it. I made another appointment for the following week to pick up my new retainer.
This next appoint didn’t even take as long. I stopped in, and after a brief wait, they brought me into the back and had me try the new retainer on. It was the same as the previous one, a clear plastic molded to fit over my teeth. I put it into my mouth, and it fit perfectly. They gave me a new box too. I need to continue to wear these retainers every night for the next year. After that, he says that I only need to wear them every other night. I wonder if I need to wear them for the rest of my life? Or after a couple years, can I stop wearing them? Or maybe I will only need to wear them once a week?
Anyway, I don’t need to see the orthodontist for another six months. They didn’t even schedule an appointment. They will call me in six months to make an appointment.
My teeth are straight! And my bite is the way is it supposed to be. Yay!!!! One issue those is that now that my upper teeth come out over the bottom teeth like they are supposed to, instead of meeting them flush, it’s harder to chew my nails. Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? *scratching head*
I had arrived early for my teeth cleaning appointment today. Fortunately they were able to get me in. I had asked the dental hygienist about whether my dental bridge had made it back from the lab. She looked at the chart, but it didn’t say anything. She said the dentist would know.
After she was done cleaning my teeth, she left the for a bit. When she came back, she they had gotten my bridge, and they would install it now. Cool!
They took me to another room. There was going to be a little bit of a wait, so they turned on the flat panel TV for me. So I sat an watched Law & Order until the dentist was ready for me.
After a bit, the dentist was ready for me. He apologized that he would have to numb me up again. He used the topical anesthetic first, then shot me up with Novocaine. Again, it hurt like an SOB as the needle worked it’s way in so deep. Ack!
The actual installation was quick and straight forward. He removed the temporary by wiggling it back and forth. He cleaned up the post teeth. He fit the permenant dental bridge and gve me a mirror. The color matched nearly perfectly.
He used some sort of cement to glue the bridge in place, and then cleaned up any excess cement. Then without warning, he announced he was done.
I mentioned the tooth that the dental hygienist said was fractured. He looked at my chart, looked at my teeth, and said it was not an issue at this point, but we would keep an eye on it.
I was schedule to have my teeth clean today. I forgot all about it until they call last week. I added it to my calendar on my computer at work. But then I call out sick today due to a cold. I couldn’t remember when my appointment was. I thought it was at 2:30. But it turns out it was a 3pm. I asked if they wanted me to come back. But they said no, and they got me in then with a different dental hygenist.
She took me back to a room. The first thing she did was to measure the depth of my gums. She poked a little probe into my gums, and started ratling off numbers to another woman who wrote them down. It was rapid fire like 2-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-3-3-2-3-4-2-2-2… I was mostly 2’s and 3’s. But I had a few 4’s and a couple 5’s. The 2’s and 3’s are what I wanted.
After that, the teeth cleaning was fairly normal. Though with my cold, I had a hard breathing when she used the ultrasonic scaler which was spraying water into my mouth as I struggled to breathe through my nose.
She said she found a tooth with a fracture. It was next to a filling, and she thought the dentist would likely replace and expand the filling.