The other day I wen to clean my teeth with my Waterpik. I turned the Watepik on and something was wrong. Water was spraying on the wall. I thought I had the tip pointing in the wrong direction, but no. The hose was broken just below the handle. I didn’t want to have to buy a whole new unit just for a broken hose. I searched around the net and found I could get a new hose, but I thought I could use the hose I had. I just needed to figure out how to reattach it to the handle. I tried to figure out how to open the handle. I came close to hitting it with a hammer or prying it apart.
I continued searching, looking for into on how the replacement hose was supposed to attached, but I couldn’t find any instructions. I did find a replacement handle. I started thinking that I couldn’t reattach the hose to the handle I had. I ordered the replacement handle.
When the replacement handle came, I saw how it attached to the hose. I decided to see if I could use the old handle. I cut off the hose where the break was. There is a little plastic piece where the hose entered the handle. The piece locks the hose in place. Using a knife, I pried up the little piece to release the lock. The with the piece locked up, I pulled it out with some pliers.
Now with the lock removed, I needed to remove the small piece of hose. The hose is pushed onto a small plastic tube. I tried pulling the hose off, but that didn’t work. I ended up using a sharp pointed knife to slice the hose off the small tube. That worked.
I cleaned up the end of the hose. I slid the small plastic lock piece onto he hose. Then I pushed the hose onto the small plastic tube in the handle. Then I slid the lock piece down, and locked it into place.
My repaired Watepik works great. I still have the unused replacement handle. Not sure what I will do with it. I will probably just hang onto it in case the handle I have breaks.
I don’t know how many brackets I have broken in the getting close to three years I have had my braces. The ceramic brackets break easier. This last Saturday morning I was eating a ham sandwich for breakfast. I felt a crunching in my mouth. I had a good idea what it was. I went upstairs to the bathroom, and checked the mirror. Sure enough, the bracket on my prosthetic tooth broke. The tooth was still there, so I carefully pulled it out. I stuck it into a plastic bag so I wouldn’t lose it. Now I had a big gap in my smile where the missing tooth was. I looked like a hockey player.
I called the orthodontist office first thing this morning. It turns out my orthodontist was on vacation. But they scheduled me to come in at 9am when a technician would be there.
I showed up at 9am. The tech couldn’t put a bracket on one of my regular teeth, but this was a prosthetic tooth and just a place holder more or less so I didn’t have a big gap.
She was worried they didn’t have the right kind of bracket. She said they were phasing out the kind of ceramic brackets that I had, for a new kind. I guess they have some kind of clips. But I was in luck and she found one. It only took about 15 minutes for her to remove the remains of the broken bracket, clean up the tooth, mount a new bracket, and install the tooth.
The receptionist asked if I had tried to call. I said no since I didn’t think it was an emergency. She thought it migh have qualified since I had a big gap in my teeth. I told her that I just tried not to smile a lot. But I am all fixed now.
I had my orthodontist appointment a couple days ago. He was very happy with how my teeth are doing. The top front teeth are over the bottom teeth. The end is in sight. I don’t have a time frame or anything for getting them off, but I am getting there. I still have the powerchain on the bottom teeth. I have been wearing a rubber band on the right side. The orthdontist said that I only need to wear the rubber band of night now. He mentioned something about the band for my next visit. Something about half. I can’t see wearing the rubber band for half the night. So maybe I will be going to a smaller size rubber band? I am currently wear the super heavy rubber band.
When I get the braces off, I will have to have my prosthetic tooth replaced. Right now I have a fake tooth attached to the wire. I will have to have a new bridge made or something.
On another front, my poor wife broke a tooth. A molar in the back. She says it doesn’t hurt, but the feeling of it bothers her. She tried calling our dentist, but they are closed this week for vacation. They have an emergency number on their answering machine, but like I said, it isn’t hurt her. So she is waiting till next week. Meanwhile I got her some wax for her to use.
I have my orthodontic appointment today. Yet more minor progress. The orthodontist seems happy with how things are going.
I knew one bracket had come loose from a tooth on the upper left. I realized this a couple weeks again. But from where it was at, I didn’t think it would have much impact, so I didn’t bother to call them to get it fixed. They told me that I could have come in early, no problem. Apparently the bracket had come loose on prosthetic tooth as well. It must have come off, whent hey removed the ligature or something. I never had a problem with it.
On my last appointment, they had installed a powerchain on my upper teeth. This time, they installed regular ligatures on the upper teeth, and I now have a powerchain on the lower teeth.
Also at my last appointment, the orthodontist had me wearing a “heavy” rubber band (4mm, 4 oz) on my right side to pull the uppers forward. This time however, he wants me to wear a “super heavy” rubber band (4mm, 6oz) on the right side.
The wire was sticking out the back on the lowers. I told them about it, and they tried to trim them, but there wasn’t enough to trim. They used a drill with a de-burring tool to smooth them down a little. Those wire ends scare me a little. I already ripped the crap out of my tongue one time when it got snagged on the end of the wire. I was seriously bleeding for a while, and my tongue was sore for days.
I had yet another teeth cleaning yesterday. It seem like I just had my teeth cleaned. I had to check my calendar to see. But my last teeth cleaning was back in February. I get it seems so recent because of all my other visits to the dentist. One visit to the dentist to verify that I had a cavity. Then my normal visit to the orthodontist where a bracket was removed. Then another visit to the dentist to have the cavity filled. Then my next regular visit to the orthodontist.
Anyway, I was back to the dentist yesterday for my teeth cleaning (every three months). The teeth cleaning seemed to go okay. But when the dentist came into look at my teeth, he was poking and prodding around in mouth and found another small cavity on the back molar. So now I have yet another dentist appoint in July to get that cavity filled.
My next orthodontist appointment is scheduled for about 2 1/2 weeks from now. I have no idea what he is going to do next. Not sure if plans on putting the bracket back on that he removed. And if he puts it on, will it interfere with the dentist filling the tooth. Oh…it’s such a sordid mess.
I wouldn’t mind getting the bracket put on if I can get a rubber band put on that side. Having a rubber band only on one side is just wierd. At least if I had rubber bands on both sides, it would be symetrical and ballanced. Yeah, I am wierd!