Dr. Aronowitz & Staff

So getting the braces off was not that much fun for me! (I'm sure not for Harry or Lashon either -- I'm no prize patient -- they are really patient!)

I had a band on one of my top molars and I thought that the whole tooth was going to come off. The brackets came off fairly easy. To get the glue off, Dr. A used a drill and I had to hold my breath each time he started it. It took about 45 minutes to get everything off and for a good polish (Dr. A did a really nice polish). My teeth and gums are very senstive, particularly on the bottom.

Then I got a permanent retainer glued onto my bottom teeth -- a wire in the back, a bonding thread on the front. This keep my bottom teeth stable while my bones settle down. There is a raging debate about whether I will get implants on the bottom. Well, not really raging. It will depend on whether I get my feeling back. My dentist thinks I will; my surgeon doesn't and he wants to go right ahead and put the implants in which would most likely severe the nerve.

I picked out a removal retainer for the top which I pick up next week. I went with a very exciting color -- clear.

Total time spent at the orthodontist was 2 hours 38 minutes with one minute to spare on the parking meter. I didn't go back to work. Instead, I decided to stop off for a chocolate muffin! Time in bottom baces: 23 months; time in top braces -- about 9 months.

I just realized that I am six months and 2 days post surgery.

Look Ma, No Braces!

Thursday, Not Monday

Slight delay in the "de-bracing." I called my dentist to tell him the braces are coming off on Monday and he said that he needed them to be on for my appointment on Tuesday when he is going to add some bonding to the lower teeth to build them up. Apparently they have become grinded (grounded?) down over the years because of my overbite. So instead of getting the braces off on Monday, it will be Thursday afternoon. Dr. Dybnis made it sound like the de-bracing would cause some pain and/or discomfort. Mmmm, haven't heard that from anyone. Guess I'll have to wait and see.

In the meantime, here is an updated photo taken at Spagos. Right before the batteries went dead. My bottom lip and chin are still completely numb on top. My lip has been burning a lot and it feels like something is pressing across it making it kind of pushed in against my teeth. Dr. Dybnis told me that he has no patients who have a numb lip or chin in their 60s so he thinks that everyone gets their feeling back eventually. Gee, that's comforting!

Lunch at Spago's

So David, my office administrator, took a few of us out to lunch at Spago's in Beverly Hills the other day (for my birthday actually). There was not a whole lot on the menu that I could eat. I had some dish that turned out to be raviolis (not that it said the word ravioli anywhere) and of course as always, I was the last one eating. But it was awfully good! No star sightings. And I'm glad I wasn't the one paying the bill (I felt slightly guilty about inviting so many co-workers to go with!). My camera batteries died about a minute after we got to the restaurant so I didn't really get any good pictures. I was glad I could find this one on line.

Untitled

The braces are coming off on Monday! Yeah!

The bad news is that it will be at least six months before my dentist can proceed with the next phase of my dental work, which will include implants and crowns, because the bones need a chance to heal from the effects of the braces. Darn!

Oh well.

Whose Blog is it anyway!

Since there really isn't much going with the orthognathic blogfolks, I've been trolling civilian blogs. Wow, there's a whole virtual bloglife-culture out there!

And so many blog tools. Here's an interesting blog tool link I found, oh, and here's another.

I don't know, this could cause me to loose hours and perhaps even days of my life . . .

Where Have You Gone, Mrs. Shanton?

Brandy found this on Kelsie's blog.