Stage Two of Orthodontics Accomplished - Stage 3 in Two Weeks

Maybe my "Winter weight" gain wasn't as much the knowledge that winter was coming, as much as the knowledge that my orthodontics would be changing my eating habits. After yesterday's session with my Orthodontist, I can quite certainly say that at this point my eating habits will be changing quite a bit. I can also see where they will be able to return to a more "normal" state after the actual braces have been installed, but that's two weeks out, and I'm sure things will still be changing and shifting then too. 

Ideally, the spacers should all have been these 
blue rubber bands between the tight teeth. Of 
course, I always have to throw a kink in there. 
Two of the spaces they needed to create just 
weren't accepting the rubber bands, so for those, 
she had to go with metal spacers. So, I have 
several blue spacers, and two metal ones, 
one on each side. I can hardly wait to get the 
actual metal bands and the braces so that I 
won't have to worry about losing my spacers 
while I brush my teeth. 

Yesterday's appointment went quite well, though. The first thing that happened after I checked in was seeing Holly again. It's got to be more than a decade since we last saw each other. She's still not remarried, although there's a person of interest in her life - an old High School friend. She has a photo of her son, Ian, my grand-nephew prominently placed behind her desk, and said that he was at her house that very day (the schools were closed for some sort of administrative meeting). 

Holly trained as a Dental Assistant many years ago 
at one of our local community colleges. She's worked 
for orthodontists ever since and has been at my 
orthodontist for more than two years now. It was 
nice to see her. We were never great friends, but 
we had some good times and she's a family 
outlier in a way. When kids are shared, you're never 
truly 100% out of the family after a divorce. 

They run a very well-oiled machine at that office, but they are kind and effective and thorough. I haven't met anyone there I haven't liked, and Dr DeVoe is very to-the-point but happy in his work, which shines right through. I had another series of X-rays, this time with a piece of equipment I've never seen before, and had several mouth/teeth impressions and bite impressions made. Then Nikki, my tech for the day, inserted several "spacers" between the teeth I have with gold crowns. They can't glue the clips for the braces on to the gold, so they'll have to put bands around those teeth. I think I have five teeth with gold crowns, and they can be an additional problem for braces. 

So I now have either two or three of the blue rubber 
spacers, and two of the metal spacers pushing my 
teeth away from each other. These stay in 1-2 weeks 
(2 weeks in my case) and will give just enough space 
to insert molar bands on those teeth that have gold 
crowns. We're talking millimeters or less here. 

So, spacers - preferably rubber, but my teeth are stubborn and I ended up with two rubber, and two metal spacers. These will be in place (ideally) until the 2nd of November, when I will get my braces installed. I spent the rest of the day with a variety of tasks (mostly the remainder of my four loads of laundry for the day), and tried a few food tests. Nuts - they don't work. Even the softer nuts like cashews just aren't edible with the spacers in. I have no idea how they'll react with braces - hopefully a bit better because I do enjoy my nuts. 

The bonding cement used for the braces won't adhere 
to my gold crowns (my porcelain crowns aren't a 
problem). So, for those, we're using spacers and then 
he'll put molar bands over the teeth to allow the wires 
and bands to be placed properly. That'll probably 
irritate my gums for a day or two, but I'm sure I'll 
get used to them quickly. Flossing is key, and I'm 
working on figuring that out safely. I have almost 
everything I need already in hand, and the one item I 
still needed is on its way from Amazon. 

I didn't bother trying my grain mixes/granola varieties. Hopefully they'll work down the line, but I can tell they're off the table for two weeks, for sure. I ended up with a dal for dinner, with my chicken cut into small pieces mixed in, and 1/2 avacado cubed also stirred in. It was actually very tasty, and I have a lot of dal varieties in my pantry, so that should work well. I'm not sure about the lobster we were planning for Sunday. I might have to bow out on that one. 

I enjoy eating Dal, and have at least six different 
varieties in my pantry right now. I'll probably 
increase my selection of those. I also have lovely 
gluten-free noodles in the pantry that I can cook 
up with a sauce. That'l always an option as well. 
But the Dal is quick, easy and doesn't make a mess. 
Win/win - LOL. 

So, I'm exploring edible foods. I know it will be a bit different between the spacers and the actual braces, but finding foods that fit into my food plan and still are edible will be challenging with a food plan that relies heavily on vegetables. I might be using my blender a lot over the next two weeks - LOL. Have an excellent Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. As always, be kind and Slava Ukraini.