October appointment

Went in for another appointment for my braces. I think they were disappointed with my progress regarding the rubber band that was supposed to help close the gap. The assistant told me the progress was very little. And maybe for that reason they weren't able to move with the next step to correct my bite. My orthodontist asked me how I was with the rubber band. I said I forgot to put the rubber band back in everytime I ate, because I took it off before eating and planned to put a new rubber band after meal. But always ended up forgetting to put either back on, because I usually eat lunch and dinner while doing something else too. Like working in the office (lunch), or watching TV (dinner).. so even after meal, I was still distracted with the other activity that I was doing :(

Since I'm an Asian, I eat rice with spoon instead of sandwich. I'm not really a fan of sandwich, burgers, etc. 99% of the time I usually eat everything that requires chopsticks, spoon, or fork.. so I find it easy to eat even with the rubber band on. So I asked if it would work if I could just keep the rubber band even when I'm eating. My ortho said it would work, but just replace a new rubber band afterwards. The assistant added, anytime at all just put the old one in if there's not a new one around me.

Before I decided to try the rubber band again for another month, the ortho suggested another alternative which was putting on spring instead.. which I wouldn't be able to take off. He noted that it might cause my mouth to get pushed because of the spring, and it would poke too.. Because of these reasons, I felt it would cause a lot of hassles, so I made up my mind that I'd be more 'discipline' with the elastic band. Plus, last month I misunderstood the assistant when she said I could take it off but she didn't want me to go 5 days without it.. so I thought I could be without the band for 3-5 hours.. so I tended to put off putting it back on.

So the rubber band is always on almost 24/7.. however, in the morning, I found my jaw and mouth are sore. Every morning. The first few morning I even got headaches too. Because I could feel the pressure or the 'tight' muscles in my jaw.. because something was being pushed/pulled in my mouth. So in the morning, I brush my teeth and get ready to work and have my breakfast.. I usually don't have the rubber band in my mouth until I'm in the car heading to work.. This can take 1-2 hours.. but I need that 'break' from the rubber band so my jaw can relax a bit. It's very tight.

Anyway, this time I made sure I told the assistant I wanted the light pink color. I got 2 different assistant working on me before and after the orthodontist checked on me.. The first one didn't ask me what color I wanted and she just went ahead prepare the clear color for me again while I went flossing at the back.. but luckily just before the second assistant was about to put it on me, I stopped her and said, "No I want pink instead!" Haha..