Flossing My Teeth

"My adult patients who get braces become my best patients," my dentist told me. "They take very good care of their teeth."

And for good reason I thought. I was getting braces in part because I was well aware that I wasn't going to be growing any new teeth. Something I wish my kids could understand a little better.

When I asked him how long it would take and how often I would be coming in for appointments, he said that I would come once a month and they would take off the wire and then let me floss.

I can only floss once a month? I thought. How will I get to be a better patient? Instead of flossing once a day, now I only have to floss once a month?

"You can come in between appointments if you have something big coming up to get the buildup off," he continued.

Buildup? I thought. Gross.

When he left the room, my hygenist clarified. It was actually possible to floss with braces on. It was more like sewing she said.

Having never had braces and not being a student of brace anatomy, I tried to wrap my brain around how you would do that. But, I really don't have extra brain capacity right now since I am living under the influence of children, so I told myself not to worry about how to do it since they would show me when I got my braces on.

After the dentist installed my appliances (aka. he put my braces on), he handed me a packet of stuff to help me keep my teeth clean. Inside, he say there was a plastic needle that would fit between the teeth. After threading the needle with floss, I was to...well...sew that floss through my teeth.

Having learned how to sew at an early age, I was excited to try it out.

When night came, I pulled out the plastic needle, threaded it and tried to push the needle through my teeth. Some of my teeth it slid through. But most of my teeth it would not slide through. The wire was too close to the gum line. The eye of the needle was too wide. To understand what I mean, you need to realize that the needle itself was flat and thin, but the eye was wide enough that a great grandma could thread it without the use of her spectacles. And that was the problem. It wouldn't fit between the gum and the wire.

I tried several times, and each time I failed and went to bed. I decided that I would need to go buy the floss that has a stiff end attached at one end.

But I am living under the influence of 5 children who are out of school for the summer. I find I keep my sanity longer if I wait to take them to the store with me when I have enough energy, or wake up early and go to the store by myself (which also means I need to have extra energy).

I heard a story once about the man who invented the sewing machine. He had been working on designing a sewing machine for a while without luck. One night he had a dream. In his dream, the needle had an eye on the opposite end of the needle. Instead of pulling the needle through the fabric, the needle in his dream pushed the thread through the fabric. It was the missing piece of information that allowed him to invent a sewing machine.

About a week after I got my braces, I was just going to bed after trying to floss and failing. Surely the dentist would have already run into this problem. Why would it not work for me? What am I doing tomorrow? Can I run to the store early in the morning? Maybe I should just buy a water pick like my dentist suggested.

As I closed my eyes, my brain was toying with the problem when inspiration hit. I could see what I was missing.

I jumped out of bed and threaded that needle one more time. This time instead of pushing the needle between my teeth, I pushed it between the wire and my teeth. Viola! I could now floss my teeth.

And, I am happy to report, I am on my way to becoming a better dental patient.

That is if you don't count the days I don't have the energy at bedtime.

My Teeth are Sitting Up and Taking Notice

When I smile, my lower front teeth usually get hidden behind my lower lip. I really had not paid much attention to them.

True, my mom had instructed me that if I just pushed with my tongue on the tooth that had grown in behind the others that it might move into place. I knew that I had a few crooked teeth but I wasn't too concerned. I was only concerned that my lower front teeth were beginning to wear down.

The morning the brackets were in place and the wire from fence post to fence post in my mouth, I was surprised that my teeth were THAT crooked.

It was like someone had drawn a dot-to-dot puzzle on my lower teeth.

In the past 3 weeks I have watched those crooked teeth slowly begin to move into place. It is exciting to see the progress. (If I could see this much progress when I tried to lose weight, I would have wonderful motivation.)

That tooth that has lived on the second row by herself all of her life now has a seat on the front row. Those fence posts are beginning to look more uniform and the wire strung on them is getting straighter and straighter in small ways each day.

But a few days ago, I discovered that one of my front lower teeth has been laying down on the job for years now. My braces have straighten it up though and now.....


....... it is TALLER than the other teeth.

Which teaches me that if you lay down on the job, you don't get so worn down.

Sealing My Lips

I'm a storyteller. When I got home from getting braces, my husband said, "You're going to be a better storyteller by the time you are done with these braces."

"How so?" I asked.

"You'll have to work harder at enunciation." he responded.

The first indication that he might be right was when I said an "F" sound. Bookshelf. Bookshelves.

Every time I say a word that had an "F" sound in it, I hear a small whistle. It is so soft that I think I am the only one who can hear it. (Or at least my supportive husband claims he can't hear it.)

At first I couldn't figure out what was causing it, but I finally determined that I'm not getting my lips all the way down to the bottom of my top teeth when I say an "F" sound and there is a small space that allows air through as I talk.

My lips are not sealed.

I have noticed other times that my lips gape open.

Finishing a smile. I really have to extend my lips around my braces and sometimes I just don't have the time between smiles or words to close those lips all the way. Or maybe I'm just lazy. So, on occasion, I end up with fangs.

Little short stubby fangs that only I notice...or at least I hope I'm the only one noticing.

The worst indication, however, that I still need to seal my lips comes at night when I am relaxing.

I really hope here that those of you who have had braces before know where I am going. Otherwise I'm about to embarrass myself royally.

At night, when I'm relaxed, and my lips are not sealed....well, ..... is there a polite way to put this?

OK, I drool.

As a rule, I don't drool....or at least that's my story....but with orthodontia appliances glued to my teeth, I don't always get my lips sealed.

And because my lips are not sealed, you all now know the awful, slimy, wet truth.