Tuesday, August 24, 2004
A Switcheroo on the Rubber Bands
I had a very good visit with Dr. Weinstein and Dr. Han on Wednesday of last week (August 18). They both examined me and they determined that I am to still wear the rubber bands, but this time switch the stronger elastic to the right side and the weaker elastic to the left side. (I am trying not to get confused by this.) In addition, at night I am now to stop wearing the box elastic in front, and rather wear a triangle shaped elastic on the right side. Dr. W made a wire hook for this. They are still getting my lowers to "stand up straight," so they made some new bends in my lower archwire and Dr. Han coached Dr. Weinstein in carefull performing the wire adjustment on the bottom, so as not to cause me too much pain. I was nervous, but the whole process was a snap compared to last time. There were no adjustments made to my uppers for now, they want to get my lowers fixed up first before beginning that process. Dr. Weinsteiin says I should not expect my upper black triangle to go away completely. I go back in late September.
Canker Sores
I have some nasty canker sores at the moment. I attribute this in part to the scraping by the metal appliances and the rubberbands, but mostly to stress at having lost my job. I have found that stayng away from citrus juices helps prevent canker sores, but that once you have them the best bet is yogurt and lots of water, and most of all to reduce the stress. Since I see no end in sight to my stress level, I hope I can get rid of the canker sores soon. One of them in particular is very nasty.
I had a very good visit with Dr. Weinstein and Dr. Han on Wednesday of last week (August 18). They both examined me and they determined that I am to still wear the rubber bands, but this time switch the stronger elastic to the right side and the weaker elastic to the left side. (I am trying not to get confused by this.) In addition, at night I am now to stop wearing the box elastic in front, and rather wear a triangle shaped elastic on the right side. Dr. W made a wire hook for this. They are still getting my lowers to "stand up straight," so they made some new bends in my lower archwire and Dr. Han coached Dr. Weinstein in carefull performing the wire adjustment on the bottom, so as not to cause me too much pain. I was nervous, but the whole process was a snap compared to last time. There were no adjustments made to my uppers for now, they want to get my lowers fixed up first before beginning that process. Dr. Weinsteiin says I should not expect my upper black triangle to go away completely. I go back in late September.
Canker Sores
I have some nasty canker sores at the moment. I attribute this in part to the scraping by the metal appliances and the rubberbands, but mostly to stress at having lost my job. I have found that stayng away from citrus juices helps prevent canker sores, but that once you have them the best bet is yogurt and lots of water, and most of all to reduce the stress. Since I see no end in sight to my stress level, I hope I can get rid of the canker sores soon. One of them in particular is very nasty.
