Today was the day. After having them for not quite two years, my braces came off. It was a strange experience, but I’m glad to have moved on to the next phase of this project.
Of course, the timing wasn’t great. This was our big concert weekend, and the Hebrew and Italian were sometimes painful to sing with the braces. But then, I couldn’t have predicted how changes to my teeth would affect my singing. I survived, though.
The actual removal didn’t take long at all. However, it did leave adhesive that had to be polished off of my teeth. There were X-rays and photographs to compare with when I started the process.
The most time consuming thing those, was having to have the retainer made. Impressions were made of my teeth, then the retainer itself had to be made. This is a temporary plastic device that I will have to wear all the time for the next several months.
To celebrate I had a Reuben sandwich without fear of sauerkraut getting caught in my braces. It was was a pleasant sensation. Not having metal grinding into my cheeks was nice.
Speaking of the retainer, turns out it’s going to be a great way to lose weight. I’m not allowed anything but water while wearing them, and I have to wear them all the time. I certainly can’t eat with them in place, and these things aren’t easy to remove. That means every bite I take has to be a conscious effort. I can’t just walk by a bowl of grapes or candy and pop one in my mouth. Snacking between meals just became more bother than it’s worth. We’ll see if this works.
And finally, much to our cats’ dismay, I can whistle once again. I’m not up my usual trills and virtuosity, but at least I can produce a sound.
