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| How I envision dentist appointments. Truly. Photo found here. |
Add this to my confessions list: I have all 32 teeth. Yep, that includes four giant pearls of wisdom. (How do you think I've managed to get so far through school?)
I always knew they were smashed together, but it wasn't until my dentist started throwing around terms like "interproximal reduction" (IPR) and "teeth shaving" that I had cause to worry. You see, thanks to smooshed mouth conditions, my teeth don't have enough room to turn and so my dentist made plans to create a little space.
I'm sure he told me about the small diamond file--kind of like flat "glide" floss, only gritty--but all I heard was "teeth shaving." And for the last six weeks I've dreaded the idea of having my that feeling, that sound, that experience of sand paper between my teeth... or worse, a drill. Shiver.
I've (not quite) joked: Is it poor form* to bring a flask to the dentist's office?
In the end, it wasn't a big deal. And that's coming from a dentist-phobe like me, someone who could quite easily use valium for a cleaning. The procedure took all of 10 minutes and the results are barely noticeable. In fact, I appreciate that my dentist opted for the file versus a drill because he's being very conservative about how much tooth is whittled away. (The Invisalign folks recommended entire teeth be removed!) For what it's worth, at least flossing will be easier now.
So anyway, just another day in the life of a braceface.
xoxo,
shawna
*A comment from someone online: "Some say poor form... some say prepared." Ha!
Related posts:
Help, I have tooth nubs now
Invisalign lifestyle issues
Conveniently spaced appointments rock
The joys of public teeth brushing and discovering the Colgate "Wisp"
Labels: Braceface Chronicles, Invisalign, Things that surprise me
