I was really sleepy at work, words cannot describe and then I walked to the dentist once I got home. The one hour wait at the dentist didn’t help at all. I was losing my patience already. When I was finally called into the room, the dentist said very good when he saw the progress of my teeth.

I didn’t know exactly what he did except for he’s telling me he’s going to make the retainer and then the braces can be removed. In my head, I was still thinking, the braces will still be there until the retainer is ready…which definitely is not today because it takes time to make the retainer.

He sprayed something on my teeth then placed a short wire across the inner part of my lower front teeth…the nurse glued it or cemented it with a tool that emits light. It was followed by the top row of teeth. With this going on, I still wasn’t sure what the dentist was doing with my teeth.

After that, he removed the arch wire of my braces. Then, he scraped away the brackets with something. It just felt like a tool was crunching away the brackets. It felt a little like my teeth was going to be crunched away too.

Next, he placed two moulds on my teeth, one above, one below…to make a mould for the retainers. I was ready to go by then and still couldn’t believe my braces are gone for good. Then, I realised those wires he just installed for me are fixed retainers which I can’t remove until when it’s ready to be removed. They are not visible as they are hidden behind my teeth. In some way, it feels like I’m without braces but in someway, not entirely yet….but it doesn’t matter because having the braces removed is like 100 years old of burden  evaporating away.

I had to come back in a few days to collect my clear retainer which is to be wore only at night.

When I came home, I looked in the mirror and stared at my teeth. Smiled. Laughed. Grinned.

Truth be told, I’m not used to it.

I deliberately didn’t want to reveal or announce the removal of my braces at work because I wanted to see if anyone noticed it. But I guess I couldn’t help contain the excitement, the colleague sitting next to me asked me the golden question, “How was the visit to the dentist?” I had to answer.

Brushing is so much easier now, as well as flossing. And because I’ve been brushing after lunch at work for the past 3 years…the habit is stuck with me that even after now that I don’t have braces anymore, I’m still brushing my teeth after lunch. I think I’m going to do just that.

*say cheese, say kimchi!*

It is so fixed to me that it has become part of my life. Really..if it has been with me for almost 3 years…I think I’m going to feel a bit not used to it without the braces. I was thinking I could show my beautiful set of teeth during the upcoming annual dinner….but it looks like I’m going to just bear with it for a little while more.

My next dental appointment is in 17 days..doctor said this is the last already. He said sorry for taking so long…but I’m so immuned to it, it doesn’t matter anymore. I’d rather wait a little longer than to have my teeth not ready.

It’s going to be a milestone…and I’ll tell you more about it…what it’s like to be brace-less after so long, when I’m there.

I don’t think I can go out like that because the moment I open my mouth, nobody is going to look at me, they will be staring at my teeth and then think to themselves, what the hell. So I will not present that nightmare and I’ll only be on those rubberbands when I sleep and when I’m not out meeting people. The process may take longer this way but I don’t want to jeopardise any chance of meeting a decent guy. If these hooks and bands were to work out smoothly by end of next month, I’ll be wearing braces for 2 years then, which is 6 months later than expected. Heh! But aku tak kisah lah…sebab dah biasa. Good things come to those who wait..AKU TUNGGU!!!

Went to Jusco Bandar Utama because it’s Jusco Day. The best part is some retail outlets were also having J Card Special sale. I like! Bought shoes….so nice. Bought a pillow at 50% discount and I’ll be sleeping on it tonight. Bought tissue. Actually many were seen buying tissue. Haha.

I want to go parade on my new shoes before bedtime. Good night!

As the dentist told me to have it extracted and he asked if I wanted it to do it today…I ask him if it would take long since it was a big tooth and I thought it wasn’t the normal extraction that would get this big tooth out. Mr.Dentist was so confident, he said it would only take a short while. I was given two shots and it started to get numb. While I was sitting on the chair, I was thinking if I’m not out of my mind. I have never agreed to extract a tooth immediately. Usually I would tell the dentist that I’ll get it extracted during my next visit or on another day because I’ll be thinking of all the horrible things, how to eat, what if I bleed non-stop and all imaginable things I can think of. And, I also needed time to collect courage.

But today, I think I’m drunk or I don’t know…suddenly brave? Hahahah. I agreed to have it taken out because it needs to be done sooner or later anyway and I don’t want to keep thinking about it for the coming days before my next appointment. I’m still biting on that cotton ball as I’m typing this. So far I don’t have any painful feeling yet. Extraction was painless, except you could feel the 2 tingling shots before that but it’s really nothing. Just someone pinching you very hard in a very small way.

Of all times, it has to appear now, especially when I have my braces on so I’m not quite sure if that’s good news or bad news. If it grows out well, I think it should be fine but if it doesn’t it may have to be removed and removing wisdom tooth is more torturing than putting on braces.

Yesterday wasn’t quite my day. As I was hanging on and holding on to myself to be positive and cheerful despite the many things that I wasn’t pleased with, it finally came to a stage where I felt like crying. I woke up and I felt like crying. It got worse when I went to work, the tears were already forming and so I had to excuse myself to calm down in the toilet.

In some way, I know there are things which we don’t like to do but we are required to do it anyway. So, I’m talking myself into just doing it and see the big picture. I think I can do this.

Dentist gave me a power chain. I know…sounds so canggih right? It’s just a super strong elastics to close the gap of my previous extraction. Suddenly I feel that my mouth is full of gadgets. And there’s going to be more added to the current collection next month.

Dentist suggested me to have a mini-screw. I don’t really like the sound of those 2 words. Mini-screw. Eww!

It’s going to be screw that would go through the gum. I have this very protruding molar which is giving me problems. I don’t want to lose it so I think I’m going with the mini-screw which would help to support that molar to move inwards then the dentist can extend my braces so that that molar will join the rest of the teeth. I don’t know if it hurts but I would want to think it hurts. Whether or not it hurts, I don’t really have a choice. So it’s just something I need to do next whether I like it or not.

Then, I might need a mini-implant. This one sounds scarier. Mini-screw will be taken off once the molar is corrected. Implant would mean  permanent because I’m planting a teeth. And thanks to my previous dentist who screwed up by removing my healthy molar…..now I have to do implant for my lower jaw…or else the mini-screw that supports the molar of the upper jaw will be knocking against my gum. I will be cursing my previous dentist until my braces treatment is over. It was supposed to be a much simpler process but because of that molar that was extracted when I was in secondary school, the story has changed.

Anyway, I’m seeing progress with the gap though. It’s still big but I know it’s moving inwards.

God bless Gracie and her teeth!

Teeth hurt a little last night when I was about to sleep. I think it’s because there’s a gap now so the teeth are doing their job. They are MOVING. I was contemplating whether to pop in that painkiller. It wasn’t so painful that I need it but I just wanted to sleep. In the end, I told myself I can hang on to this numbness and I did. When I woke up today, it no longer hurt. I have to be careful when eating now because I’m sticking to soft food and smaller chunk of food. I’m okay with meat so long it’s tender and it’s small in size. I am not comfortable with the idea of food bumping up the gap of the 2 extracted teeth. Feels a bit geli though I’m not very sure if it would hurt. Maybe the food are already touching them when I eat now and it’s not painful but my mind is playing tricks. I’ll give it a few days before I take out some courage to bite more solid stuff.

I can’t wait for the day when I can chew on whatever I eat without thinking.

One troublesome thing added to the list is that I have to have the rubberband hooked on the braces all the time, except when I’m eating. But I’m sure I’ll adapt to that.

Spent some time with mum at the mall and did some groceries shopping because she wasn’t in a jolly mood. Pappy and her had a fight but they are in talking terms again now. Wanna soak up the remaining weekend with Oprah at 8pm and whatever’s on the telly.

tata!