The first accident and subsequent visits

Over the bottom two hollows of my mouth, hollowed because of the earlier tooth extractions, the braces' wire runs like a bridge across the gum valleys. On a Friday, the wire over the right hollow popped out from its brackets while I was having yu sheng at a work lunch. So the bridge was only secured at one end, with the other end a needle point resting on the side of my molar. After several failed attempts by me and my colleague to put the wire back in, I called the dental center for help. They asked if I was in pain, no. They asked if I would like to see the dentist, yes. They said the dentists were all out for lunch. They asked if I wanted to come immediately or wait three days until Monday. I asked if it was ok to wait three days, because honestly, it felt intimidating to have a sharp, thin metal poking around the inside my mouth. I sensed no urgency from the receptionist on the line, in fact she seemed rather peeved that I needed to make a last minute appointment. In any case I went down to the dental center right after lunch, and had to cancel an appointment for this. Because Dr Mah was not on duty, another dentist attended to me, and took all of two seconds to put the wire back in its place. Thank God the dentist was nice and so was Mabel, also Dr Mah's nurse. She warned me that the wire could poke through my finger so I should not try to manoeuvre it too much to get it back in.

Come Monday, Dr Mah called and brought forward my next appointment. He said the wire probably came out because my teeth had shifted and it was better to see him sooner as the wire would be prone to pop out again. So I saw Dr Mah three days later and this time, I got new and thicker wires. My last molars were also armoured with brackets to push them forward to fill up forty percent of the holes from the removed teeth (my front teeth will be pushed back to fill the other sixty percent). So having new brackets means new ulcers but only on my left inner cheek. Teeth and gums are hurting a little but it's all manageable now, I'm back to my eighty percent liquid diet which is going to help me lose weight further. Dr Mah also took moulds of my teeth again because he said they've moved considerably and he wanted to document them.

My teeth looks weird now. That they've moved is obvious and they probably need to get into many different positions to make way for one another somehow or other, before they can be straightened, but as of now, they look far from beautiful. The upper and lower sets of my teeth are not parallel, they part at an angle. On the right side, I see a space where my teeth should bite. I tell myself that this is all part and parcel of getting a better set of teeth - because that's the truth.

Now... I look forward to the next appointment! Of course! Every month I look forward to the next dental appointment! Superficial as it may sound, this beautifying the teeth process is rather exciting!

Spot the difference! I know the colour of the pictures can be distracting but be assured they are both me! See how strangely unimproved they look now.