Brace Yourself

Last week, I got braces put on. My teeth have always been something of a mess. My two front teeth obscure the two teeth next to it. Unfortunately, my parents didn't like the idea of spending what was probably two thousand dollars then to have my teeth straightened. I had been meaning to do it once I started earning money, but when I started teaching, it took up so much time, I didn't have time to think about my teeth.

A few months ago, practically last summer, I decided I needed to head to a dentist. I asked some friends to see if they had someone they could recommend. I went to the dentist, and suggested I wanted to get my teeth straightened. He agreed it would be a good idea, as it was making it difficult to keep my teeth clean. However, due to the workload, I never got around to meeting the orthodontist until January, nearly four months after meeting the dentist.

I thought braces would hurt after having them on, but they don't, provided I don't eat. I know. I have to eat. However, it's nice to know that when I don't eat, they don't hurt.

Here are my observations on braces. First, although I'm sure there have been some advances with braces, they still look pretty much the way they did many years ago. Worse still, flossing is a complete pain with braces. I've practically given up it's that hard.

To deal with this problem, I've decided to get a Water Pik. Well, not the Water Pik. Turns out Water Pik was never all that great. They make a loud racket. They spill everywhere. And now, they aren't even that solidly built. Here's a company that apparently has done next to no real engineering to improve the product.

You'd think 20 years of innovation would lead them to the coolest device ever.

You'd be wrong. Somehow, without any substantive competition, they've decided not to make the motor quieter, not to prevent spilling, not to come up with any innovation since it first came out. You'd think someone would try to compete against them.

Someone sorta has. Oral-B/Braun makes an oral irrigator (i.e., something that jets water in the mouth), and the reviews are good, but it's frickin expensive. Even so, if it helps keep my teeth clean so I don't have to floss, it will be worth it. Panasonic also makes an oral irrigator, but it's battery powered, and they only have one frickin model.

I found one that basically attaches to your faucet, much like those water purifiers. That seems cool, but I don't know if I'll buy it or not.

Honestly, here's one product that really should have many more competitors than it does.

I've only got the braces on my top row of teeth for now. In hindsight, that seems the better way to go. I could have had it all done at once, but it's nice that I can, at the very least, still floss the bottom row of teeth. It also gives me time before this oral irrigator comes (it's scheduled 1-3 weeks to arrive, and it's already been a week).

Eating is a bit of a challenge. Since my teeth weren't all that great to begin with, I'd generally use my back teeth to chew, but the initial chew still came with my front teeth. Now that's really quite challenging, so I've taken to eating softer foods like yogurt, pudding, mashed potatoes, and so forth.

The big benefit is that eating these tiny things have helped me lose some weight. It's true I'm hungrier more often, but not ravenously so. I've lost maybe 3 pounds since getting the braces on just about a week ago. I'd like it if I could lose another 10 pounds, so I'm right around 150. We'll see if this brace thing still helps or not (it's obviously not the braces themselves, but the kind of diet I'm forced to be on to eat with braces).

Anyhoo, it's up to two more years of this before it comes off. I'll see how that all turns out.