Surprise: The unexpected arrival of the lower appliance

If there are confusing and contradictory things in this blog, it is only because they are confusing and contradictory in life, and I am just reporting my experiences.

Yes, I previously wrote the device had not been ordered yet and that they wanted to see further progress in my uppers first. That's what I was told by the dentist who worked on me that day.

Today, both to my surprise and to the dentist's surprise, a technician in the office presented my new appliance. I have no idea whether the appliance was ordered earlier and took a long time to arrive, or was ordered later and for what reason, or what.

I can't explain why there is all the miscommunication. What I can say is it is a practice with at least two dentists and about a dozen other employees, and I am attended to by different personnel on different visits. In addition, Dr. Singh's opinions are in the mix there somewhere. I don't know their process. The dentist who has attended me the past few sessions is not the dentist with her name on the sign and not the dentist who worked on me at the beginning of my treatment. For whatever reasons, no matter how clear or explicit I have tried to be in asking how my case is proceeding, things have been miscommunicated to me and by extension to you the reader.

However, I don't see where any harm has been done other than the confusion itself- which has no negative effect on me other than in the writing of this blog. My treatment is continuing in an apparently successful way. As many patients have probably encountered with many medical professionals, the accuracy of my understanding of what they are doing is not always high on the doctor's priority list. I don't want to dwell on this, I just want to let the reader know what has happened. I have tried very hard to be accurate in my reporting, but as they say, "garbage in/garbage out". I do not have control over the quality of what I am told.

So, anyway- the lower appliance has arrived, after all. I got it today. It is comfortable. It does not significantly affect my speech. If I don't grin widely, people don't see it. I can wear it while working. So I don't see why I shouldn't be able to wear it a good 16 hours a day. Of course it has to come out when eating, like the top appliance.

I am continuing with the top appliance. So at night I'll be wearing both. 

I'll report more, after I've been living with it a while.

Compare and contrast, then talk among yourselves

For those wanting a closer look at the teeth themselves, here is a new picture. Compare this to the The Fugly Truth posting from December 24, 2010.

                                                                  

Hurry up and wait

I think the enlargement of the gaps in the appliance as well as the improvement in the alignment of my upper teeth are quite noticeable

It has been a while since the last entry, but there is a reason for that- something changed in the plan and I didn't have the information yet what that change meant and how to best report it.

Previously I reported that the dentist thought it was time to start on the lower teeth. She took new mouth impressions in order to make the appliance. She also asked me to stop expanding the lateral adjustment upper appliance for the time being. However it turns out the new appliance has not yet been ordered, and I have since been asked to go back to expanding the appliance in both axes.

What I have since learned is that the dentist consulted with Dr. Singh about my case, and he determined it was not yet time to start on the lowers. The uppers still needed more improvement. So I am back to the normal routine of adjusting my appliance and the doc is looking at my mouth once a week, checking progress.

I look forward to getting work started in earnest on the lower teeth, hopefully soon.