22 Oct – Went to see the orthodontist, Dr Lo, for the first time. He took x-rays and I realised I have only one wisdom tooth! I was sure I had more but I must have remembered wrongly. Either that or the tooth fairy spirited them away in my sleep. We went through the various options but I was pretty set on the 3M Clarity self-ligating braces. He said that I would have to extract 4 teeth: 2 from the top and 2 from the bottom.
9 Nov – Dr Lo put in the separators for me with some difficulty. I don’t really floss my molars so they are very tight. Another dentist did the extraction. The LA injections were quite painful. She cleaned and polished my teeth for me before the extraction. The extraction took a while and she had to pull really hard and really long because the premolars being removed had long roots and my jaw bone is very dense. Ouch. Really hated how my lips and chin were numb for hours after that! It’s such a weird feeling. I kept my teeth. They look quite gross. My mum made some porridge for me. Swallowed it as best as I could.
10 Nov – Was on MC. Couldn’t eat. The separators gave me a terrible headache. Dragged myself to my mum’s place and she made some porridge for me. I mashed salted egg into the porridge. That was my dinner too. Very miserable! Had a fever. Popped some panadols. Adrian ordered Mac’s for supper and I broke one of the separators while attempting to eat fries. Sigh.
11 Nov – Back at work. Couldn’t find anything to eat. Had a banana milkshake, an avocado milkshake and tau suan. Became feverish again. Managed to eat some porridge and noodles for dinner. Starting to wonder if I made the wrong decision. Starting to wonder if I’m crazy and a masochist.
12 Nov – Managed some pandan chiffon cake for breakfast. My broken separator came out. Sigh. Comforted self by shopping for dental stuff during lunch. Found the Oral B Ortho Brush and Super Floss at Guardian Pharmacy. Super Floss sounds like some BreadTalk bun. Had porridge for lunch again. Had another appointment with Dr Lo and he put in my braces for me. It was really uncomfortable to have my mouth held open for such an incredibly long time. But it is done. I have braces at the ripe ol’ age of 30.