Progress Report: Braces

Today marks a year since I got my braces. I was scheduled to go into the dentist's office a week from Monday to get my wires changed, but as it happened, my upper wire shifted a few days ago and the right end was poking me, so I went in yesterday after work. He went ahead and changed the upper wire, and now I don't have to go back for another month.

The dentist is quite pleased with my progress; he said my teeth are 90 to 95 percent of the way to where they ought to be, and he expects that I'll be able to get the braces off in four or five more months. That's actually a little sooner than I'd expected, but I will be happy when they are finally removed. Eating is still more challenging than it used to be.

One byproduct of this process is that I am now much more attentive to how long and how thoroughly I brush my teeth, and I'll continue that after the braces come off.