Sep
23
It’s Not The End!
Filed Under me, life, brace | 13 Comments
And so I thought the journey of Bracie Ben ended two weeks ago when the dentist volunteered to take out the braces on my upper teeth.
And so I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about the food stuck around my teeth when I was having lunch with my colleagues or friends.
And so I thought I could smile unconsciously without worrying that if the other person is staring at my ugly braces when I speak.
And so I thought I could show off my teeth without having the metals stuck on it and take nice pictures of them.
And so I thought that the retainer is just a line of wire that wouldn’t bother me at all and I wouldn’t even notice it a bit.
But hey, I am so wrong!
The story of Bracie Ben has not ended and it is not even at the last chapter!
It is half way there though.
The dentist nagged me for not visiting him last week as he specifically told me, “Come after a week and I’ll have your retainer ready.”
I went back two weeks after that and the retainer is ready alright. But the thing is it isn’t quite fitting as I guess the alignment of my teeth has somehow moved a little!
It was more than a single wire thing and it makes me very uncomfortable!
A couple of hours after I put it on, I felt that I couldn’t talk properly. And I slurred like Jay Chow!
With the base hugging the upper on my mouth, how am I to taste food properly?!
I was advised to wear it all the time except when I am brushing my teeth. But hey, I guess I really gotta take it out during the
meal or else it is going to greatly affect my appetite; that’s the last thing I need!
Arghh.. I hate the retainer! (T_T)
I am still wearing the braces at lower teeth..
P/S : I think the usage of retainer is to stabilize the teeth position and preventing movement. I guess I have to wear for a minimum a year or maybe more. (/_\)”
Sep
20
Journey of The Bracie Ben~
Filed Under happy, me, life, brace | 17 Comments
When I was just mere 7 years old, I remembered cheating the class teacher that I have seen the dentist as I was really afraid of stepping into the dentist room. Yeah, so you can imagine my phobia of dentist. I hate the smell of the dentist clinic and I totally hate using metal cup as it would remind me the dentist. >_<
But in Year 2006, I gathered all my courage to go to the dentist with my housemate for check up. For your info, I haven't been to the dentist for like 10 years!
And the rest was history when I decided to brace my hideous teeth once and for all (after years of nagging from my relatives and friends). And so on the 28th Oct 2006, I had my braces put on and the journey of the ugly betty bracie Ben began.
Apart from the food-always-stuck-between-my-teeth/braces incident, 5-minutes-of-cleaning-routine-every-night and the bracket-fell-off a couple of times; I merely sailed through the journey of bracing. Except for the first couple of weeks where I couldn't chew hard food but I could practically eat anything I want after a couple of months. (^.^)
And now I proudly declared that my bracie is finally out on the 5th of Sept 08! Woohooo~!!!!
At least partially, only the top braces. I guess my dentist couldn't stand me asking him for the 100th times when I could take them out and he finally volunteered to take it out on the very day that I decided not to ask. Just in time for my best friend's wedding too! =D
But the lower braces are still there and I have to put on retainers after this, for as long as possible, he said. After that I have to do post-crown for my slightly-darker-front-tooth-due-to-chipping and it gonna cost me another hefty RM700 (which he really emphasized how complicated and expensive is the material and thus an expensive process). (=.=)"
And yeah, that is about 22 and half months of bracing journey for me. No more hideous teeth! A process that I should have done 10 years ago but I couldn't quite afford it and lack of courage. Better late than never though! =)
Sep
10
Stress, no?
Filed Under me, life, brace | 12 Comments
There were once I have many pimples on my cheek (not that now I do not still have many pimples sprouting on my stupid face), my dentist asked me "What's wrong with your face?", indicating those acnes.
"Stress lor", I said, with my mouth wide opened while he inspected it. (I’ve been trained to speak with mouth opened by him!)
"Yeah right You must be joking!" he said without a flicker of doubt!!!
Aiks.. how come he don't believe that I am ever possible to be under stress!?!?! (=.=)"
Hmm.. must behave more serious and *stressed* next time I visit him!
P/S : It's nice to be able to call some dentist as 'my dentist' in the sense that I always go to the same dentist that have my dental record (even though the clinic a bit run down but it's alright coz he wont read my blog or at least he don't have the time to read it as he is working 24×7)!
P/S 2 : I am now hoping to have my 'own hairstylist' that know all about my hair and know what is best for my hair and have the expertise and make me comfortable and at the same time listen to my ranting/problem, that's their informal job scope, no? (and I can get sincere hair advise without having them trying to fork more profit or sell me products like most hairstylist trying to do..)
Jun
18
Nothing-ness of Wednesday..
Filed Under me, life, brace | 16 Comments
And so Wednesday is here again and I still have nothing to write. Hence this post of nothingness.
Nothing happens.
Except that my big boss has just arrived from US again till Friday. Free lunch tomorrow~ Hip hip hooooray!!!
Yeah nothing really happens since Monday. Except work as usual.
Yesterday I went to dentist again, after a visit 10 days earlier. One of my braces’ bracket fell off when I bite a preserved-nangka-snack from Hanoi which was very hard but tasty. Yum. No regret. =P
So my dentist asked me why was I here again in such short time.
My bracket fell off, I replied.
You ate something hard again? He snorted.
Nope. It felt off when I was eating porridge. I smirked.
And his very fierce wife actually became warm to me (after more than a year of visiting her husband every single month, without fail) and asked why did I came so early (she meant the time instead of days). And she even remembered my name which she mentioned to the dentist. For a minute, I felt like a regular patient of hers.
To mark the 20th months I have been patronizing the dentist, I finally found out that he was actually a Kedah-an, instead of Thai nations that he claimed all these while. (=.=)”
I suppose he didn’t think that I would have believed what he said. Of course I did. I hand over my 24 teeth under his care. Yes, that is how few teeth I have (after counting them again when I couldn’t sleep yesterday night again). A normal adult have either 28 – 32 teeth, depending on how many wisdom tooth you have.
As per normal braces-service, he would change the little rubber on the braces and knowing well that I always insist on neutral color like white, yellow or beige, he took out bright green rubbers from his drawer.
I almost screamed out NO!!! It was bright green which would make me looks uglier than Ugly Betty (when I had bright blue the other time).
Green is nice what, he said.
Yes, like spinach sticking to your teeth after your meal, I said. (=.=)”
And yeah, that’s about the dentist visit I had on Tuesday. Including all the talk we had on the petrol price, inflation, my job, Chemistry and his study. Is he talkative or what. Not me, definitely. He’s good in making people comfortable sitting on his chair. And yes, he commented again that my hair style doesn’t suit me. (=.=)”
The next day my lower jaw’s teeth sore when I chew. I am not sure why as they should be only movement on the upper teeth and not the lower one. I even have to chew my bread softly and slowly or it hurts.
And to think that I was so stupid enough to buy guava after my lunch time today. Maybe I should just suck them till they become soft and swallow them. Ewww…
Oct
9
My Dentist and me~
Filed Under teeth, me, brace | 16 Comments
Yesterday was Dentist-Day again which means my 12th visit to the dentist. I can’t believe that it marks 1 year of me wearing this ugly braces but it makes my teeth prettily straightened now!!! But I am not sure how long I have to wear them as I guess my dentist have no idea as well. Duh..
My dentist, a family man from Hatyai is a rather funny guy, full of nonsense and is in his thirties I guess. He looks younger without his mask but he wears it all the time. He likes to talk to me although it is very hard for me to answer him with my mouth open all the time!
His wife helps him in the clinic sometimes and she is a very fierce-looking-lady who frown all the time! But yesterday, amazingly, she smiled at me, probably she had finally recognise me or in a very good mood~
As usual, he talked to me non-stop while ‘servicing’ my teeth and me holding a mirror to look and examine what he was doing to my teeth. And yesterday our conversation went like this (combination of Hokkien and English) :
Dentist : So, where are you going for the upcoming Raya?
Me : No where. Are you going back to your hometown, Hat-Yai?
Dentist : Yes, going back to Hap-Cai. You still pronounce it as Hat-Yai!
Me : It spells H-A-T-Y-A-I.
Dentist : Yes, but the correct pronunciation is HapCai.
Me : Ohh ok. I’ve been there once, a lot of things to buy.
Dentist : You did? How did you go there?
Me : I took Air Asia flight.
Dentist : You always fly by Air Asia?
Me : A few times. Cheap what?
Dentist : But aren’t you scared of flying?
Me : What to be scared of? You know what, more people are scared of dentist than flying!
Dentist : …. *stop for a few seconds* …. How could it be!
Me : It is true!
Dentist : There’s nothing to be scared of dentist. *start to drill my teeth to clean off the excess cement, the sound was like filling the teeth!!!*
Me : This sound is scary..!
Dentist : But this sounds like melody to me~
Me : ….. *speechless*
Yesterday, the service took more than 45 minutes as there was extra stuff he gotta fix on my teeth. Before we went off, he found out that I’ll be going to Bangkok at the end of the month.
Dentist : Why are you going to Bangkok?
Me : Shopping!
Dentist : There are so many riots there. So unpeaceful.
Me : My friends went and came back safely.
Dentist : Went in one piece and came back in one piece?
Me : Yeah exactly. If you don’t see me next month, you’ll know what happen to me. *grin*
Dentist : …. =| *bewildered look*
Aug
24
Flossing..
Filed Under teeth, housemate, brace | 7 Comments
Yesterday night I taught my houssy, Yit, how to floss her teeth. Flossing is one of my many routines every night, on top of normal brushing, brushing using interdental brush and also gargling using mouth wash. Yeap, I took many minutes cleaning my teeth every night, not am certainly not a freak. Just that it is not easy to keep braced teeth cleaned.
Ok, back to Yit. It was her first time using the floss and she was rather thrilled (or should I use amazed) to find out that there was a lot of hidden leftover in between her teeth after she brushed it. She told me she felt her teeth were so clean and smooth after flossing!
And she couldn’t stop repeating that she would get her own floss the next day and will start to floss daily!
So, do you floss?
Click on the picture to view why you have to floss and how to floss correctly.
Jun
12
I did it again..
Filed Under brace | Leave a Comment
Apparently I made a big mistake when I tried to eat the crab’s leg last Thursday at Seremban. I knew I couldn’t bite hard food with braces on my teeth. But what the heck, I’ve eaten all the forbidden peanuts, almond, crunchy apples & carrots and even enjoying chewing gum. Nothing really stops me from what I want to eat. *bracey-grin*
The first time one of the bracket fell off when I ate the crunchy almond chocolate, yummy so delicious chocolates! The dentist had a good lecture on me for eating so much and for losing the metal bracket. (I would exchange that metal bracket again for that piece of chocolate!)
Second time was when I was standing in a queue to buy McDonald’s apple pie. Subconsciously, I was grinding my teeth and suddenly I heard something broke in my mouth. Yikes~ I moved my tongue all over to check and hey voila, I felt the metal bracket was out and keep it. Since it was at the back of my teeth, I couldn’t be bothered much, so I haven’t seen the dentist yet.
Third time was at the crab session on Thursday and Ves assured me that the crab’s leg wasn’t very hard and I could bite it. And so I did, bite on the leg, didn’t find much flesh and stop at the first crab leg. (Thank god, or else god knows how many metal bracket I would have lost.) After a sumptuous dinner, happily went home and brushed my teeth to realize that one of the metal brackets near the front teeth was missing! Darn. I don’t even know if I have swallowed them or not. 
Will have to go to dentist to fix them next week but I must come out with a good excuse, not to tell the truth that I lost them while ‘crabbing’, else he gonna lecture on me again.. >.<
