Monday January 9, 2017
Week 18

My second post-bracket-placement evaluation with Dr. Jusino was on Tuesday, January 3, just last week. I was eager to see how my oral hygiene was assessed this time and to find out if it was time for 'elastics', known commonly as rubber bands. Dr. Jusino had mentioned that he might begin the elastics in January and I saw that as a measure of more progress. 
January 3, 2017 was a great afternoon!
First, I received a 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐rating on my oral hygiene! For all the brushing, flossing, rinsing, and more brushing that I do every day, I am confident that my brackets sparkle. As a dentist, I have always felt that my oral hygiene was very good but I have to say that it is even better now.  The thing to evaluate is the pink gum tissue around the teeth, It should be just that-pink. No redness, no puffiness. Just pink. 
My appointment on January 3 was in two parts. I went in for a short visit to have the wires removed so that I could have my professional dental cleaning done without the wires in place. I went back to my office and Nichole did my cleaning. She was very happy to not have to work around the wires and the overall result was far superior to anything she could have accomplished with the wires in place. We encourage all of our orthodontic patients to have the wires removed prior to their professional dental cleaning. It means two trips to the orthodontist that day but it is well worth the better result.
 After my cleaning, I returned to Dr. Jusino's office for him to look at the current state of affairs of my orthodontic progress and determine the next 'move'. I hit the jackpot with a new, stronger, heavier rectangular wire AND elastics. If I sound excited it's because I am! All of this means I'm making progress and it's on a schedule much faster than I anticipated. My assistant at Dr. Jusino's office, Mary Margaret (yes, I feel like she has been my personally assigned assistant to work on my treatment and I love her!), told me that eventually, the elastics will bring my upper teeth down to the point that they will touch the brackets on the lower teeth. This will close my bite and improve my 'occlusion'....my teeth will fit together better....which is one of the key reasons I am having this treatment done. I am VERY happy with my progress in just four and a half months! Stay tuned for my report next week on how I am adjusting to the elastics and heavier wire.