the braces are in

Yes, I said that right, the braces are in as opposed to on because the braces I am talking about are Invisalign.

Invisalign, in case you are wondering, are the new thing in orthodontry ~ they look like the your-teeth molded trays that people wear when they whiten their teeth, except they're harder plastic and if you have a gap between two teeth and a deep overbite, like I do, you also have the addition of a bunch of white things stuck on your teeth called "buttons."

Buttons are used to help the trays move your teeth.

Buttons, let me tell you, are a weird and trippy experience. Coupled with a deep overbite, buttons, which are bonded to your teeth, make chewing a very interesting experience. I think, in fact, that there is the possibility that I may starve. Maybe I am being too drastic. But I seem to be doing a lot of my chewing at the center of my mouth, with my tongue, and "good enough" seems to be winning the day, er swallow. (So who knows, maybe I'll just choke on a chunk of asparagus.)

Good thing tonight's dinner consists of soft potatoes, chickpeas, and brussel sprouts. The toughest ~ the brussel sprouts ~ involve a lot of odd masticating manipulations, but I seem to be filling up the tummy (slowly) while I write this. Thank goodness I don't have to worry about chewing meat.

By the way, the buttons are no problem at all when I'm wearing the aligners (I guess they're called by the literature that accompanied my nice little new Invisalign kit). Eating is the problem ~ eating is entirely out for the 22 hours that I'll be wearing these babies.

Aside from chewing in a round-about way via tongue, cheek, and cautious nibbles, I guess I'm doing ok. I haven't had any pain although apparently I should for the first few days when I put in a new aligner (I switch to a new pair every 2 weeks and see the orthodontist every 6 weeks for the next 3 pairs. The whole process should take a total of 1 year, which is under every other time quote I had from other orthodontists.)

Another good note is that my gap is gone ~ they painted the clear plastic tooth colored where the tooth should be so it looks like I have all my teeth there.

I have to kind of pause now and return to my cow-chewing so I can finish my dinner. I don't want to waste any of my 2 hours alloted eating time.

Mushing off,
carozy

EDIT: This is very odd! Because of the buttons and my deep overbite, I can't really bite down fully! When I bite down fully my top teeth hit the buttons. I don't really notice it when I have the aligners on because the hard plastic of both trays hit each other quite smoothly and comfortably. It's a whole 'nother ball of wax when I have the trays out for eating though.