Ow!

I have reached the end of my first trimester with the braces. One quarter of a year. 90 days. I must admit, there is something triumphant about this, because honestly, despite the fact that it is ever present in my mind, these past three months have gone rather quickly. It makes me wince to think that I put this off for four years only to find how relatively painless this process has been.

Well, that is until now.

I went to the orthodontist's for my third tightening. In the past, this has been nothing to write home about--a process of changing the rubber bands, adding new ones, and feeling a slight squeezing sensation upon immediately leaving the office, soon to be forgotten. But on Friday, the orthodontist was so pleased with my progress (yay!) that he said he was going to put on a tighter wire. Cavalier, I said, "Bring it on! The tightenings never hurt! I like it when it's tight! I can feel it working, and anything that makes this go faster is most welcome!" I think I even unsheathed my imaginary sword, got all swashbuckling and sliced a "Z" in the air a-la-Zorro.

He put on the wire, and struggled to get the bands on, because it was so tight. This was a whole new ballgame. The teeth REALLY hurt for the first time since I started this whole rigmarole. Suddenly, my inner Zorro wasn't quite so brave, after being bested.

And yet. Despite the pain, there is some bizarre masochistic thrill from actually feeling the teeth move. There was a noticeable difference in my teeth from Friday morning to Friday night, and in this first trimester, one-quarter year, 90 days I can see how much has changed. That is nothing short of miraculous. If all that can happen in three months, I can only imagine what happens in six, or at the end of the year. (Pray with me now, y'all, that this whole process can be finished by then!) My inner Don(a?) Diego Vega will continue to flash this metal grin, so no one will guess that, at the very end, Zorro and I are one in the same, as we tame unruly teeth and flash that brilliant, Hollywood smile while riding off into the sunset! (And instead of being known as Zorro the Fox as is traditional, I'll happily settle for Zorro the Foxy!)