The Case of the Missing Blue Dot

What a whirlwind week in terms of braces progress! And it was completely unexpected, which made it whirl even more!

After a several months hiatus without Dr. Newman, we were brought back together.

The first thing he said to me: "Have you been wearing your rubber bands?"

"Um, no, I never got rubber bands," I said.

"Well, let's take a look. Okay, bite down. Bite again. Bite on your back teeth. Hmmm..."

I lie there with my mouth wide open while he's investigating and squinting and poking. My teeth are pretty much there in terms of being "straight." It's just that my "bite" hasn't been cooperating. As Dr. Newman peered into my near-gorgeous mouth, he solved the mystery of Brandy's Imperfect Bite. You see, I have this oddly-shaped tooth that's been interfering with everything and makes my jaw shift to compensate. Therefore, Dr. Newman pulled out this fancy whirring and whizzing tool and shaved a little bit off the sucker and now my bite is SO MUCH better. So much.

He pulled Dr. M over to take a look. They did some ortho speak, but all I could hear was, "and then we can take these off, young lady." Whoa. Butterflies. I got a little nervous.

I still say that when you're in that chair and all these metal utensils are looming, it's hard to ask lots of questions--like "why did you just pop a bracket off my front tooth and put a new one on?" Which is precisely what Dr. Newman did. It looks pretty much the same as my old bracket, just shinier. After he strung the wires through and sent me on my way, I was still reeling with anticipation. I headed for the bathroom like I always do just to make sure I don't look like a total disaster. I smiled big and there was this big blue dot on my new front bracket. I stared at myself in horror.

By now, if you've been reading this blog regularly, or if you know me, you know that I did not go back to Dr. Newman and demand he fix the blue-dotted bracket. I just made my next appointment and went on my way. Stopped for Chai. Met up with a friend and told her the good news and then pointed out my blue dot. "What blue dot? I don't see a blue dot." I thought she was just being nice and said, "Oh, it's there."

When I got home, looked at myself in the mirror, I was convinced of the magical powers of Chai. It had erased my blue dot.