I didn't realise that a whole month has passed since I last posted! Various things have happened since then. The brace on my crown came off again, but it was less than a week until my next dental appointment so I just left it.

Last Friday I had my appointment. The orthodontist asked me how I was doing with the TPA, and I said I was "coping" - which I am, as I have learned how to live with it and what to avoid. (In particular, I have learned to avoid eating stringy rocket leaves, after an unfortunate dinner with a friend, where I had to dash to the loo to remove the tangled wodge of green stuff that had wound itself around the wire. Nice ...) Still, I am counting the weeks and days until I can have it removed.

The ortho also said it was time to fit the lower braces. I didn't actually realise I was going to need lower braces, so that was a bit of a shock - especially after that nasty experience so many years ago. Since then, however, I can see that they might be necessary. My wandering canine has now come into line with the rest of my upper teeth (see photos below), but this means that the tooth below bumps into it when I close my mouth. I am hoping that the canine will shift over a bit further and this should help. However, it does sometimes feel as if I have been fitted with someone else's teeth!

I now have a thicker wire fitted on my brace. This definitely made the brace feel more bulky at first, but I've got used to it. I could really feel it pulling powerfully on my canine for the first couple of days, but it seems to have quietened down now. I am looking forward to the gap in my upper teeth closing up - and counting down to my next appointment, towards the end of May.