Braces Malfunction

Holy hell. I thought spacers were terrible? Let me tell you, what happened to me over the weekend blows those spacers out of the park.
Yesterday, I went to a graduation party for a very good family friend. We were chatting and eating and generally having a good time when I bit down on something, heard a pop, crunch, and another pop. Apparently, when I bit down on something, the wire popped out, bent, and then popped back in. At first, I was ok. A little sore but not bad. But as the day wore on, my mouth pain got worse and worse. So bad that I almost burst into tears on the way home. My hubby spent the night at a friend's house (FIFA world Cup soccer is happening and he's completely hooked!) so I had the bed to myself. I'm so irritated because I woke up every 2 hours or so because of mouth pain. I couldn't enjoy having the bed to myself! What a bummer! I also had to work today and could barely function, the pain was that bad.

I'm sure some of you are wondering, why not take some pain meds and call the dentist? Well, I called the dentist on call and they said that there wasn't really anything I could do today (it is Sunday after all) and I totally understood that. I was nervous because this pain was so bad that I didn't know if I should go to the emergency room. I was worried that maybe part of my tooth broke when I bit down on something, who knows! And I was freaking out because my surgery is on Thursday! Less than 4 days away! She told me to take some tylenol and to call the office first thing in the morning but that she didn't think I'd need to go to the ER unless I got dizzy, nauseous, and started vomitting. She also told me that my wire was probably just in the wrong spot and that if I could, try and pop it back in. And the meds thing? Well, since I'm having surgery on Thursday, I can't take any kind of medication that could thin my blood or cause bleeding risks. All NSAIDs (like Ibuprofen and Naproxen) may cause bleeding risks so tell all surgery-bound patients to stop all NSAIDs a week before surgery to minimize bleeding. I feel like I can never catch a break! Something like this always happens to me.

Well, I ended up leaving work early. I went home and took some more tylenol. Then, I started to fiddle with the wire and then suddenly, I felt another pop and the wire went back in. Oh. My. God. The relief was so instant that I burst into tears. I cried for a good 10 minutes, no joke. I was so happy that I had fixed it and that I wouldn't need any additional dental work. This pain was so similar to when I had an infected tooth and needed a root canal that I wasn't sure if it was a braces thing or an actual tooth thing! I've never cried tears of happiness before today but after everything was ok and I stopped crying, I felt wonderful. I was very tired (since I practically didn't sleep last night!) but I was just too happy and relived that I didn't care.

Thankfully, I'll know what to do should this happen again. And I guess I still have to go to the dentist tomorrow because the wire might be bent and could pop out again. But at least I'm not in a crazy amount of pain anymore!