Taking a break from the topic of massage therapy, I am proud to say that I am no longer one of the metal mouth masses. After nearly a year of wiry hell, I finally have gotten my braces off. I woke up at the crack of dawn, well 7 AM anyway, and battled downtown hectic traffic to my orthodontist’s building. Prepared for a three hour appointment, I was surprised I did not have to wait at all to be seen. When I was fully reclined in the weird mint-colored ortho-chair my orthodontist just started popping off my brackets one by one with an intense pair of dental pliers. Thanking God I popped three ibuprofen ahead of time, I closed my eyes and patiently waited the seven minutes it took to pop off the whole top row. Then came the scraping. I was tempted once to open my eyes, half expecting to see a man with devilish glare poised above my head with a chisel and pickaxe, but decided to keep them close and bit his finger in my anxiety. Oops. Next came the sanding. There must be some weird inner circle of hell reserved for orthodontists who enjoy sanding down their patient’s teeth. It was awful. I had no breathing tube on my nose so I felt like I was inhaling tooth dust and aerated cement (and probably was). Thank God that only took five minutes or so. Then they sent me to brush and rinse my teeth to remove all of the dusty residue. For the first time in almost a year, I saw my teeth (top row anyway) au natural. I kept moving my lips around, not believing that that horrible dental monstrosity they call braces was actually gone. After admiring them in the mirror for an embarrassing amount of time, I return to my torture chair for another round with the bottom row. The doctor removed my bottom wire and brackets, chiseled off the glue, and proceeded with the same sanding routine he had done with my top row. After biting him hard a second time, I took a deep breath and relaxed. Then they cemented a solid, flat wire behind my bottom four center teeth and called it a “permanent retainer.” I’m told to brush my teeth again and then I have to bite into this raspberry flavored goo mixture to create an impression for my permanent upper retained. Then the dental assistant sits me down and instructs me on how, when, and why to use my retainer, etc. I make a follow-up appointment and finally get to leave…with my mouth metal free!!
On another note, I have noticed a truly disturbing trend that is happening around the Tampa Bay area. Police officers are getting killed on the job left and right. I wanted to mention this because another officer had his life taken from him just a few days ago in St. Pete. Ofc. David Crawford was shot four times in the chest by a 16 year-old on Monday night. He was holding a pen and pad in his hand, writing down information at the time of his shooting, according to foxnews.com. A month ago two Tampa officers were shot and killed while trying to serve a warrant. Officers Jeffrey Yaslowitz and Thomas Baitinger died on the 31st of last month, one at the scene of the shootout and another later on at the hospital (prefferedbypete.com). About eight months ago, David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab of the Tampa Police Department passed away at a traffic stop. They were both 31 years old. Losing one officer on the job within one year is a tragedy, but five in one year is just ridiculous. There has to be an end to all of these senseless killings. Every time I heard about another officer getting killed I thought, “Again?” Hopefully the death of Crawford several days ago will be the last death in the string of fallen officers in the area.
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