Clinician Appointment

Hello everyone!

So, today I went back to the hospital in order to have an appointment with a clinician so they could take photos and impressions of my mouth at the start of this journey. This is the second hospital appointment since referral when they simply saw if they would need to treat me. 

I met with one of the team (who looked spookily like Lisa Kudrow- Phoebe from Friends) who gave me a nice little photo shoot. When reading other blogs and looking at their photos, I had never really considered how weird it would be to have your photo taken by a very large professional camera in an orthodontics room. They had a professional backlight and everything. 

They started by taking photos of my face, and this is when I had to stand infront of the light. It felt like I was getting a mugshot taken and I had no clue what to do with my arms so just held them together awkwardly, like limp noodles. 

Next, I lay in the chair and they used plastic tools to sperate my lips to take photos of my bite. The weirdest part was when they shoved a mirror in my mouth and started taking photos of that. I won't lie, I found this bit more uncomfortable than I would've expected; I do have quite a small mouth. 

Then, she had to take impressions. Now, I think I mentioned this in my braces off post, but I HATE getting impressions done (though, saying that, I don't know of anyone who doesn't). It was also annoying seeing as I literally had them done last week. For some reason, the mould they use at the hospital is a lot more stubborn than the one my normal orthodontist uses. This was good as it was in my mouth for considerably less time than normal, but also sucked because I am still picking little blue pieces of sludge off of my tongue.

Finally, I had to go to the imaging department to get more x-rays done (which I am told I have to do at each appointment). The dental x-rays are in a different room to the other x-rays, and as a result at the two appointments I've been to so far, the staff have forgotten about me. The previous time, I'd had an x-ray using a machine which points plastic spikes into your ears (it was unpleasant). However, today, I luckily got to use the one my family call "radiation robot". I am sure you're familiar with it if you have had any jaw x-rays; it is the one where you bite on some plastic and it circles your head. However, the one my hospital has says "radiation complete" in a robotic voice when its finished and I'm not sure why but my family all find it hilariously cute. 

We were told the next appointment would be a consultation with my orthodontist and surgeon where they would further discuss the exact treatment plan. However, because of the fact they have to get both of them free for such an appointment, and there are currenlty quite a few patients, I could have to wait for months for my next appointment. I'm not sure why, but this really upset me and I almost started crying. I know that's really stupid its just I've been insecure about my face for such a long time and just as I think things are getting started again, they slow back down. I guess it's just a bit harsh on my mental health.

Anyway, I'll update next time something relevant happens, though I am not quite sure when that will be. 

E x