Slow and Easy...

One of our orthodontic stragglers finally came in today for his adjustment. He was last in our dental office in March 2008, which was one and a half years ago! We have been chasing him regularly during that all time to no avail. The reason why he came in today was because he has been extremely busy for the last one and a half years. However, today he is clearing his leave (14 days in a row!) in preparation for Hari Raya Puasa.

When we looked in his mouth and lo and behold, his braces were still intact after all this time! This reasonable condition of his braces facilitated his treatment for two reasons:

1. All of his teeth were firmly being controlled by the braces, i.e. no teeth going haywire.
2. Treatment could progress from the time we last left off without having to backtrack due to breakages of braces.

As such, he is very close to finishing his orthodontic treatment.

When we completed today's adjustment, we tried to make another follow-up appointment for him but he claims to still be very busy. We even suggested that he cleared his leave on a monthly basis, instead of 14 days at one go, just so that he could come and complete his treatment quickly. He told us that the earliest that he could try to come for an appointment would be in December of this year, three months from now.

His infrequent visits to have his braces adjusted would have delayed the completion of his treatment dramatically. The silver lining in all this is that he accepts his situation and he is willing to live with having to take a much longer time to complete his treatment.