How many archwires are there? I guess I am on Archwire 1. When I was finished with my appointment this afternoon, the asst lady said to the receptionist, "We need to schedule her for an appointment in 6 weeks for Archwire 2." Are there many many archwires or are there just a set number of archwires? Also does anyone know how they know to decide (what to look for) when to change to a different Archwire? How does this correspond to what people have posts about the phases of treatement? (Alignment, leveling, finishing, etc).

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11/11/05~8 Spacers
11/21/05~Spacers off, 8 metal bands
01/13/06~Braces
04/13/06~4 extract
04/18/06~1st adjust after extract

This is a massive question noppie!

There are many different guages of each type of archwire. If you google 'orthodontic archwires' ... you'll find some suppliers and see how long their lists are. There's the first type which are round and very flexible ... then there are many sizes of that kind. There's braided, square etc etc etc.

In 14 months I've only had my archwires changed once ... at seven months. If you want to check out my movement click on my WWW below. Some orthos use many archwires and others only use a few.

This web site ...
http://www.unc.edu/depts/appl_sci/ortho ... t/one.html
gives a description of the different phases of orthodontics and the best type of archwires for each phase.

Enjoy this huge learning curve ... and always remember each of us is different, as are our orthodontists!

Enjoy!

Noppi, I'm almost 8 months in and have had 4 wire changes on my lower arch and 3 on my upper. I'll be getting another wire change on my upper arch in 3 weeks time.

Might as well ask "how long is a piece of string?"

There are "typical" sequences of archwires that might be used, but it's by no means a "one size fits all" scenario. For example, some (particularly malposed) cases might require an especially flexible initial archwire, in which case they might begin with a coaxial wire, rather than the usual .014" or .016" round NiTi wires - here's a pic I found:



Or, as another example, the orthodontist might want to open up a deep bite, and might therefore choose a reverse curve archwire:



But, if you want to know what a "typical" sequence might look like, see this article (Scroll down to page 6) which discusses some recommended archwire sequencing with the SmartClips bracket system.

I should add though, that even if your ortho doesn't use the sequence outlined in that article, it doesn't mean that (s)he is doing anything wrong!

Btw - here are some illustrations of archwire types:

My first wire was a .012 round NiTi which was very very thin and I just "graduated" to a .014 round NiTi at my second adjustment. The first asjustment I just had a re-tie with new ligs and the same wire.

I guess my ortho wanted to break my teeth in gently lol - but I'm surprised just how much movement that little wire was able to achieve!

My bottom teeth are almost aligned and some levelling has already begun, just with one wire.

This is a big question but here is how mine have gone in the last 7 months:

Top:
.016 Copper NITI (round) to .016 NITI (round) to .016x.022 NIT (square)

Bottom:
.016 NITI (round) to .016 Stainless Steel (round)

I've had a couple power chains on the bottom, too, and lots of kinks in my top wire to move teeth down.

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Ceramic upper & lower 2/22/06--3M Clarity

"Ever notice how instant gratification takes too long?"

Hmm, I'm impressed that you all know exactly what's in your mouth. My ortho really didn't tell me anything 'technical' and I didn't think to ask at the time. Things seemed to go quickly. However, I've now been inspired to find out the description of my arch wires and everything else!

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Upper and lower bonded retainers; Upper Hawley for night time

DEBANDED ON FRIDAY 15TH AUGUST 2008 - FINALLY!!!

Braced on 13 September 2006 - Ceramic upper and lower brackets - Estimated time was 12 Months

Just had my 6th adjustment today and back down to the .016 NITI wire on top to rotate a tooth around. Apparently, they can go up or down in strength, shape, etc. depending on what the ortho wants to accomplish. The round flexible wire is doing it's job--I can feel it!!

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Ceramic upper & lower 2/22/06--3M Clarity

"Ever notice how instant gratification takes too long?"

I had .014 NiTi wires for seven months top and bottom and then moved to .018 NiTi top and bottom. Five months later my ortho added two second molar buccal brackets to my lowers and returned my lower arch to a .016 NiTi ... and progress continued!

I got my braces on July 20th. At my first adjustment on August 10th, I got new archwires, top and bottom--the "long acting" NiTi wires. Then at my second adjustment on September 21st, I got them both changed again to stainless steel but thicker (I guess!). I think my ortho is going to move to rectangular archwires on my next adjustment (October 23rd) because he thinks I'm ready for powerchains, and says the wire has to be rectangular before I can have powerchains for the big ol' gaps in my teeth; otherwise my teeth will just be "tipping over" and looking like the gaps are closing, but the roots will still be apart, or vice versa...

Sooooooo confusing, no?!