Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi Marley, You've come a long way for 2 years! It's almost unbelievable. In a way my case is similar to yours but I'm missing two first premolars on the top. I'll try having my upper arch expanded so it could fit two implants there. Was it hard to open that gap there for you? Did you have to wear ex...

Congratulations, overseasmel ! Wow! What an amazing smile you have now! I keep looking at your photos and can't believe it's you in both before and after! On the "before" photos you look like a kid, on the "after" photos you look like one beautiful lady! Even your lips look fulle...

Yes, so far I'm happy with our communication. Hope I keep the good impression when we start the actual treatment and most importantly - at the end, when I see the results! Forgot to mention that the expanders that I'm going to get will be removable (like retainers). I'll be able to take them off for...

starzz , thanks for following my story. You're so right that I need to be very patient now. Also I shouldn't freak out during the gap opening and should use some imagination to accept that eventually those gaps will be filled with implants. I'll probably start a new page with my story once I have t...

As promised, here is my update from today's visit at the ortho! First he informed me that the implant specialist called him and they discussed my case in details. The other dentist was very excited and confident that the best solution in my case is opening up some space for the implants. However, my...

PrincessT , thanks for the response! So it's month 5 of your treatment and you already have the gaps created? Isn't this great! Of course it doesn't look good now because you have those gaps but you should be looking at it from the perspective of the finished stage when you have those gaps filled w...

Hehe Was the elastic at least delicious?

Hi starzz , Yes. My ortho mentioned about the option of IPR on the bottom to help the crowding. He also mentioned that although an expander may work at my age, the chances are low (I don't know any statistics and didn't ask). When I got the idea about getting braces (BTW it occurred suddenly one nig...

Hi princessT!

I'm interested to hear about your case. How did you have room made for the implants on the top? Does it look good after opening up the space? I'm really curious to hear about your case.

Today I had a chance to talk to my ortho (over the phone only) and to "shower" him with all my questions from the past couple of days (yeah, some of the questions that you, guys, raised here, I asked my ortho about). First I tried to explain what that dentist pretty much told me about the ...

So you think you'll be able to get space created on the top for two implants only by using the archwires? That would be an interesting option for me too!

Interesting topic - I had no idea about the sleep apnea and relation to orthodontics. As starzz said it, the different parts of our body are connected such that it's almost like a domino effect if you mess up one thing, many other parts could be affected! It was funny - yesterday I shared my story w...

Hi Horton , Yes, a little expansion on the top will be needed. If I don't intend implanting extra teeth on the top, the arch on the top can be opened slightly with the archwire itself. If I take out two teeth on the bottom, the arch would shrink a little to match the narrow upper arch. If I expand t...

Hi Neptune! Thanks for sharing that with me because I really had started thinking it was an issue made up by that dentist so he could convince me to do the implants. What really makes me upset is that I already had my mind set up to do the extractions. When initially my ortho assessed me, he did giv...

Yey! It worked. Here are more photos: This is my current bite: http://i43.tinypic.com/16hsuxi.jpg This is how my upper arch looks right now (my two premolars have been extracted more than 16 years ago): http://i43.tinypic.com/2iaq3yg.jpg This is my lower side (lots of crowding, one of my lower molar...