Self Ligating GAC In-Ovation-Clear braces photo

[Lee54]

Hooray! I finally got my GAC In-Ovation-Clear self-ligating braces on four days ago, and here's what they look like over at imageshack.com :
http://reg.imageshack.us/setlogin.php?l ... d1d1859c0a

(If the link doesn't work, let me know. I'm a novice at this online photo stuff.)

It was a relatively easy process getting braced, and nothing has hurt--closest thing to even any discomfort has been when the ortho ground off a bit of excess cement at the end. (And I have a loowww pain threshold. Someone's post that the first few days feel like getting hit in the mouth with a baseball bat had me worried! Must have been with traditional braces.) When they put them on, they clean/etch the teeth to prepare them and had some device that held my tongue out of the way so I couldn't taste any of the chemicals. The brackets were preplaced by the ortho into some neat little trays (made earlier on my teeth molds), so that they could put all the upper brackets on my teeth at once with one tray. Then the lowers are put on with another one---it's much simpler than my daughter had with traditional brackets one at a time. They cure the cement with lights, and snap in the wire at the end. Easy.

The clear/white brackets are on the top front 10 and bottom 6, the rest being metal In-Ovation, with no bands needed on the molars or crowns, of which I have five, unfortunately. He said he has not had problems with the brackets breaking off crowns yet, though it's possible, and he preferred to try it without bands first-- which was fine with me. I was a bit disappointed that they aren't TOTALLY clear brackets like ICE or such, but they aren't bad-- much less noticeable metal "gates" than on top half-clear Damons I've seen. You see a tiny bit of the brushed metal in some spots, and there are some little metal cylinders slid onto the front top tooth wire to keep the wire from shifting around.

So far, three days braced now, I've had no real pain, which was a very nice surprise. Since I had read surgeons found it more effective to take pain medicines BEFORE a surgery (as it inhibits a cascade pain reaction), I decided to take an ibuprofen 30 min. before the appt. getting them on, to hopefully avoid any pain. It worked. Not even my jaws were sore from being open so long.

The hardest part is seeing and flossing the back upper teeth (as I have a fairly small mouth--I tried threaders, Oral B Superfloss, regular waxed, etc.), but using a small high intensity desk lamp and magnifying mirror on a stand has helped greatly. Still takes me about 30 min. to do them all, but I hear one gets faster with practice. I also can only chew with the two front teeth top/bottom which are the only ones touching, due to correcting my overbite. My ortho had to put two "turbos" behind my upper front teeth to keep the overbite from breaking off the lower teeth's brackets, and that means none of the other teeth touch for now, so I have to just puree everything in my Vitamix, or else push soft foods against the roof of my mouth with my tongue. It's not fun, but doable, hopefully not for very long. The asst. said it could be 3 to 9 months, depending on how fast my teeth move. The turbos feel like little rocks behind the teeth and cause me to lisp a little. I get a little consolation in that I already have lost some weight from not snacking on those forbidden crunchy and sticky things, and avoiding snacks means less toothbrushing. The Sonicare works great for the latter, BTW.

You can't see the problems with my teeth very well in the photo--without braces, my moderate overbite practically covers my lowers, the lowers are overlapping and crooked, and uppers are starting to cross and twist, hence the need for braces. Maybe I'll show the ortho's photos of my teeth without braces later--it's much easier to see the problem areas on those. But meanwhile, I'm pleased so far, and don't have to return for 10 weeks. So far, so good! Thanks for all the encouraging posts.

[Lee54]

I just clicked on the link and for some reason the photo is not right--it cut off the right side of it. I'll have to get my spouse to trouble shoot it later. He told it to make it a certain size, and I guess that messed it up. Looked fine on the site initially, so I'm not sure how to fix it. Any advice?

[platinum]

HI,

good that you have been pain free!
I got my lower barces yesterday, and I have been taking pain killers every six hours.

I also can only chew with the two front teeth top/bottom which are the only ones touching, due to correcting my overbite. My ortho had to put two "turbos" behind my upper front teeth to keep the overbite from breaking off the lower teeth's brackets, and that means none of the other teeth touch for now, so I have to just puree everything in my Vitamix, or else push soft foods against the roof of my mouth with my tongue. It's not fun, but doable, hopefully not for very long. The asst. said it could be 3 to 9 months, depending on how fast my teeth move.

Join the club! Instead of bite turbos, I have a removable modified retainer, which has flat area in teh front. My lower teeth bite on that, and the rest of the teeth do not have any contact. I think the flat area pushs my lower incissors inside the gum, which is desirable. I was told I have to have that retainer for 6-9 months -> Hunger!. But I have gained some weight after moving to USA, so I won't mind loosing some weight

I get a little consolation in that I already have lost some weight from not snacking on those forbidden crunchy and sticky things, and avoiding snacks means less toothbrushing.

Same here. It is such a hassle to brush teeth.

Good luck with your braces!!!!

[Lisa65]

http://img165.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img3652wt8.jpg

here's the direct link to your pic Lee - that link you gave went to your login page.

Glad you are pain free. Feeling like you've been hit in the mouth with a baseball bat is the exception rather than the norm Modern orthodontics relies on gradual movement of the teeth which means less trauma to the teeth and correspondingly less pain. Not like the old days when each tooth was individually banded and the wires had to be "tightened" every month or so.

The ceramics look good. I don't envy you the turbos. I was supposed to have them originally but managed to escape.

Here's to continued progress for you.

Lisa

[Lee54]

Thanks for the correct link, bigger photo and encouragement! Sorry I didn't know how to do it right the first time. The "How Do I..." section of this site gave some directions for taking your own photos with a mirror, which gave us the best photo results--actually better than my spouse taking them for me. Love this site! I was surprised my orthodontist's staff didn't know about it already, but they do now....