If this doesn't work what Might the ortho do as Plan "B

Message

#1 Post by **Gennel** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 8:45 pm

I know, I know a lower expander takes time and patience. But so far I've had this thing on since Nov 11 ,2006-Feb 25,2007 and not much at all has happened. I'm just wondering if any of you have had this problem. What did your ortho say your other option was ??? My problem is two bottom molars that are tilted inward facing my tongue.My molars are deffinately loose and they hurt sometimes when my tongue pushes against them. My next appt is March 5th and I'm sooooo disappointed that no movement has happened since my last adjustment in Jan. If the expander needs to be pulled off I'm gonna freak because I HAVE to have some kind of anesthesia because the molars are loose and hurt like hell when the ortho has to rock the molar bands back and forth while he's pulling the cemented molar bands!!!! ugh

Feb. 27,2007

Gennel

#2 Post by **NikkiB** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:28 pm

Hi Gennel, I don't know what your ortho may offer as a second option, however, it looks as though you have had movement. I know it may not appear that way to you but to an outside point of view it looks as though you have. It can be soo frustrating when you want and expect things to move quicker than they are. I'm sure you have heard this but have patience. Make sure to address your concerns with your ortho and see if they have any answers. Make sure to be calm when you address the issue as the message is more likely to have the effect you want.

Good luck!

P.S. Your top teeth are looking great!

#3 Post by **Kat** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:45 pm

They'll come around it's just going to take time. Relax, I know it sucks but those do take time. My molars are painful as well, kind of like a deep down pain no felt in any of my other teeth but it's on both sides as yours are and it is normal.

#4 Post by **Kat** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:46 pm

They'll come around it's just going to take time.
Relax, I know it sucks but those do take time. My molars are painful as well, kind of like a deep down pain no felt in any of my other teeth but it's on both sides as yours are and it is normal. From the pics it looks like you don't even have a wire going to those teeth yet. Once they spread he can straighten them.
Tick tock...

#5 Post by **raninhas** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:23 am

I've never seen golden brackets! I didn't even know that was possible!
They look great on you!

#6 Post by **NotBob1** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:43 pm

IT WILL HAPPEN. I had a TPA years ago when my upper molars looked about 75% of what yours do. My molars are now straight after the TPA. It will work.....

#7 Post by **Gennel** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:41 pm

I can deal with the constant tongue abrasions,putting globs of wax everynight and the overall discomfort of having this thing in my mouth. What I HATE is the fact that there has been little advancement in Orthodontics to figure out another design that does not have to be recemented and pulled off with brute force everytime they need to adjust it!

I feel it's like laying down a piece of tile with cement and then breaking it off in two months to recement it down again. I wish there was something that could help dissolve that cement so pulling off the molarband was not so painful... I wish this had some sort of adjustable button that the ortho or I can turn every so often instead of yanking this thing out of my mouth . Last adjustment he only put a bend on the wire to help add more pressure so that did not hurt at all until many hrs later which I can totally deal with. I'm thinking this time he will see the little to no progress and have to remove it. I don't think I could be without anesthesia for this! Last time it literally felt like he was almost pulling my molars out because they were so wobbly,he had to put a little pressure on them to hold them down while he rocked the molarband back and forth to loosen it. Then added way more cement than the first time so I can only imagine how much harder this thing will be to take off again

I would be more optimistic about this but I don't see total confidence on his face that this will deffinately work. I asked about how many months does he usually see a difference in movement and he's usually seen movement within 6-8 weeks .Mine has been on since Nov/2006-Feb2007,march 11 will be 4 months...

Gennel

#8 Post by **ghotieyes** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 9:22 pm

Gennel,

I had my expanders taken off in January after 6 months of wearing it and I can totally relate to the pain of having the molar bands yanked off. Only instead of having 1 tooth on each side banded w/ the expander, I had 2/side which is a total of 4 teeth connected by each expander, top and bottom. I was quite traumatized after that, but I think my ortho was traumatized too b/c he felt so bad my teeth hurt so much.

I had decent movement w/ the expanders and ceramics but my ortho wanted to speed things up by switching over to Damons which I've had on for about 1.5 months. Damons will continue the expansion w/o the need for expanders, although he said over the next 3 months, I'll have to see if my overbite/overjet is reduced enough to my liking, otherwise, I'll have to take 4 bicuspids out to further reduce my overjet.

BTW, gold brackets... definitely all blinged out =)

#9 Post by **Clo** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 2:23 am

Hi,

not sure though, but I think there are indeed more advanced solutions.

When I had once a TPA, it was fixed into small tubes that were on the inside of
my molar bands. When I needed a new one, my ortho slid the old one out of those
tubes and placed a new one. The bands didn't have to be removed. Ok, this was
a TPA on the upper molars. But I have seen here TPAs that were soldered on the
molar bands and in that case removing included also removing the molar bands. So
for a TPA there are different solutions. So I was thinking that maybe in your case,
there might also be a possibility to have a "sliding in and out" expander.

There is also an expander type that has a screw system just behind the lower front
teeth, so by turning this using a key, the expander widens. Activating it more
doesn't involve taking it out at all.

And there is a kind of lower Hawley like appliance with an expander screw built
in that also could be an option (lower Schwarz appliance).

Maybe your ortho could have a look in the giant catalogues of the big firms that
make orthodontic products. There must be a more advanced solution for you.
I am not sure, but when I compare the distances between your left and right
premolars and molars, then I think you have more distance in the last pic. Doesn't
it look like you arch is expanded some more ? It wouldn't surprise me, because
this expander not only tries to upright those molars, but at the same time will move
them further away from each other. And there is no lower archwire to prevent that.
I do not know if that is good or bad. It depends on how the relation is between the
lower arch width and that of your upper arch.