Is the thickest wire the final wire?

[Matilda]

Something came to mind. At my last appointment, my orthodontist's assistant informed me that my wires will no longer be changed at every adjustment because I'm already wearing the thickest wires. So, does this mean that I'm currently wearing the final wires? Thanks!

[bmueller]

probably. my final wire was on for 8 months and the only changes they made were with elastics to correct my bite.

[Matilda]

probably. my final wire was on for 8 months and the only changes they made were with elastics to correct my bite.

I wonder why orthodontists keep the final wires on for so many months.

[bmueller]

From what I understand, the wires are used to get the teeth into alignment witin the jaw, ie. rotating a crooked tooth or moving teeth so they're no longer overlapping or evening out the height of the teeth. Once those things have been accomplished, they move toward aligning the jaws relative to each other. At that point, they don't want teeth to be able to tip or rotate or move vertically anymore because that's all been fixed, hence the big "final" wire.

Once the "final" wire went in, I did not have o-rings changed out or different powerchains or anything. Each appointment involved just looking in my mouth to make sure nothing was broken and then telling me what new configuration of elastics I needed to correct the bite.

I also believe strongly that calling them a "final" wire gets the patient's hopes up and personally frustrated me beyond belief.

[dvn]

Not necessarily. I was in the thickest wire a few months ago. Since then, my ortho repositioned a few brackets and moved me back to a thin wire. I guess each case is different.