Made it to steel archwire. Curious about steps after (closing gaps)

[wiredbee]

Hi again, I appreciate the advice so far. My orthodontist moved me from the round wires to the steel rectangular wires on thursday. A little sore but nothing terrible (the cankers i constantly get are more painful than what the wires do).

My orthodontist mentioned that eventually we'd get to the stage where they start closing the gaps in my teeth using rubber bands. I already have experienced one rubber band due to my Carriere (I hated the thing but mostly the retainer). Does anyone here know how bands are used to close gaps? Should I be expecting some weirder arrangement of them? I've seen mention of power chains for gaps but I'm not sure if that was what he meant. My upper midline still needs to be corrected as well. I may need to ask him for more details.. after the carriere I definitely want to know ahead of time what's going in my mouth.  😩

[djspeece]

Glad to hear that you are making progress and have achieved this important milestone. I am not an orthodontist, but as a former patient I can confidently say that I detested the rubber bands. It seemed like a step backwards in terms of enunciation and comfort, but you'll get used to them soon enough. I Googled "How do rubber bands work with braces" and this is one of the results https://www.belmarorthodontics.com/orth ... ou%20need.. There are many others, of course.
Best of luck to you.

[wiredbee]

Is it okay if I update this thread since I have some answers now?

I’ve made pretty steady progress since November, and kept moving up to progressively thicker wires. My bottom teeth didn’t really move much until around the last new wire - there is an obvious difference between my December and January photos. They graduated me to class 2 elastics (Trumpet) in January. I didn’t start wearing them until I got back from vacation (Jan 27th). I wore them religiously like I had the carriers elastics and when I went in for my checkup yesterday, I was told my progress was so good that I could switch to night wear only (I think my overbite/overjet are mild, so maybe that is why). I wasn’t expecting to hear that so quickly but works for me! I noticed in the afternoon that they had also snuck on a power chain - I’m pretty sure that’s what corrects the midline, right? Those are definitely a good trap and I’m glad to have a waterpik. My front teeth already feel “creeky” if that makes sense. Also a bit sore but that didn’t stop me from having a tasty Valentine’s Day steak.

I’m about 11 and a half months into my treatment now, and they estimated it would take about a year and a half. Anyone else have a short (sub month in my case) full-time stint with their elastics?

[djspeece]

Great to hear your update and congratulations on your progress! Sounds like you are doing everything right. I had forgotten about the "creaky teeth" you mentioned, but as soon as I read your post I immediately thought of my obsession with it . I won't comment on the role of the power chain in your case, since I frankly am not sure. I had them as well -- didn't notice any big changes in my midline, though. Best of luck to you.

[wiredbee]

Thanks djspeece. :) My original beef with my teeth was the upper midline, so I guess we’ll see. I wish my orthodontist explained what he was doing a little more during each appointment (I could probably call and ask if I really wanted). I do at least have the treatment plan to reference and I know the step after class 2 elastics is to coordinate my arches. I still have a nice big gap on the upper left from the carriere motion and that is where the chains are. My midline is shifted to the right (if only I’d had my left wisdom tooth removed when I noticed it was erupting. Oh well!)

[trifecta]

Hi wiredbee. Glad you are making good progress. Power chains are frequently used to close spaces or gaps between the teeth. Depending on where the gaps are they may make the midline shift but frequently elastics are used to move the midline. Best of luck!

[wiredbee]

Small update, it looks like the left sided power chain was indeed used to move my midline. This last thursday I went back to the orthodontist, he thinks that everything has moved enough to start closing the gaps. When I close my mouth the midline still seems slightly off, but that might be the way my teeth are sitting together because my midline seems more even when I have my mouth opened a bit. I left the office with a full set of power chains on my top and bottom teeth. Meanwhile I'm continuing to wear elastics overnight (not fun the first night of full power chains). Think I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

[djspeece]

Congratulations, sounds like you are making great progress! My bite was messed up throughout treatment, and then at the very end - voila! Everything seemed to come together. Best of luck to you.

[wiredbee]

This last month has involved a lot of chasing the midline. I got the full set of powerchains, but my midline was still a little off to the right. So my orthodontist removed them and reapplied them only to my upper left teeth to try and move a bit more to the left. What was funny is that the midline moved enough in maybe a couple of days. The office was on vacation last week, so I waited and went in today. I was told it's pretty much perfect and now they just needed to close the new gaps on the right side.. Well, as soon as he put the powerchains across all my upper teeth, the gaps immediately closed! My ortho sounded kind of surprised. I wonder how common it is for teeth to become that mobile. He noticed in part because the wire was suddenly poking out on the right side, so he clipped that down.

Sounds like the next step is dealing with the dental implant I already had on my bottom jaw. My crown doesn't touch the upper tooth anymore, so I'll likely need a replacement (looking forward to seeing the cost of that). That's something the orthodontist and my dental office are figuring out right now. After I get that, he said he would finish fixing some gaps around it and my other bottom teeth. :)

[djspeece]

Wow, congratulations on your progress! I could have only dreamed of my gaps closing before I even left my ortho's office! I can't comment on how common that is or why it might happen, but that is great! Best of luck with the next phase.

[wiredbee]

Whatever it is, my upper teeth definitely feel loose! I had my latest appointment today where my top power chain was replaced, I was given back a bottom power chain, plus they added some sort of coil next to my dental implant. Apparently they want to close the last remaining gaps on my bottom jaw and then I will get a new crown for the implant.

I asked about my left canine/incisors not being raised as much as they were before after being pulled down by the Carriere Motion. When I was a child, my left front tooth was chipped so my dentist used a tool to make it flat, but that left it shorter than the right front tooth. Since the wear has been uneven, I guess he wants to flatten my right tooth to the same length, after which those teeth on each side should look about even. Wasn't ever planning to fix that particular flaw but I guess that sounds fine.

I also let him know that I'd suddenly started getting popping noises in my right ear when I walk/move around.. Not sure if this is the orthodontic work and a TMJ issue, or something else because I have a lot of weird issues with my ears but especially my right one. My ortho told me to totally stop wearing my rubber bands for a couple of weeks, I'll see if that makes any difference. I definitely hear more things out of my joints as I'm getting older! He suggested I make an ENT appointment as well just in case.. ahead of him there but they're booked until June so I have a bit of a wait.

[djspeece]

Sounds like things are moving along nicely, and that your ortho is on top of things. Mine did some small cosmetic tweaks near the end as well, which I appreciated. Good idea to ditch the elastics for a bit until you can get to the root of things (pardon the unfortunate pun ) Best of luck to you.

[wiredbee]

Unfortunately the ear is still crackling away, but I'll give it the remaining time - hopefully it stops at some point!

I'm noticing my bite feels off on the left side again after getting powerchains on my lower jaw this second time. It's like my back molars are clashing a bit/slightly off angle, so I might bring it up the next visit. My bite is more open at the back on that side than the left, but part of that is because they fixed the top molar that was previously drifting downwards so it needs a crown to match. Not sure if that will fix the problem, but it seems like it often feels off for a bit before it improves. Not having to wear rubber bands at all for a bit has been nice at least.

I wonder if they can do much about the back molar alignment? I know they don't put brackets all the way to the final back teeth.

[djspeece]

My bite was screwed up the entire time I was in braces; sometimes not too far off, other times I could barely chew without looking like a cow. Trust in the ortho! Best of luck to you!

[wiredbee]

Haven't logged in for a bit, but today the braces came off! Once the powerchains were removed, the molars stopped feeling like they were hitting strangely, so that was interesting (I then had powerchains again for the last two weeks but the problem didn't return). I went to my dentist separately a week ago and should be getting a new crown in the near future for my implant (not sure exactly when, but my prep appointment is on August 20th). The wait means I will probably need to get a second set of retainers.

Feels nice to have them off. I'm not looking forward to full time retainers for 6 months but in the end it's not that long. I'm hoping they will be more comfortable than my carriere retainer.