Progress halted - elastic waste of time!!

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#1 Post by **LoobyLou** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 11:18 am

Hi all,

I'm afraid I need a bit of a rant.
I've now had my braces for 17 months (original time scale was 18 months) and thought things might have been on the homeward stretch. As pictured in my avatar, I had the diagonal elastic to correct midline. So I was wearing this as much as possible and things were very, very slowly beginning to shift around a little. So at my last adjustment (the one before last) he said carry on with the elastics and he wanted to see me in 4 weeks from then.

Then, as I was booking my next appointment, the receptionist/nurse told me he wasn't actually going to be there for a good few weeks after that so I ended up with an appointment about 7 weeks away.

About 5 weeks after the adjustment I noticed in the mirror that my lower right canine was becoming crooked and twisted. As I looked more closely I realised that the wire had not been clipped into my damon bracket and was therefore not attached to the brace. With the elastic pulling the bottom arch towards that tooth it started to get squashed and was trying to find room by twisting.

So, where was my ortho in my hour of need? Who knows. Luckily I managed to see another who could only tie the bracket back on as a) I had a very heavy wire on due to the elastic and b) the tooth was so out of place that there was no way he could pop it back in.

About a week after this the temporary wire popped off and the tooth continued to twist out of place. I decided to wait the extra week to see my proper ortho and see what he said. He agreed that it had moved out of place and went to get a slightly lighter wire and, whilst trying to click it into place, forced it so hard that my tooth itself clicked loudy causing me immense pain! He then put in a lighter wire still and told me to stop with elastic for a while.

So, here I am, temporarily without the elastic. The reason I'm so angry is that my teeth tend to wander and I can aready see/feel that the months of wearing the elastic have been undone and this wouldn't have happened if he had checked he'd done the adjustment properly the first time. I'm already running over my eta.

Sorry for moaning everyone (if there's anyone still reading) I'm just really frustrated.

LoobyLou x

#2 Post by **jcdamon3** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 2:19 pm

You have every right to be totally bumbed out. I once had a tooth whose bracket was not clipped to the wire. Luckily (very luckily) I noticed it. ( I have a 5X mirror that I look at my teeth with). I quickly made that appointment and they put the wire back into the bracket. It was amazing how fast that tooth moved out of line while not bracketed. It is also amazing how fast it moved back into alignment once it was bracketed again!

I hope thing get sorted back out for you quickly.

And to all you damon wearers out there! Check your teeth periodically to make sure your doors are closed! You should not be able to see your wire poking out at the front of the bracket!

#3 Post by **Chris** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 6:37 pm

I feel your pain, I've been setback 4 to 6 months now.

#4 Post by **Clo** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 10:59 pm

I do that, what Meryaten said. After each appointment, when I am back in
my car, the first thing I do is checking out everything. Then it is not much of
a hassle to go back in to have something fixed right away.

I had to stop wearing all my elastics since last week due to a lot of issues. I
posted about this here some days ago. Anyway, it is indeed frightening how
quickly you loose the shifts made by elastics, isn't it. Each day now, I loose
months of the shifts they made. But I think your case looks more promising.
Yes, there will be some setback. But your canine, since it only moved so
recently, will be in the correct position very quickly. And once you can wear
the elastic again, it'll work double speed I think, getting back what was done
in a fast way.

Good luck !

#5 Post by **Chris** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 8:07 am

All of which comes back to the same question:
How reliable and stable are ELASTICS?
I mean if everything changes after they are taken off whats the use?

I asked another ortho about this and he said that everything is usually stable afterwards. Really? How come we have so many people on this forum who say otherwise?

#6 Post by **fins** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 10:41 am

What bothers me is if one little thing is wrong, it only takes one tooth to start a domino effect moving the other teeth.

#7 Post by **NotBob1** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 7:29 pm

Hi Looby,

I currently have the same elastic as you and am tryimg to wear it (and the others) 22-24 hours a day. (I suppose it should be on now, alas, it is not.) (OK, now it is!!!) Anyway.......My upper arch is starting to crowd and all lean over when it is my lower arch that should be on the move.

I know how you feel....very frustrating! Just don't give up. Things never go as planned in life but somehow we always get there.