Metal Mouth Message Board

So just back from adjustment 4 where a sense of humour was required....banded 7's and a new wire on bottom (17 or 19 - he couldn't quite decide so I don't know what we ended up with apart from needing a crowbar to get it in). Anyway as he's rummaging away merrily muttering to himself about my challenging lowers...and all things taking time blah blah......he tells me he has read that the longest ever recorded case for ortho treatment was .....20 years!!!! Tell me he's not hinting lol!!!! I may just have to hurt him

Pippy, I also just got my 7's banded, a year into my treatment . And boy was it a challenge for those little suckers to go on. I'm sure that was not a hint by your ortho because if it was then oh boy . Good luck on your treatment.

20 years in treatment? That's got to be a leg pull. Surely there is no-one crazy enough to endure it for that long?

I remember a girlfriend of mine from about 15 years ago that had braces for 6 years....I had NEVER heard of such a thing.......I think it was from 1988-1994...possibly even '95....... My first run was just under two years. My feeling is that anyone going past 5 years is likely not co operating. This is completely my uneducated opinion. so feel free to tear me up on this....

I doubt you'll see anything close to this!!!!!

[quote="lionfish"]20 years in treatment? That's got to be a leg pull. Surely there is no-one crazy enough to endure it for that long?[/quote]

yeah. forget that, I'll keep my crooked teeth, thank you very much.

one of my coworkers apparently had 8 years of braces. And when he got them off he had 20 cavities.

I think I might be missing something here, but what exactly are "7s"?

Thanks for the response Meryaten.

Is it common practice to have these teeth attached to the wire?

I asked my orthodontist about this once, and he said hopefully we won't have to touch them.

Meryaten I just had this done almost a year into my treatment and if does not have to be done than I'm going to talk to my ortho at my next adjustment about taking those out of the wire. Number one they dont seem to have made any progress since my last adjustment and two I dont want my treatment time extended.

I know most people would say well you've already put the time, money and effort why not just go the extra time but I'm seriously to the point where I just dont think I can have my braces on for another year. If some docs dont include them then I dont see why mine would and Im going to discuss this with her.

I think i'm going through a really hard time right now and I feel a little depressed because she just attached the 7's. I was doing okay until the 7's but not doing so great right now.

Would it be out of line for me to ask my ortho to exclude the 7's therefore removing the molar bands at my next appt??

Eek! My number 7s are on the wire and I'm starting out with an openbite, I certainly don't want it to get bigger!

Regards
Joney

Every mouth is different. Let's not all get freaked out on this.....

Mine are all connected as my molars are my issue. allot of you do not have molar issues and therefor they are not connected. Talk to the doc....

My lower 7s were connected after a year because one of them started drifting astray. My upper 7's are still free and I would imagine will remain so since I'm almost done with treatment. Once you get through the adjustment phase things will get easier, just give it time (hard to do I know!)

joney wrote:Eek! My number 7s are on the wire and I'm starting out with an openbite, I certainly don't want it to get bigger!

Regards
Joney

My upper 7's have been on the wire since day one, and the lowers for virtually the same time. My bite opened a bit at the front (less than 1mm I'd say), but as you know, all is now closed.

Mine have brackets but my ortho predicted he'll never wire them in. But those lower back brackets drive me nuts - my gums are irritated because the bracket is the exact same size as my tooth and it barely fits on the surface... the BACK of the bracket touches my gums. I really wish they weren't bracketed.

my ortho wrote a letter to my dentist regarding the work that needed to be done before banding. He said that I needed a root canal in #9 and he is referring to my front left incisor the one you labeled as #1?

I was already confused because my basic knowledge of dentistry tells me there are supposed to be 32 teeth in the mouth, if there are 4 quadrants then there are only 8 teeth in each then how is there a #9?

I realize that most dont have 32 teeth I know I have a big mouth and so dont have room for 32 teeth.