Page 1 of 1

How long did it take to close the gaps?

Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:50 am
by John939
Hey everyone, this is my first post as I only just found out about this place! I'll give you the quick low down, I'm a 21 year old student from Australia and I got my braces at the start of August last year.

So far it seems everything is falling into place and my bottom and back teeth seem to be in the right place BUT there is a few gaps between my top front 4 teeth. Did this happen to anyone else? And If so how long did they take to close?

Either way my ortho says I'm in the final stages and ahead of schedule so I'm really really excited to get them off! He said Christmas some time ago and I've got my fingers crossed that its still true.

Would make an absolutely smashing chrissy present dont you think! :)

Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:53 am
by John939
Oh and ps. I wasn't looking for exact answers, more along the lines of whehter the closed quickly or slowly, just to get some sort of idea. Cheers! :)

Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:10 pm
by Thathrill
I think the standard rule is teeth move on average 1 mm per month. of course everyone is different. I found that some of my teeth move pretty fast while others lag behind. but it all depends on how large the gap is

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 7:23 am
by lab117
I had a couple of gaps open up on my top arch after wearing braces for 8 months. Last appointment I had my first experience with power chains in an attempt to close those gaps.

In my case the gaps were closed in a few hours. Of course these were not large gaps (maybe 1 mm). So as you can see there is potential to close a gap very quickly. Of course everyone will have very different experiences, but lets hope that yours close faster than slower.

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 11:16 am
by BobKitten
I had my braces put on early August last year too! hiya, John :-1

I've found two different types of gaps. The ones which the ortho 'made', by pulling my teeth back to turn one particular tooth (I was a bit scared that I might have a gap-toothed look with my front two for a while!), which seem to have closed *really* quickly (one adjustment), and then the somewhat more reluctant gaps created by the teeth pulling... my ortho says that these are much slower to close in adults than in children, which isn't great, but I'm crossing my fingers they get a move on sometime soon! The bottom row had powerchains on for ages (ow!), which has greatly reduced these, but the top are being very stubborn!

Hope you make your Christmas deadline, btw, I've my heart set on sometime before my 28th birthday in February! :D

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 11:02 pm
by Sherri
I have been well over a year just trying to close my upper extraction gaps. Close to three years total. I have one stubborn gap about 1mm wide and it will just not close!

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:07 am
by travelbug
I had 4 teeth extracted (all of my first bicuspids) in April, and my lower gaps closed completely within about 4 months. We're still working on my upper gaps, which are getting close! I would estimate the uppers will be closed within another month or so... so probably about 7 or 8 months total for my uppers.