Months between adjustments??need advice

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#1 Post by **Smile4Kiki** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 7:06 pm

Hi everyone,

I'm 20 yrs old and being treated for free in a busy union clinic through my moms insurance. I was braced in the end of March and didnt have my first adjustment until today (13 weeks later). After my ligs and wires were changed my ortho told me to get an appt for 10-12 weeks but the soonest appt available was for October 20 (14 weeks from today). This has me really nervous because it feels like at this rate I'll never finish my treatment. My treatment plan says I'll have them for 2 years maximum and while I'm ok with that if its necessary I dont want the lack of adjustments to prolong treatment more than needed. I'm contemplating continuing my treatment in a private office even though it will seriously hurt my pockets. What do you all think? Should I just suck it up and wait it out or dish out the cash and (possibly) acheive my goals sooner? Has anyone been a situation similar to mine?

thanks,
Kiki

#2 Post by **felicia** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 2:51 pm

If you don't mind me asking, what country are you in?
That seems to me an awful lot of time between appointments....
My appointments are 4 weeks apart and I wish they were even closer.

#3 Post by **loradora** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 4:46 pm

My appointments are six weeks apart.

#4 Post by **palht** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 8:34 pm

My appointments now are 2 weeks apart, and I wonder if the interval is too short? Previously they were 3 weeks apart.

#5 Post by **Snowglobe32** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 10:48 pm

My appointments range from 6-8 weeks apart.

I will caution you that I had the same wire in for 16 weeks. When it came time for the wire to come out, the assistant had a hard time getting a few of the gates (I have self litigating brackets) on my lower, middle teeth to open. It turns out that I had plaque buildup on the wire and the space between the wire and bracket. I also had a powerchain on the lower arch for 8 weeks previous to the wire being removed.

Luckily, I had a cleaning the same day but I will not go more two months with the same wire now. Waiting 14-16 weeks seems to me to be too long of a time between adjustments.

I would ask the ortho why there is such a long time between appointments.

#6 Post by **Meemoo** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 11:07 pm

My ortho doesn't want to see me for my first adjustment until the 8th September and the braces were put on 16th June...that's 12 weeks in between adjustments. I think any longer is really pushing it though.

#7 Post by **Smile4Kiki** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 11:42 pm

@ felicia- Im in the U.S. but as I mentioned before because its a free clinic they're constantly booked and have no appointments available.

@snowglobe32- My ortho commended me on how clean i've kept my teeth (Im obsessed with brushing and flossing) and said I had no plaque buildup so I'm hoping that won't be an issue for me.

I haven't had any issues thus far and although it took so long for the first adjusment I was still having the occasional teeth soreness that told me something's working. Also I read somewhere on this site that most of the time, the strength/size of the wire isn't changed every month anyway (just ligs which causes new tension).

#8 Post by **Snowglobe32** » Sat Jul 10, 2010 12:14 pm

[quote="Smile4Kiki"]

@snowglobe32- My ortho commended me on how clean i've kept my teeth (Im obsessed with brushing and flossing) and said I had no plaque buildup so I'm hoping that won't be an issue for me.

quote]

I have always had exceptional oral hygiene habits also. I brush 3-4 times a day, floss nightly and use a waterpik. This was even before I got braces with the exception of the waterpik.

I have found that since around month 6 with the braces and that darn powerchain I had to wear for 8 weeks, it is harder to keep them clean. The people I have asked who had braces say this is normal. Well, not normal for me. If I could, I would get all my brackets removed and replaced halfway through treatment.

Because of the discussions on this board versus brushing right after eating (I usually wait no more than 20 minutes after eating) or waiting an hour after eating to brush, I started eating then waiting an hour (or a little over) to brush. Well, I did that for a month and I won't do it again. I don't care what anyone says!

I read comments by peope who say, "I never floss" or I hardly brushed my teeth while braced and my teeth look fine" and I just don't believe them. It takes a lot of work!

But back to your original concern, do you have those fancy brackets that allow for a longer wait time between adjustments? I am not sure which ones they are, but a co-worker had them and her appointments were at least 3 months apart.

I just checked my appointment history online, and I have had 12 appointments, (one more this Wednesday) in 10 months. Lucky for you, you aren't paying for treatment. But with the amount of money I am paying, if my appts. were 3 months apart, I would be upset.

You said the earliest appt. was 14 weeks away, can you call and see if anyone has canceled as the time gets closer?

#9 Post by **VA5** » Sat Jul 10, 2010 12:15 pm

Smile4Kiki wrote:@ felicia- Im in the U.S. but as I mentioned before because its a free clinic they're constantly booked and have no appointments available.

@snowglobe32- My ortho commended me on how clean i've kept my teeth (Im obsessed with brushing and flossing) and said I had no plaque buildup so I'm hoping that won't be an issue for me.

I haven't had any issues thus far and although it took so long for the first adjusment I was still having the occasional teeth soreness that told me something's working. Also I read somewhere on this site that most of the time, the strength/size of the wire isn't changed every month anyway (just ligs which causes new tension).

It seems like a long time.. I was going 6 weeks between visits at first and that seemed like a long time. It seems like 4 weeks is more the norm. At first, they are waiting for rotations and things like that to correct themselves. During this time, the wire isn't changed so much. But, waiting more than 6 weeks sounds like a really long time. I don't know if it'll necessarily slow things down so much, in the grand scheme, but i would think there would be some issue or another that needs attention before your time interval.

#10 Post by **DrJasonKTam** » Sat Jul 10, 2010 9:37 pm

There are some doctors who do not see their patients for several months between adjustments early in treatment. They place NiTi wires and let them get their full expression before bringing patients in to change wires.

It isn't uncommon to go 10-12 weeks between visits. What this does mean though, is that your doctor should be doing "as much as possible" at each visit. For instance, changing wires, getting you on elastics, repositioning brackets, etc. Going in every 4-6 weeks to simply change your elastic ligatures is not going to speed up your treatment.

FWIW our standard time is 8 weeks between visits, and may vary between 4-12 weeks depending on various situations. Each appointment is 30 minutes, to allow us to do everything we need to do to keep treatment moving as efficiently as possible. We never bring patients back for 10-15 minutes vistis simply to change their colours :).

#11 Post by **alimommy1** » Sun Jul 11, 2010 1:34 am

From what I recall, most of my adjustment appointments were scheduled 5-8 weeks between, I had a range like that because it depended on what times were available and what was easiest to work around my work schedule, most of the time it was leaving work early so I scheduled most of the appts right after lunchtime when the office staff returned around 2 pm.

Right now my recall appts for appliance adjustment are going to be 8 weeks, my ortho said that was standard, although if something causes pain or discomfort or breaks I'm supposed to call them immediately lol.

I am not thinking anything over 12 weeks is reasonable, I'd probably even question 10 weeks because that's a LONG time. I second the suggestion that you call the office and see if you can get in if they get a cancellation.

#12 Post by **berry** » Sun Jul 11, 2010 3:33 am

My first adjustment is 12 weeks after my braces were fitted and I thought this seemed like a long time too... I haven't had an adjustment yet and don't until September. Although one of the brackets has broken so it seems I might have to go in earlier.

#13 Post by **VA5** » Sun Jul 11, 2010 6:16 am

berry wrote:My first adjustment is 12 weeks after my braces were fitted and I thought this seemed like a long time too... I haven't had an adjustment yet and don't until September. Although one of the brackets has broken so it seems I might have to go in earlier.

You definitely need to go in as soon as a bracket breaks. Your teeth can shift in a really short period of time and set you back. It happened to me.. my ortho had to change the wire to a weaker one just to get the teeth to realign, so that set me back 6 weeks, and then he finally switched back to the stronger wire to get back on track.

#14 Post by **berry** » Mon Jul 12, 2010 2:30 am

VA5 wrote:
You definitely need to go in as soon as a bracket breaks. Your teeth can shift in a really short period of time and set you back. It happened to me.. my ortho had to change the wire to a weaker one just to get the teeth to realign, so that set me back 6 weeks, and then he finally switched back to the stronger wire to get back on track.

I am not in my own country for another 2 weeks then my ortho is on holiday for 1 week... so I've gotta wait 3 weeks for it to be replaced, I'm really upset.

only just started about a month ago too. well, not much I can do about it

#15 Post by **Margie** » Mon Jul 12, 2010 10:24 am

I have self-ligating braces and when I first started my adjustments were about 12 weeks apart, the longer I have been in braces the shorter the time between adjustments. My adjustments are 3 weeks apart now that I am nearing the end of treatment.