Metal Mouth Message Board

First off, it's great to finally be able to post here. I've been lurking on this forum for several months but have never had the proper topic in mind to actually begin a discussion. A little bit about me:

I'm almost 19 years old and I've had my braces on for nearly two years. Because my misaligned teeth were always the thing that I was the most self-conscious about, getting braces on was one of the best things that could have happened to me. To be sure, the whole experience has been a wild; on top of all of the adjustments, I've had spacers put in (which was the most painful part of treatment really), my wisdom teeth removed, teeth filed, rubber bands worn, and next week I'm actually going in for a frenectomy to reshape the connective tissue surrounding my upper lip.

So on to the topic at hand: In my case the issue with my teeth has always been the huge gaps that tended to separate one tooth from the next. By now, though, all of the gaps that I used to have have miraculously closed, and now my ortho has said that we'll begin the "detailing" phase of my treatment. The thing is, she told me that I could still be in braces for "another six months max" when not too long ago she had said that I could have conceivably finished my treatment in the span of a couple months.

I'm not mad or disgruntled or anything, but I am a bit curious as to what exactly the "detailing" phase of braces treatment actually entails, and how long that phase could possibly last.

Could somebody please explain braces "detailing" to me?

I can't answer your question but why don't you just ask the ortho for more details? This way, you know exactly what will happen.

My detailing phase has been going for 6 months and I expect it to go for a few more. On a whole my teeth are in place, its more about fixing individual teeth angles and my mid line now.

I think 'detailing' is what my orthodontist refers to as 'fine-tuning'. I anticipate I'll be at this stage in about a month when my gaps have fully closed. The first stage of my treatment was straightening my teeth, followed by closing of the gaps and now that is almost done. The fine tuning is when he'll start tweaking individual teeth and getting them as close to perfect as possible! I guess how long it takes varies from individual to individual, but I've been told that all being well, I'm likely to have my treatment completed by the end of the year (2 months ahead of schedule).

6 months?! i know everybody is different, but I wonder why it would take you 6 months to finish up just the detailing? That kind of worries me for sure, b/c I'm nowhere near detailing.. my teeth are STILL leveling and some gaps still have quite a ways to close. I was so hopeful to be out of these things by the end of the year. Now I've got 6 months in the back of my head... ergh!

I'm currently in the detailing phase. For me, the first 12 months were about straightening my teeth and now I'm in the middle of 7-8 months of detailing, fine tuning, call it what you will. I've had elastics to correct my midline and overbite, elastics in a box formation (thankfully only at night) to close up an open bite, and a couple of changes of power chain, both top and bottom. I go back at the end of August to reposition a couple of brackets - one of my front teeth is lower than the other and in the elastics process, one of my bottom teeth has rotated slightly. Then it's everything off in mid-September.

Six months isn't that long, it's approximately four 6-week appointments. I got given elastics, went back 6 weeks later for a power chain change, went back 6 weeks later for another power chain change, went back after 6 weeks for more elastics, then my next appointment is for 7 weeks later - only 4 to go! - which is to reposition those pesky brackets. A couple of weeks after that, I'll be brace free and using toffee for toothpaste and Coke for mouthwash! (just kidding)

miggins wrote:I'm currently in the detailing phase. For me, the first 12 months were about straightening my teeth and now I'm in the middle of 7-8 months of detailing, fine tuning, call it what you will. I've had elastics to correct my midline and overbite, elastics in a box formation (thankfully only at night) to close up an open bite, and a couple of changes of power chain, both top and bottom. I go back at the end of August to reposition a couple of brackets - one of my front teeth is lower than the other and in the elastics process, one of my bottom teeth has rotated slightly. Then it's everything off in mid-September.

Six months isn't that long, it's approximately four 6-week appointments. I got given elastics, went back 6 weeks later for a power chain change, went back 6 weeks later for another power chain change, went back after 6 weeks for more elastics, then my next appointment is for 7 weeks later - only 4 to go! - which is to reposition those pesky brackets. A couple of weeks after that, I'll be brace free and using toffee for toothpaste and Coke for mouthwash! (just kidding)

Do you mind my asking you how the midline correction went... did you have spaces left in your mouth while this was going on? Did you have a midline problem on both top and bottom?

No, I don't mind you asking at all! It went really well. My top teeth were good, but my bottom teeth were off by about half a tooth (my bottom teeth were a LOT more crooked/rotated/tipped than my top, so no surprises there).

I had Chipmunk elastics running top canine to bottom molar on both sides with power chains. My ortho had anticipated 12 weeks but it only took 6 weeks in the end (I was super anal about wearing elastics 24/7 and I changed them several times a day to keep the tension up ). I seem to remember I had gaps opening up all over the place but they've all settled down. One tooth moved leaving a gap, then the next one moved along to fill the gap then left another gap, and so on, if that makes sense, but the gaps only lasted a few days or so. I have a slight gap between my bottom left 2 and 3, but this is because the 2 has been rotated slightly in the process, so at my next appointment, the ortho is repositioning the bracket but as my debonding date is 3 weeks later, this tooth should slot back into line pretty quickly.

I'm lucky that my ortho is a self proclaimed perfectionist. He knows he could have taken my braces off about 2 months ago and I would have been happy, but he wanted to make sure my bite and overall look were as good as he could possibly make them. I'd rather go a few weeks longer than have them off early and say "I like my teeth but...".