Slow progress

[cassidy91]

Looking around on the board I'm getting frustrated. Not that I'm not happy for all of you who are seeing the results of braces, I think its awesome to see some of you whose teeth are moving so fast!! It's just that I'm looking at pictures of people who have had braces for 5 months and their teeth look a thousand times better already, almost perfect. I've had mine on for over 9 months and my teeth still look horrible!!!

I don't know if it has to do with the fact that I'm younger, or if my ortho doesn't know what he's doing, or if my teeth are really just that messed up. I just don't know how he expects my braces to be finished in 15 more months. Anyone else here frustrated by their teeth moving so slow?

-cass

[Chris]

Lots of us have teeth that move slowly. There is absolutely no way for the ortho to know that before treatment so his treatment time is an educated guess. As time progresses, he'll probably have a better idea.

Sometimes there is hardly any movement and then all of sudden things move more quickly.

Be patient. Your time will come.

[shinyam]

Yes, Cassidy 91. I am going nuts as well. I've had my braces on for exactly one year now, and have seen absolutely no results for the last ten months. My bite has come together with elastics, but the crowding in my front teeth has stood still. I am so fed up with these things.

If there is one bright spot, I just got rectangular wires put in three weeks ago. I heard that they really straighten teeth out quickly, so I am hoping to see some major improvement soon. Can anyone tell me how soon after having rectangular wires put in did the teeth start to move?

[Chris]

Can anyone tell me how soon after having rectangular wires put in did the teeth start to move?

All I can say is my bottoms moved alittle faster after having those put in. Not fast enough for me, but I noticed improvement.

[hannah164]

Cassidy 91.
I have had braces for almost a year and a half and almost no improvement. I don't even have bottom braces yet! My ortho doesn't communicate well. For like the first year all that changed was my gap closed. Nothing else. I go in every two weeks now because of my two impacted cuspids. HE's been pulling them down for 3 months now and one of them hasn't really even moved. Hopefully I'll have more progress soon.
Good luck with your treatment and I hope it speeds up soon.

-Hannah

[jaws]

Hi Cassidy 91,

I think I might be one of those people that you've seen whose teeth have moved fairly quickly in 5 months. But don't get discouraged by cases like mine! Here are a couple of factors that might be contributing to my quick movement:

1) My ortho is using a fairly new procedure called "Controlled Arch" on me, where I have to have upper and lower expanders to widen my arches and move things along. I also have special brackets for this procedure. My brackets are also metal, which allows the ortho to put more force/torque on my teeth.

2) My upper teeth were not that crowded to begin with (my lowers were the problem)

3) Even though my teeth have 'leveled out' a lot (i.e., they have fallen into a straight line), there is still a lot of work to be done on my mouth. My bite is still completely off (none of my teeth touch when I bite down). So, even though I have seen a lot of progress in 5 months, my original 'sentence' was a year and a half, and I believe my braces will be on for that entire time!

So, my point is that some people just have factors that make their teeth move more quickly (I'm sure even genetic, physiological, and biological factors come into play here)---so don't worry, your teeth will move in their own time!

[alexa]

Don't feel bad about the slowness. Yes, my teeth look much better than they did and I've only had braces for 7 (almost) months. Of course, you have to remember that ANYTHING would've made them look extremely improved. I mean, just bringing the canines into the arch made it look better. Now that they're down, my teeth do nothing. They haven't moved much over the last couple of months at all. My gaps are all still open....my front teeth are still overlapping slightly.

Looks can be deceiving.

Chin up! I'll try to keep mine up with ya.

Alexa

[BraceUrself]

never lose hope-your teeth WILL move in time-Be patient & keep us posted on everything!

[giantfigure]

Today evening is my first adjustment (finished one month). Although I am happy subtracting one month from my 18-month plan, I do not see any movements of my teeth. I have always been feeling pressure on teeth, but at the end...No Movements!

Gaps are still there, crowding still there, overbite still there. I wish I could see some noticeable difference by now

[doglover1395]

Yeah... I haven't seen any progress in the last 4 or 5 months and I've only had braces for 7 months. The only things that have happen with my teeth lately is that another gap opened up- ugg! My original treatment time was 18 months- 2 years but things seem to now be moving really slowly. My overbite got bigger and my midline got more off. I still (as previously mentioned) have lots of gaps. I'm frustrated right now about this too. Alot of my friends are getting their braces off and I'm not even half done with mine. I occasionally get worried that my treatment will go on more than 3 years and I'll go off to college with braces on. Well hopefully things will move quicker for all of us.

[Dmourning]

There could be a couple of reasons for your lack of noticing any progress.

1. You look in the mirror everyday. Sometimes with braces, the movement of the teeth can be ever so slight. If you look at your teeth everyday, you may not notice it.

2. Perhaps your ortho is working on a particular problem area (uneven teeth, obstinate tooth, etc) before continuing on with the rest. Me for example, my top teeth havent moved in the last 5 months. My ortho is currently working on a problem tooth on the bottom. When that tooth gets squared away, then he will continue with the top.

Just don't worry about it. In time, things will get better.