How can I get a big girl archwire ?

[2XRound]

I appreciate your suggestions. I have been getting madder by the hour and have decided to call in the morning, cancel the appointment by telling them I have to go out of town and then find a new ortho. There are plenty in town. I have only paid one payment so I am not worried about owing more money. I guess I am slow to figure it out, but the staff in that office thinks I am a high maintenance and a pain in the ass and they may be right. They deal mostly with kids and are not used to dealing with mature assertive women. I realize I could never put up with these people for 100+ weks. Thanks for your support and suggestions. I needed a reality check.
As an aside I am going to pay a lot closer attention to the treatment plan I sign on for with the next ortho. I have learned enough in the last miserable six weeks to be a better listner.

[swellen]

Is the 'training' wire - and what that one nurse said about it - the only reason you want to change orthos? It seems a fairly drastic action to take... I presume that you were happy with the ortho and the office when you went for your initial consultations? I would make an appointment with the ortho and discuss your concerns. It may be that they put this 'training' wire on everyone and the nurse with whom you spoke doesn't quite understand when/why that particular wire is used (you did say she was young; she may not have been in the business for very long). I know that I had the thinnest wire to start with (as do most people) and I believe it was to get my teeth used to it, not to get ME used to it.

As for feeling pressure, remember that pain/pressure doesn't necessarily equal more movement. I never had any pain except for the first three or four days and my teeth moved plenty.

Anyway, of course it's up to you and I realise there may be more to your story than what you've outlined here, but I would suggest sitting down with the ortho and chatting. It may be a simple misunderstanding or miscommunication. (Also, you may find that your contract requires you to pay a certain percentage if you voluntary cease treatment...)

Best of luck with it all!

[fins]

I was rereading this thread since I am interested in the types of archwires used. I think your ortho might have just been trying to be considerate of some real complaining patients over the age of 40. I am just guessing but he or she might have had some incredible whiners to deal with who want straight teeth but don't have the tolerance for pain. I don't think it was the best idea, he probably didn't mean to be insulting at all ...maybe if you just have a heart to heart with your ortho and explain you are willing to tolerate some discomfort and you don't really need much hand holding so to speak, and don't feel they need to "ease" you into treatment.

I certainly was given the "works" when I was braced and boy, I really needed this board at that time cause that was MAJOR pain for a while.

Hope you are doing well with your braces.

[fyrelight]

I'm not 14 nor 40, but what I started with was a 12. Doc said anything less than that would not do much of anything -- its so flexible, you're teeth are stronger than the wire, so they just bend the wire pretty much.

You might go and tell them you're a tough girl and you'd prefer something a little stronger. Let them know you will take advil and are willing to have a little pain/soreness.

I did that one day. I told the doc that if he wanted to give me a stronger wire, I was up for it. He said it might be more uncomfortable and did I want to wait another month and I said, nah, I can handle it. He gave me the wire, and it wasn't bad at all. Different people have different pain levels. I guess somehow your ortho thinks under 14 and over 40 can't or shouldn't have pain.

[Chocoholic]

Hello All,

Been reading this thread with interest. Maybe before taking drastic action and changing orthos, you could ask your current one why he gave you such a light wire? I know I had a training wire to begin with (I'm 30!) and I still had loads of pain, so was glad that he did give me the light wire, which he said was to prepare the teeth for big movements with the stronger wires.

I got a the next wire up at my first adjustment and have had a stronger wire at virutally every other adjustment.

I'd take the comment made by the assistant as a flippant, throw away remark, I'm sure they didn't mean anything detrimental towards you.

Plus everyone's jaw and teeth are different, I'd just have a chat to him and tell him your concerns and see what his treatment plan for you is going to be.

Good Luck!

[weird_wired]

My first wire, which appears to be a very fine, light wire, moved both my top teeth very perceptibly for the month that it was on, and my bottom teeth for the six weeks that it has been on so far. I don't know if it was a "training" wire, but I doubt that any wires are totally useless (otherwise why even put a wire there?)

However I'm very bemused by this women-under-14-and-over-40 thing. The only thing that it correlates too is likely pregnancy age - but I cannot see what relevance that would have (teeth do have greater dental needs during pregnancy, but you would tell your ortho as soon as you knew you were pregnant).

It's hard to read that statement and not feel really offended. I know I do. It is so absurd that it seems there must be something more to it, but I cannot for the life of me think of anything that could remotely justify it.

To be frank, I could not even consider remaining the patient of a surgery where someone made what seems to be such an incredibly patronising, sexist statement.

[Wingnut]

Patronizing is the exact word I kept thinking throughout this entire thread.

Don't take the word of a twenty-something assistant, give the doctor the benefit of the doubt that he gave you the wire for a purpose and tell him you're wanting to be pro-active in your treatment. (A good analogy to use is, "Have you ever had a house built? Would you trust the builder to build your house without ever visiting the site to see the progress? Now, you know you're not capable of building the house yourself, but that doesn't mean that you don't want to know what they're doing at every step to be assured that your house will turn out the way you expect it to.)

I've had 3 wire changes on the top in almost 11 months. I've had the same size wire on the bottom for almost 11 months. They've changed the bottom wire twice, but still used the same size. I've begged for a new wire on the bottom but with my curve of spee and needing to upright two collapsed bicuspids, he says this is the wire needed to do the job at this stage - and I trust him completely.

On a side note, if your reading this Dr. J... I love your postings! You've been a wonderful addition to this board and I'm glad you've chosen to participate. You have a great sense of humor!

[2XRound]

I have a new otho, a young woman who seems to get it. When I explained my dissatisfaction with my ortho experience to date she seemed a bit reserved, but after looking at my teeth and taking some xrays of her own she agreed to take me on. She was understandably reluctant to get in a professional dispute with my former ortho, but when I said I would pay him what he was owed and personally retreive my records she seemed relieved. She It was a moment of great pleasure when I walked into the old ortho's office and obtained my records.

Fast forward to this mornig, new ortho very politely suggested that with my somewhat gaping appearance I might be more comfortable with clear "ice" brackets on my top front teeth. I told her I hated the way I looked. With that the new treatemant plan began. Off with the front six: boy did that hurt , and on with the new brackets and into two new big girl size 14 rectangular archwires. No more wire ties, but when the ligs went on I could sure feel the difference in the new archwire. She gently suggested that for the next several days I would feel like I was wearing my first set of braces and that accordingly I should plan on using some Advil. Its now 6 hours later and even though my teeth feel like they are falling out my spirits are lifted by a sensitive carring ortho. I think we are going to get along fine. Only bad news is that upper and lower power chains and elastics are in my future after we get "started" again.

[weird_wired]

KK, this thing from your ortho has been preying on my mind:

He said that saliva builds up around an old lig and that helps friction ... which I'm guessing means it makes it harder for the archwire to move that tooth.

It just sounds really odd to me. It also sounds worrying: why is saliva building up around an old lig?

It would make more sense if he said that old ligs were softer/weaker than fresh ones (like fresh rubber bands) slowing things down.

I notice Dr J hasn't commented on this, I would be interested to hear his opinion. Just for clarification: is this a common practice among orthos to leave old ligs on to "slow treatment down"?

[weird_wired]

KK - snap! I had purple streaks recently (with some dye I bought in Australia as it happens - similar to Fudge, though a different brand, and it lasted ages). More recently I tried bright pink, to match my lower ligs. That dye (a mousse I bought here) didn't last so long, so I need to order some pink Fudge from Down Under I think

[weird_wired]

Oh - it is Fudge, I just checked - I must have been thinking about something else I bought. Fudge Paintbox Purple Haze. It starts off a very dark purple (on blonde hair) then fades through to a lighter lilac over time, then vanishes. It didn't seem to fade to pink though.

Also I have found that washing with the clear Pantene styling-product-build-up-removal shampoo fades dyes quicker, which may or may not be useful.

What I really want now are two products: Fudge Paintbox Pretty Flamingo, and Fudge Whiter Shade of Pale. But I am struggling to find a UK or Aus etailer that does both. I don't really want to order from the US.