Metal Mouth Message Board

Since I have been slightly obsessive in measuring my gaps in terms of mm, I'm curious how many mm of closure you can get in 2 or 3 months by using powerchains.

I think it depends on the person...with me my gaps had closed within 18 hours of getting them put on, but my gaps were not even a mm. And of course they lose their strength after around 4 weeks.. Sorry I wasn't much help! Good luck

I'm not exactly sure where I heard this, but I think around 1 to 2 mm per month is about normal. But I do think it really depends on the person.

As an orthodontist myself I can tell you that teeth typically move 1-1.5 mm per month in a normal physiology and force system. The "overnight" movement is just the tooth tipping in its socket called the peiodontal ligament. Power chains or threads undergo almost 100% force decay in 1 week. We let the next 3 or 4 weeks go by with no new chains to allow the teeth that have been tipped on the wire about the bracket slot to upright. The root of the tooth has to have time to catch up...