LithpingLitha's Log *De-braced*

[LithpingLitha]

Thanks, Karen! Guess what...my adjustment didn't hurt!

Hey, Laurie! Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

[mjbusch]

Lithpinglitha,

Your teeth are looking marvelous!! I too have a gelb splint except I have indentations where my teeth and jaw have to move into for my tmj. Have you received any additional information on what type of treatment will be next? All that I have received is that I will be getting upper braces and they will be erupting my molars.

[Miss Smiley]

OOH LA LAAA!!! Your teeth are moving super fast!

[Lisa65]

Looking good! And great news about being able to ditch the gelb. I bet that's a relief.

[LithpingLitha]

My bottom braces are ON!!!


Spacers weren't so bad this time. I only had to wear one set for a week.



Then the bottom braces went on...again, not a problem. The only issues I've had with them was shredding my floss on the metal. I've resorted to using the Glide floss for the bottoms....much easier. Oh, and I've caught the edge of a lip on the front hooks a few times.





The wire went on easily after the braces were bonded. I'm such a dork that I didn't realize till I got home that they were self-ligating!!! I fully expected the traditional metal braces on bottom and had visions of colored ligs in my head. Despite that, I was pleasantly surprised.

So, I've been in the same upper wire for uh...like 23 weeks? My progress has definitely slowed up top and they're reluctant to cause me more pain by putting on the square wire. My ortho keeps mumbling about "older patients take more time, just leave her in that wire."
Not what I want to hear, but I haven't minded too much over the summer.

Three weeks so far in the bottom braces, five more to go before adjustment time.

[Miss Smiley]

Oooh, how exciting, it's so fun just to watch teeth take on a whole new pattern!!!!! The lowers have probably filled you with excitement once again.

[cwatt1]

Wow Litha, what great pics! It's amazing how much your lower arch looks like mine! I'll be interested to see how things develop as your journey progresses.

[LithpingLitha]

Had another very exciting adjustment!
After a few months of no progress, my uppers got a square wire.
It HURT that first day but I got over it. I'm looking forward to serious movement.

I was pleasantly surprised to get a stronger arch wire on the bottom.
I've seen some wonderful progress on the lowers...so much further to go, but I'm PLEASED!

Here are the before and afters...notice the lovely leveling.





So, my next adjustment is 8 weeks away.
At that time I should get my lower 7's bonded and some repositioning of a few top brackets.

[LithpingLitha]

Thank you KK and Denise.

I am confused. I thought this was my first square wire, but I looked over my log and read that I got one back in May??? I really don't know now.
This one is definitely bigger and feels different, Denise.

I went in yesterday to get a consult for my daughter and asked them to clip a wire on the lower arch. The assistant put in metal stops to keep the wire from shifting. That's a new one for me.

She also tried to scrape away the square wire's midline markings with little success. ahhh, well...

[LithpingLitha]

Yikes! I guess I didn't update back in winter.

Here were my pictures for winter. I thought the upper arch looked good, the bottom needed more rounding out.

[LithpingLitha]

I have to explain that I haven't been on here because I was unhappy with my progress.
* My upper and bottom arches did not meet, I still have a little gap in the biting surface on the left side of my arch.
* One of my front teeth looked crooked
* and my incisors did not even come close to meeting.
I preferred not to think about my progress or my braces for 6 months. Call it Denial, Big Time.

So, at my appt. yesterday, I mentioned my concerns. My ortho. pulled out a disk and zip, zip, zipped my teeth. He reshaped my front tooth a bit. Apparently the root is aligned, but the tooth had worn more on one side. He did IPR on my front top teeth to pull my front teeth back a bit. They appeared flared before and I did not like that, so this is good! I'm in a power chain to close gaps.

I wasn't expecting IPR and so my anxiety level jumped. I had been worried about losing too much enamel. I had no idea it was such a painless, easy procedure. I can't even tell anything was done!

Because of the anxiety, my eyes began to tear up. Then he mentioned that we may have to consider pulling the bicuspids to get the front teeth to perfectly align.
I freaked!

My biggest anxiety about getting braces was that I did not want teeth pulled. He explained that I had a half tooth malocclusion and pulling two teeth on top would deal with that. By then I actually did start to cry.

I'll live with a bit of a gap and slide my lower teeth forward if I have to, but I am not getting removals and prolonging my treatment at this stage. It's just not happening. I have a mental block about it.

All that said, here are my progress photos. I included one of my gap.
I'm actually happy with my progress. Next time I go in he plans to do detail work and talk to me more about "my options".

I'm going to post my current photos now.

Upper arch


Bottom arch


Smile-- sorry about the shine on my gums from saliva.


The Gap


Thanks for looking!

[*melissa*]

This is the first time I've read through your story. I looked at your pics from the beginning and everything...then I went to your most recent and while looking at them I was just in complete shock at how PERFECT your arches are.
OH MY! What a difference...

I want mine to be this perfect soo badly...

I know you see the imperfections, like the gap, but I'd die to have teeth/smile like yours...

my bite & gap between my arches is sooo much worse...you are soo lucky...

[platinum]

LithpingLitha

Your teeth look very nice!!!!

But the gap... I have a gap as well between my lower and upper incissors. I have class II elastics to pull my front teeth backwards.
Have you had elastics? Some people have had headgears, mini screws etc to pull teeth backwards, and no extractions needed.

He explained that I had a half tooth malocclusion and pulling two teeth on top would deal with that.

What is "a half tooth maloccusion"?

[OhNicole]

I have to agree with Melissa, Litha! I just caught up on your story from the beginning and I think your progress has been amazing - I continue to be inspired by all of the wonderful success stories I see here! I hope you aren't getting too down on yourself when you've come so far.

[LithpingLitha]

Thank you, *melissa*. Yes, I have to admit they do look much better than I thought. I hadn't looked at my progress in so long that I lost sight of that.

platinum, I don't know if he will put me in elastics. He has been vague about it. I thought elastics would be a given. Do the elastics really pull the upper arch backwards or do they pull the lower jaw forward? I definitely need to ask about this.

OhNicole, I'm embarrassed that I was negative about it now. I'm really humbled and grateful that I could begin this journey.

Denise, I totally agree. I never considered I would need extractions since he told me there was plenty of room at the beginning. At this point I would live with a gap. My main reason would be that I do not want to change the shape of my upper jaw. I have a prominent nose and do not need anymore attention drawn to it.
But I will ask about elastics. Like I said, I thought elastics were a given. I still have open bite issues on the sides so I would assume I'd need them to correct that? The assistant has asked the last two times I've gone if I should be put in elastics. It sounded like she was hinting that I was ready for them, but my ortho is hesitant for some reason. I'm sure we will discuss his reasons as well as "my options" at my next appt. in 4 weeks.
Our daughter gets her braces on next week! She is excited even though she's dealing with the pain of separators at the moment.