Bring it on!

[nitro]

After talking to a handful of different orthodontists, getting lots of opinions, and getting lots of quotes I finally made a decision and scheduled a records appointment. I had braces as a teenager and was a terrible patient. I didn't wear my retainers like I was supposed to, and my teeth shifted significantly in my early 20's. In my late 20's I decided I was going to do something about it. I got invisalign to straighten my top and bottom teeth and have been very dedicated in my retainer wear ever since. The root of the problem, however, is of my bicuspids is rotated 90 degrees from where it should be. Although I was pretty happy with how straight my teeth are, my rotated bicuspid constantly gets food stuck in it and it drives me nuts. I spoke to my dentist and he suggested that having food constantly stuck between that tooth and the two teeth around it will eventually cause problems. I've got crappy teeth to begin with and they are super prone to cavities, so I figured I should get my tooth rotated and fixed.

I imagine day two of orthodontist school involves finding problems a patient didn't know they had... Different orthodontists found different problems with my teeth but each of them overlapped a bit with the others. I finally decided on an orthodontist I really like that quoted me a price I also really liked. The ortho I chose wasn't the cheapest, but was far from the most expensive. Today was my records appointment. I went in expecting to address the single rotated bicuspid but after x-rays and digital scan my ortho suggested that not only do I have a glaringly rotated bicuspid, but the bicuspid on the other side is slightly rotated as well. In addition to funny bicuspid rotation, the roots of my bottom central incisors are angled funny which causes a strange gap where my teeth meet my gum line. It turns out I'm slightly more hosed than I had planned. I walked in today expecting 6 months of treatment to rotate one bicuspid and walked out looking at 12 months of treatment to rotate both lower bicuspids and sort out my front incisors. I seemed to have forgotten to ask everything I intended to ask about my treatment, but at the moment I have spacers on both sides of each of my 6-year molars on the bottom. I go back next week for full brackets on the bottom with bands on each of my bottom 6-year molars. My top teeth are looking good still and I'm getting a hawley retainer for the top to replace my current essix. I'm not upset and don't think I've been swindled or hoodwinked at all, and I'm still confident in my choice of orthodontist. Here's hoping I can eat solid foods tomorrow

[lilyflower]

Good luck, if you're dealing with bottom only (especially being a braces pro) I think you'll be okay. I'm not entirely surprised experts see things you don't - I didn't realize how bad my bite was (or how deep) until I went into treatment and it started being opened up. 12 months really isn't that long and you'll still be done before me

[nitro]

12 months really isn't that long and you'll still be done before me

Being the braces veteran that I am , I can certainly say I've learned to not quite trust the initial estimate of treatment duration. I managed to break one of my spacers already and have to go back in on Thursday to have it replaced. The up-side of this, is only one side of my mouth hurts

[lilyflower]

12 months really isn't that long and you'll still be done before me

Being the braces veteran that I am , I can certainly say I've learned to not quite trust the initial estimate of treatment duration. I managed to break one of my spacers already and have to go back in on Thursday to have it replaced. The up-side of this, is only one side of my mouth hurts

True, initial timelines are just really guesses. I popped off two attachments in my first 24 hours. How I broke one off yesterday I'm not sure but I guess it might have to do with my bite changing (upside is I can wait until the 21st to have it rebonded)

Never had to deal with spacers - they sound annoying.

[nitro]

Never had to deal with spacers - they sound annoying.

I think the most annoying part of them is my brain refuses to believe they aren't a piece of food stuck in my teeth. I can't tell you how much time I spend trying to remove them with my tongue before remembering they are there.

[lilyflower]

Never had to deal with spacers - they sound annoying.

I think the most annoying part of them is my brain refuses to believe they aren't a piece of food stuck in my teeth. I can't tell you how much time I spend trying to remove them with my tongue before remembering they are there.

My brain refuses to think my attachments aren't food stuck to my teeth 25 days in so I can relate on that one.

[nitro]

I went back in yesterday to have my broken spacer replaced. It didn't take long at all and the tech mentioned about how tight the space still was between my molars. Having the new spacer in didn't hurt too much and my left side (the one with the new spacer) hasn't hurt anywhere near as much as my right side did. The lack of pain led me to be brave and eat some animal crackers today. The animal crackers were a bad choice. Half way through my dozen-or-so animal crackers, I broke the same spacer I broke earlier this week. My ortho isn't open Friday afternoons or weekends, so I'll have to see about going back in Monday. I'm supposed to go in Tuesday for my braces, but I don't think there'll be any space for them to put the band on my left side. Hopefully we can figure something out

[nitro]

I had an awesome thought today. Today is the last day that me teeth will look like they do. They'll never look like this again. I decided to post a few pictures for the start of a progress report.


This is the front


Left side showing my bite


Right side showing my bite


Bottom. You can see my spacers in this one.


Second bottom picture. You can see my wonky bicuspids a bit better in this picture.

[lilyflower]

Your starting pics are way better than my end of week 4 pics.

[buffon85]

'ok i would be the annoying person to ask "why did you get braces? your teeth are fine"
you have a very nice smile to start with

[nitro]

Your starting pics are way better than my end of week 4 pics.

I had a head start .

you have a very nice smile to start with

Thanks! I'm getting braces to fix the rotation in my lower bicuspids. The one on my left side (right side in the picture) is rotated a full 90 degrees. As a result, it gets food stuck in it all the time. I can't really eat anything without having to dig it out of that tooth every time. I suppose it seems like a fickle reason to get braces but it really annoys me. At my last dentist visit it was suggested that my gums in that area aren't doing so hot because of the food always being stuck in there. I'd rather not have any issues, would like to have the tooth face the normal way, and really want to close those gaps on either side of my bite. They might all be little things, but they add up to a big enough combination for me to want to get it fixed. I do, however, completely understand the sentiment and fully expect to have to provide this answer quite a bit

[lilyflower]

Your starting pics are way better than my end of week 4 pics.

I had a head start .

True. I keep forgetting that I'm starting first time from scratch

[nitro]

Well... It went really well today. I ended up with full brackets on the bottom, bands on my 6's, and two buttons with a power chain. I don't have another appointment for 10 weeks so they told me to pick a good color for the ligatures. I of course, went with hot pink to appease my wife


Here's the front side. The brackets sit just below my top teeth. JUST.


Left side to show my wonky bicuspid. The bracket is really far forward for optimal rotation. I'm told this one will be moved each appointment.


Left side. I have a slightly less ownky bicuspid on this side, but it's still wonky. I'm hoping with rotation of my bicuspids the slight open bite closes a bit.


Here you can see my two buttons and power chain on the inside. For the first few minutes it felt really awkward on my tongue but the awkwardness quickly went away and now I don't actually notice it is there.

Everything feels a bit snug. I wouldn't say any of it feels like it's pushing/pulling more than I had anticipated and I don't have any pain yet. I imagine once things get settled in a bit I'll be able to figure out what hurts and what doesn't. If I were a gambling man, I'd bet the bicuspids are going to hate this setup more than any of the other teeth. I find the molar bands to be a bit strange. They have attachment locations on the inside. The last time I had braces (15 years ago), the insides of my molar bands were smooth. I'm told these attachments locations are for elastics and that since I don't need them I just get to have the attachment things come along for the ride.

[buffon85]

Thanks! I'm getting braces to fix the rotation in my lower bicuspids. The one on my left side (right side in the picture) is rotated a full 90 degrees. As a result, it gets food stuck in it all the time. I can't really eat anything without having to dig it out of that tooth every time. I suppose it seems like a fickle reason to get braces but it really annoys me. At my last dentist visit it was suggested that my gums in that area aren't doing so hot because of the food always being stuck in there. I'd rather not have any issues, would like to have the tooth face the normal way, and really want to close those gaps on either side of my bite. They might all be little things, but they add up to a big enough combination for me to want to get it fixed. I do, however, completely understand the sentiment and fully expect to have to provide this answer quite a bit

yes i know how it is to have food stuck all the time, more tartar build up. for me it was (and is ) one of my smallest issues, but it was still an issue!

nice color!! i hope it is your last time with braces!!

[nitro]

nice color!! i hope it is your last time with braces!!

Thanks I also hope it's my last time. I think I've finally learned my lesson