Results! :D

[Kettu]

I'm glad to notice how my upper row of teeth is starting to look quite straight already...! So glad, that I want to share the good news with you too.
Here's where it all started in January 2005:



And here's the present situation in August 2005:



Well, there's yet a lot to do on my lower teeth, but the results encourage me to cope with the inconvenience yet for some months.

[nahky]

awesome

Your arch is nicely shaping out. Those two front teeth are looking great now. I bet you're smiling heaps now

Good progress, congrats, it can only get better

[joplin]

Looking GOOD, Kettu!

[girlash]

wow!

[Kettu]

I got my upper braces away on 25th of November. Hooray!
In the beginning, it was like this (see also the first posting):

And now my smile is like this:
.
I have a fixed retainer (which really is no trouble at all, I'm completely used to it already), and it looks like this: .
Ok, even now my teeth are far from Hollywood veneers, but I'm satisfied and happy. And it's not all over yet: next time my ortho will yet shape the teeth a bit (wear and tear in the crooked position has made the two front teeth a a bit asymmetrical). And of course I'm now starting a whitening treatment. (I had a terrible itch to photoedit the yellowness away a bit aready now, but that would be cheating...)
Lower braces will yet stay for some months, but at least the most visible part is naked now.

[Svensk Tiger]

They look great! So pleased for you that you're nearly finished

[weird_wired]

Question: does the fixed upper retainer affect your speech at all (even just a tiny bit?)

Because I am considering getting one when my treatment is over, but the idea of lisping bothers me a little.

Also how is it like for eating/getting food caught?

[joplin]

Very cool, Kettu! Did your ortho explain you why s/he decided to use a fixed retainer instead of a removable one in your case? Are you supposed to wear it indefinately or will it be removed at some later point?

[Kettu]

Question: does the fixed upper retainer affect your speech at all (even just a tiny bit?)
Also how is it like for eating/getting food caught?

The retainer doesn't affect my speech even a bit. And I'm completely used to it already, I really don't remember it's there anymore.
And no problem with eating. Ortho didn't give any restrictions either. As soon as lower braces are away, biting carrots etc. is fully allowed. And no food gets caught. Of course cleaning the interdental spaces needs some patience, but with a small interdental brush/Superfloss it goes quite ok too.

[Kettu]

Did your ortho explain you why s/he decided to use a fixed retainer instead of a removable one in your case? Are you supposed to wear it indefinately or will it be removed at some later point?

According to the ortho, this is more of a cultural than orthodontical issue. She said that for example in America removable retainers are preferred over fixed ones whereas here in Finland the fixed ones. Her personal opinion (as a person who also wears a fixed retainer and as a professional) is, that fixed retainer is a better solution for an adult to make it sure that the teeth really stay in their new positions. She was saying that removable retainers most likely are not rigid enough to retain my present bite. And after paying 2500 euros, I certainly want the teeth to now stay where they are!
And I wouldn't have wanted removable ones in any case after seeing in photos what they look like and that I'd have to wear them almost 24/7. They're much bigger than this tiny wire and surely can be felt more.
This present setting will stay indefinitely, and it bothers me really only when flossing.

[caryca]

WOW Kettu, it was a fast treatment!! you must be really happy with the results!
I wonder why they do nto use fix retainers more offten?
I really had a lot of movement in just a short time. Do you also had to have elastics? or your bite was quite ok?

[joplin]

She said that for example in America removable retainers are preferred over fixed ones whereas here in Finland the fixed ones.

My ortho said I'm going to have a fixed lower retainer and a removable upper retainer when I'm done with braces (some time next year or even the year after that, sigh...). I'm in Finland too, so I guess it varies by the ortho whether you end up with a fixed retainer or a removable one. Personally I wouldn't mind a fixed one, having a really bad gag reflex: the idea of a plastic piece up against my palate 24/7 is not too tempting

Congratulations on getting semi-naked and good luck with the rest of your treatment!

[fyrelight]

Looks great!

Only problem I've heard of with fixed retainers is FLOSSING is a job -- still have to use floss threaders to get underneath that wire, etc. That, and if they break, they're hanging loose in your mouth.

[Kettu]

Do you also had to have elastics? or your bite was quite ok?

No elastics for me, but instead a wicked spring to make some space:
(The spring was a great nuisance against the lips. Uff...)

Bite was quite ok to start with, there was just the crowding, so I got pretty fastly away with it.

[Kettu]

Here's yet a pair of photos on the progress of my lower jaw.
This is how it used to look like:

And here is the present stage:

The ortho said she'll probably yet thin the teeth a bit to make space. In any case, gives already some hint of the future.
I'll yet have suuch a nice smile!