Garrettnb's Journey: Finished June 2nd... Or so i thought :(

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#1 Post by **garrettnb** » Sun May 21, 2006 6:11 pm

Hello all, just found this place and realized that some people are interested in other orthodontic treatment. My ortho told me that an upper hawley would do jsut as much good as upper braces, and since my lower teeth wern't that bad i figured it was best. The biggest thing made my decision is that a retaine was gonna be $3700 cheaper. My treatment has just started and this is what my teeth looked like 14 days ago.

So, my main concern was the gap. But i was equally concerned about the teeth to the left and right of the front teeth because they were so much smaller. But my ortho informed me that those teeth are smaller in 75 % of males. Whatever, close is better than nothing. So after 2 weeks of wearing the hawley this is what my teeth look like now.

So that is where i am at now. I am amazed of how much the gap has closed. Also i am not sure if you can tell from the pictures but the 2 teeth beside the front teeth are both sitting further back than all the other teeth. I have left you all a picture of my hawley. It is quite different than most other hawleys that i have ever seen.

So I will keep this updated hopefully once a week. Yeah i took the retainer picture as it was sitting on my laptop as I typed this. Not advertising for microsoft or anything.

Any questions or comments are welcomed. Also has anyone else had this kind of treatment?

Also a question. Everytime i put in my retainer the two wires at the frnot which are to close my gap rub against the outside corners of my teeth, Should i be worried about the wear caused by them?

#2 Post by **Flora2006** » Sun May 21, 2006 9:21 pm

Your gap has made some great progress over these 2 weeks.

How long will you be in the retainer?

#3 Post by **garrettnb** » Sun May 21, 2006 9:39 pm

i really don't know how long it will take, my ortho said it could take anywhere form 6 months to 18 months and then actual retention, not just wearing a retainer.

#4 Post by **bbsadmin** » Sun May 21, 2006 10:44 pm

I know that retainers of various types are used for minor tooth movement. So it's possible that this Hawley retainer could do the trick. It's worth trying. You can always get braces later.

#5 Post by **garrettnb** » Mon May 22, 2006 10:27 am

nice to see that people are actually interested in this. Oh and KK the colour turned out way different in the pic. its actualy much more transparent than it shows. But thanks anyways

#6 Post by **smile** » Mon May 22, 2006 12:14 pm

I had retainers as a kid instead of braces to widen my upper arch. I wasn't TOO consistent with them so I didn't benefit as much as I could have. So now I'm in braces. =P

G'luck w/ them. =)

#7 Post by **smilezofmetal2** » Wed May 24, 2006 10:25 am

Wow we have the same size gap and with braces mine took about 3-4months to close...this is amazing...Congratulations on your progress...darn I could have saved 1000's of dollars.

#8 Post by **garrettnb** » Thu May 25, 2006 6:47 pm

well i said i would reply every weeks or so. So i went to the ortho yesterday and he adjusted my retainer so the gap will close some more and it hurt like heck. Whatever, she says my teeth move very fast. Thats a very good thing she says in the next few days my gap will be closed. YIPEE But they still need to move everything else. I will post some new pictures when the gap is mostly or fully closed

#9 Post by **drazda** » Thu May 25, 2006 10:54 pm

I had no idea that a retainer could cause that much movement. Amazing!

#10 Post by **garrettnb** » Sat May 27, 2006 5:06 pm

well i promised an updated picture so here it is. Its a little out of focus but its hard to take pictures of your own teeth.

#11 Post by **garrettnb** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 4:17 pm

As of today June 1st the gap is now officially closed. It feels so weird and I can't stop looking in the mirror. Heres a picture. I got for another adjustment on the 30 of june.

Also i know it looks like a have an underbite in the picture, i don't its just how the picture looks.

#12 Post by **Rdavido** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 5:29 pm

That is incredible progress! Good luck with the rest of your journey!

#13 Post by **garrettnb** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 8:13 pm

you can't tell in the picture but the teeth to the left and right of the front teeth are further back then all the others and they are going to be pushed forward. and the tooth highlighted in the picture is going to be pulled downward. Look at the drawing for how this will happen.

so the blue thing is supposed to represent tooth colour material, basically an edge for the wire to rest on. Then i guess my orhto will just bend the wire so it puts downward pressure on the ledge.

#14 Post by **garrettnb** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 6:50 pm

so today i became concerned with one of the wires that were to close the gap because it had been rubbing on my teeth everytime i popped the retainer in or out and its a good thing i asked because he says he never thought about it and put a small layer of material on my tooth were the rubbing occurs so there is no chance of my tooth wearing down now. I also asked if my assumptions about my last post were correct and they were. Just if you wanted to know

#15 Post by **garrettnb** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 7:55 pm

So, its been about a month since i left a reply and today, i got the "Ledge" thing on my tooth i talked about. My ortho didn't even take the retainer out of my mouth, she just asked a few questions then put on the material. Its actually quite difficult to see but if you look closely you can tell that its too white. It felt quite weird at first but i can't even notice it while wearing the hawley. But when I don't have the retainer in my mouth

thats a different story, the top edge is quite angleish and almost makes me think that its what a bracket would feel like. Also, I keep forgetting that its there and keep trying to whipe plaque or something off the tooth. I will upload a picture in a few minutes when i figure out the macro on my new camera