Grampa in Braces - LARRYBOY56's Journey

[LARRYBOY56]

Appointment today resulted in 7 of the metal separators . Not terribly painful on the teeth yet, but the headache has been a killer and the inside lip is takind a beating with the ends of the separators sticking out (much like the brackets will later). Also interesting trying to eat anything. Tech told me if I can survive these, the braces are a piece of cake!

Braces day set for next week, July 14th. If I can figure out the pics postings, will try to get a "before" and "after" braces on posted next week. I was once again encouraged at the ortho office to see a new patient that appeared to be close to 70. Senior Citizens Unite !

[LARRYBOY56]

So, if I figured out the pics right, here is the photo of the bite that will be corrected by braces. It's not a great photo, but notice there is only one tooth in front that meets and the warped arch, top & bottom (mostly bottom) has to be corrected. We will be trying to create more of an open bite so that restorations after braces will finish the smile:



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[LARRYBOY56]

These spacers have been no fun at all ! The headache is better, but the tails on these things are making hamburger of my cheeks!

The pics show all of the crowns that I am embarassed have to be banded, but show the spacers.

Only 7 more days til they come out and braces go on!


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[catgyrl]

Hey Larryboy!

This may sound strange, but you have really nice crowns! Are they gold? I think they look tons better than a mouthful of silver fillings, like I have. Your bottom arch looks really good, too. I'm jealous... haha

I wonder why they had to use the metal spacers on you, instead of the rubber ones?

Well, here's to the time going by quickly so you can get those things out and get the ball rolling!

-Cathy

[LARRYBOY56]

Cathy,

They are gold crowns, hence the spacers. Ortho has to band ALL of those gold crowns, cuz the brackets won't glue to the gold.

They were going to do the rubber spacers, but since I am going out of town for the week-end and won't be getting back until brace day, they didn't want to risk any of them popping out or getting broken/chewed through, so they brought out the heavy duty hardware to insure that wouldn't happen since I wouldn't be able to pop in to the ortho office if I had a problem.

So, I guess I did it to myself by deciding to take off for the week-end and be distracted while I suffer through the spacers. 1st day was not good, but not too bad today (3rd day).... just the hamburger cheeks and pokies on the tongue. Oh well. Only 6 more days til brace day and they will come out and rest will go in.

Larry

[catgyrl]

Ah, I got it now. It makes much more sense to use the metal spacers for you. As you know from my experience, it's a royal PITA to chew through and/or lose spacers and have to get them replaced.

Good luck to you next week, and I can't wait to see your braces!

-Cathy

[Theresa48]

Whoa! I just got my spacers in after my vacation in Florida ( I was very nervous about something going wrong...but nothing happened! )

My spacers were rubber, and I was freaked out by some posts about them being painfull...but I got nothin' in the way of pain. I used huge amounts of wax on them to help because they were making my tongue turn into raw tongue.,.gross, sorry...


Tomorrow I get the bands on and other stuff, but am excited because it will all be progress. So far, spacers have been the worse part, but still OK.

[Theresa48]

Oh...forgot to compliment you on your bling bling in the mouth...love the gold crowns!

[LARRYBOY56]

Oops.... must have hit the enter key before I finished.......

Appointment went almost as planned. Install of full Damon's, upper and lower with clear Damon's on "social 6". Had bite turbos installed. They were unable to install all six bands, so installed only 3 and put springs on the wire to create space for the additional three bands at the next appointment. I am having trouble with the bite turbos. I literally cannot chew anything and was told that they would be on there for "quite a while" ....nothing definite. Today's meals consisted of scambled eggs, mashed potatoes and milkshakes. I will have to check out the "soft food" ideas from others on this post.

Overall, not as bad as I thought it would be. 10 hours in and pain is still very minimal. The sores are beginning to develop, but I shall start the salt water rinses and try to ward them off. The metal spacers with the pokies in the cheeks and tongue were worse, but they were for only a week !

Looking forward to smooth sailing with the entire process! Thanks to all of you that have shared your experiences and encouragement. I honestly believe it has made the whole process easier.

Not a great pic, but here they are:

[catgyrl]

Larry-

Congrats to you!! And they really look GREAT! Check you out, with your snazzy clear uppers. Our bottom teeth look almost identical, down to the brackets and the shape of the teeth.

Don't be discouraged by the sores that are developing. Keep up the salt water rinses and wax, and your mouth WILL toughen up. I still get random sores occasionally because my bite changes seemingly day-to-day.

I'm sorry you have to put up with the bite turbos. The more I hear about them, the more I appreciate that my buck teeth will most likely never touch my bottom brackets. haha Your diet sounds good, to me! In fact, I just checked my mashed potatoes box this morning to make sure it required milk so I can go shopping tonite. (I rarely eat them, so I don't remember...) Adjustment tomorrow...

-Cathy

[mikesmile]

Hey Larry

CONGRATS to you for joining the club! Your braces look very cool and I hope you are adjusting smoothly.

I look forward to following your continuing story...

Mike



Second Time In Braces - Estimate 12-14 Months

[Jethro]

Hey LB56,

Another boomer here...just wanted to say congrats on getting your new grill and hope you're your doing OK. I remember well those 1st few days and it sounds like you're on the right track with the salt water rinses. The wax does wonders on those sore spots, and drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.

HERE'S TO SMOOTH SAILING!!

[LARRYBOY56]

1st Adjustment since Brace Day:
Orthodontist was scheduled to install the 3 remaining bands. They could only get one of the three in, so they installed heavier duty (more “active”) springs to get more separation for the remaining two at next appointment.

They also installed 4 more hooks (clamped on) and a .018 wire on top and bottom. They set me up with “box” elastics (they hook around four teeth on each side). These are supposed to accelerate getting a few of the back teeth meeting so that we can get the “bite turbos” out as soon as possible. I don’t know what that looks like, but my next appointment is in 8 weeks. I was just getting used to all the extra in the mouth, but with the new wire and “active” springs, my teeth hurt just to touch them.

May be my imagination, but it does seem like there is movement going on after only 4 weeks.

Here is my one month pics after 1st adjustment:



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[LARRYBOY56]

2nd Adjustment appointment since Brace Day:
Today, orthodontist installed the 2 remaining bands and took out the springs. I am only hitting on one tooth, so there was no hope of getting bite turbos out yet. Since we had to make a gap for the 2 remaining bands, the same size wire (.018) went back on and the elastics are the same “box” configuration for the next 8 weeks. I think we lost a little ground this time since we are just now getting the final bands installed. No work done on upper. There has been a lot of movement, but I think most of it was to make room for the last two bands. Ortho threatened to do some fancy tricks with the wires at next appointment by installing “reverse-twist” steel wires with a transectional wire or something like that (anyone heard of such a thing?). Tech promised torture next time. Hmmmm….. doesn’t sound like fun. Next appointment is in 8 weeks (Dec 2).



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[vjwilmoth]

Larry, I wanted to commend you for going for it! I know you'll be so happy you did.

I can sympathize with you on the bite turbos. I have them behind my two front upper teeth and on my back molars on bottom due to a deep bite. They have pretty much been miserable but I've learned to chew very, very slowly and that some things will just have to wait until I'm de-braced!

I'm not familiar with the type of torture you'll be enduring soon but I know there are many things they can do to you. lol How long is your treatment supposed to be? I'm at the end of my journey and I can't WAIT to see my new smile!

Vanessa