Metal Mouth Message Board

KK wrote:and here's hoping that archwire lasts till your next appointment!

Oh well... you won't believe it... One of my back molar brackets came off last night. I called them this morning and they said if it doesn't bother me I can just wait until Wednesday when I will get my expander. My incisor might be bracketed on the same day anyway. This means they will have to remove all of it AGAIN and put it back! My front teeth are extremely sore. I am dreading Wednesday already.

Ok time for some pics!

Here are my 2 months progress pics:


Arch Nov. 2

Arch now




Mouth Nov 2

Mouth now




Smile Nov 2

Smile now (well not really.. I don't actually smile (YET) )



And the famous powerchained gap:

That's how it still looked on the day of my adjustment

This is 8 hours later! Believe it or not!

I think my midline improved a bit as well.

On wednesday I will get a spring (coil?) to open the big gap more and fit the incisor. The incisor might get his own bracket!! Probably they will attach it to the archwire with a rubber band. I cannot wait for it to move!

Sorry about your bad experience! That's a lot to go through. How is your metal powerchain working? I have a different configuration but the other day my molar hurt so I was wondering if it moved (or tried to). Is yours holding ok?

That was a pretty good size gap to close that fast. I'm waiting for a smaller one that is taking longer than usual to close up but I think it's getting there now.

Second adjustment part #2

Today I went the ortho again and got some more mouth equipment.


My double parked lateral is now finally connected to the archwire! At least by a rubber band
The small sized metal bracket it only temporary. As soon as the lateral is outside it will be replaced by a ceramic one. As an addition I got a spring to open up more space. They said it is the most gentle spring.




I got a removable expander on the lowers although they initially said I would not get any expanders This thing is horrible. I cannot speak S and SH at all, sounding like a 80 years old with a denture. At least I can remove the thing to eat! The goal is 3 screw twists a week. As soon as I finish with the expander the lowers will be bracketed.

Right now my uppers don't hurt but the lowers are pretty bad.I really want to remove the expander but I better leave it there. The more I wear it the better it will be.

I got a small box and some retainer brite with the expander. They gave me some plastic stick to pop it out. I have long nails and there is no way I will be able to pop the expander out with them

butterfly,

Your teeth are really moving. I think your "double parked laterals" bracket and spring setup is cute. It will move into place faster than you think.

Your lower expander looks like it would be horrible. I'm so sorry. My expanders suck, but they aren't gigantic and I don't have to twist anything. I hope you get used to it soon. You're lucky you can take yours out when eating though because (especially early on) food gets caught in mine and it's rough picking it out, especially in a public restroom. Did the ortho say how long you'll have your expander?

Keep up the great work!

Jen

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement

I don't really know about how many months, the guess was 4 (but nothing about stabilizing). It stopped hurting now but who knows what will be tomorrow when I turn the screw

The spring is really not so bad so far. It just looks ugly and big.

A small update

I decided to take the expander thing as easy as possible: I will turn half a screw every day and skip one day a week instead of making 3 full turns once a week. I did half a screw this morning and it wasn't that bad! Speaking hasn't improved though. I had to call America so I removed the expander for a short time. My accent is very funny even without the expander

We should hold a "expander speech training meeting" every week on skype

You sure are going through a lot, Butterfly, but your teeth are coming along nicely. Hang in there!

WOW Butterfly!

Looks like you've got a lot of new gear in your mouth to deal with now! Sorry to hear that your lower expander hurts so bad! Hope you get used to it soon!

Congratulations on finally getting your double parked lateral attached to the archwire with a rubber band! It looks quite painful! I've also had to deal with something like that for my impacted canines! It hurt very bad but it did its job!

Good luck with your progress! ANd hope you adjust quickly to your new mouth gadgets and have not quite as much pain!

-Hannah





Top braces: 4/28/04
Bottom braces: 11/16/05
Next Adjustment was 1/11/06 but now is rescheduled to 1/21/06

Small 2 weeks update

My spring is working nicely. I can see progress after only 2 weeks:

I'm getting more and more confident that there will be room for this lateral!

BTW: On the pic you can see how bad a rubber band stains when you have black coffee, red wine, curry and mustard Since it is invisible I don't care and eat whatever I want. I will never get clear ligs after I saw this.

My expander magically disappeared from my mouth after 2 weeks of agony and hate towards this object. I couldn't speak, swallow, sleep. It poked me and my teeth hurt. Now I sometimes don't know if I already took it out for eating or not. I even ate with it a few times by mistake. It is really amazing how the body accepts foreign objects as a part of itself.

I turn half a screw every day and it doesn't hurt at all.

Butterfly!

That is some awesometacular progress you're having! Congratulations!

Great to hear you're adjusting to your lower expander!

Good luck with the rest of your progress!

-Hannah




Top braces: 4/28/04
Bottom braces: 11/16/05
Next Adjustment is 2/1/06 where they will bond a bracket to my cuspid which was impacted!!!!

Thanks KK and hannah164 for your encouragement and nice words! You just rule the journal threads

I just looked through your pictures. Your teeth are looking great. I am so amazed at the things these braces can do. It really is facinating. I hope you continue to have great progress.

That's some awesome progress! My braces go on in three weeks, and due to an impacted canine I have the feeling I'll be dealing with springs too. Glad to see things are going well for you.

oh wow- that's great progress as well! and yes, are teeth are very similar!

does the spring hurt? I wonder if i'll end up with one- haven't seen much moving of that incisor so far, then again it hasn't been that long- I got lucky- the wire just fit on the incisor when they put the wire through- it took her 30 minutes to get it in, but sure enough [believe me I was getting nervous at this point] the little sucker got in

it's great to see someone with the same problem as me- and seeing your progress makes me excited!

...now lets get these incisors moving!