Betsy's getting braces

[smorse]

Wow! Good to hear you're getting them off so soon! You must be so excited, they look so great!

[smilingoutloud22]

Congrats on your progress!!!

[Kipepeo]

Congrats! You're so lucky. I'm still looking at another 5 months or so.

[BetsyBug]

I'm sorry I have been neglecting you all, I have been crazy busy with school, work and kids. It is nice to have a date set to get my braces off but I'm having an issue with what I see in my mouth. My lower teeth are uneven. The lower arch is lop sided to the right, and my teeth starting from my right lateral incisor around to the side are lower on one side then the other. I don't know if one side extruded more than the other or what, but I am not happy with it and if it doesn't get fixed my braces are staying put until it does.
I haven't had a chance to take a picture so you can see what I'm talking about so I will look at some of my other pictures show it, its been this way for a while.

I did talk to the dentist about the bonding on my upper laterals, and they are ready to get a phone call when I get my braces off and bring me in that day to do the bonding so I can go back to the ortho and get molds taken for my retainers.

I promise i will post a picture of some sort and I would like some feedback to see if you all would be upset if your teeth were this way. They look really good when I have my mouth shut and you see my smile, but you can see in some places my bite is a little bit more open where the teeth are lower on the right side.

[BetsyBug]

teeth.jpg

sorry about the crappy pic I took it with my cell phone, but I think you can see what I'm talking about. In the picture on the left (my right in person) the teeth slope downward instead of having a level plane on the lowers. Its really bothering me, would it bother you?

[Kipepeo]

It does bother me...I have something very similar. However...as long as my bite gets straightened out I won't worry about that plane. But because my right side hits first, I'm hoping we bring UP the left side on the bottom to level it out. Mine won't end up perfect, but it's really my bite I'm most concerned about.

[Kipepeo]

Actually Betsy, i came home and inspected that plane and it doesn't look as bad as it used to. I wore box elastics on the lower side to close that gap. They worked, but I didn't think I was done. At my last visit he told me to stop wearing box and just do class 2. Who knows, I could start back up with box in the future.

[BetsyBug]

I had to go in yesterday because I broke a bracket off and had to go get it reattached. They didn't want to wait until next week since we are so close to being done. So I went in and they reattached it, also I complained about the teeth on the right that are lower. The ortho looked at them and said the problem is my lateral incisor and my canine. He said there really isn't alot of extruding that will be necessary because I have so much wear on my lowers from my deep bite that they will have to do alot of shaping and grinding to them to make sure I have a healthy amount of enamel to keep them from chiping that will level out everthing but they did put a bend in the wire to extrude both teeth. So he shoved my lower wire back in (you should see that thing there is a bend in the wire for every tooth) and popped the new bracket off again, so rebonded, popped it off again and rebonded one more time (its holding in there now but they had to unbend the wire a little bit so that they wouldn't break the bond again) so now I go back in three weeks to check for debonding and then if everything is good then braces will be coming off shortly after that.

Kip~ so glad your lowers are straightening up and your elastics are working. I actually was expecting elastics to extrude my lowers but I guess if a bend in the wire works then that is great too, especially since I don't have to deal with the elastics.

[Noni]

Hey Elezabith , happy to hear about your progress , I think we wil have our braces off together at the same time .

Your bracket can't just wait loool .

Hope things will be all good in your next appointment .

[BetsyBug]

Wow I just found myself at the bottom of page 2. Sorry I have been away for so long.. I have to keep this post short and sweet, I am having a flareup of carpal tunnel syndrome paired with tendonitis. I'm not really supposed to be on the computer at all
I have had a few visits since my last post. I still have my braces. They keep dragging me along and telling me debrace date will be soon. (yeah right lol) I had an appointment today and the ortho just wasn't happy with how my bottoms looked so he popped off all the brackets on my lower anteriors and repositioned them. He also put in a bigger wire (some form of niti) in there. OH my the pain.....
Last adjustment they also decided that I didn't need the gaps infront of my canines anymore so I have sported a powerchain on my uppers going on two months now. They keep telling me I'm close but they aren't going anywhere anytime soon. I will try to take a picture but I don't know if i can with this splint on my arm so it may be a week or so before I post one.

In other news. My classes are kicking my hiney this semester. I am taking advanced genetics, and well lets just say its taking me more time then I though to study. All my free time has been spent in that book, so If i'm not here often blame it on genetics.

[Kipepeo]

I can't wait to see your new pics. I also can't believe you're still braced.

The plane of my bite still slopes down on the left, but the uppers and lowers are matched. I think I have a more gummy smile on the left if I smile/laugh really big. But at this point, I think it's just the way it's going to be. My ortho never repositioned brackets, and to be honest, if he did it this late in SPAM SPAM SPAMMING I'd be quite shocked. But I guess it's possible. I wouldn't be very happy about it, as I know it means more time.

Good luck to you, and I hope your carpal tunnel settles down.

[smilehope]

Hi Betsybug, I hope you're levelling out now. We were braced at the same time, but I've still got a way to go yet!

[BetsyBug]

Hi Smilehope!! Yes I am feeling better. My teeth have changed quite a bit in the last week and a half. When my lowers started standing straight instead of slightly tilted I have small gaps between several teeth. The open part of my bite on the right anterior area is showing up more now since everything is getting so straight. I suspect I may have and elastic for that side in the near future. Other than that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I go back in about two and a half weeks. My prediction will be a power chain on my lowers to close the gaps and possibly elastic on the right. I'll let you all know

[GillyWeed]

Exciting! You're so close to being done! Update pics soon please!

[BetsyBug]

I have been terrible about updating my story here...... last we talked I had gotten a new lower nitinol archwire on my lowers and had several brackets replaced. Well yesterday that awesome new archwire decided it was going to eat the back of my cheek, there is now an awful blood blister and a gaping hole back there, so I went to the office to get this fixed, a snip and a grinder later, the pokey wire was gone. But as you all know you can't just go to the ortho for a wire snip, if they can do something more they will. So now I find myself back in elastics. Anterior verticals from upper canine to lower canine (just like I had before) and a class III elastic on the right. It goes from my upper molar hook to my lower canine so that the two elastics make a V of sorts. This is to close my bite a little and align The teeth on the right side of my mouth in a proper occlusion. As you can imagine my mouth is pretty sore. No chewing for me. but he told me to come back in two weeks from now he told me I wouldn't be getting my braces off then, but we are close. Good news. However, I'll believe it when I see it. haha.