I have been so busy these last two months that I almost forgot about this forum!! But I'm back and I have one big...long....update!!
The 5th adjustment:
This one was waaaay back in the beginning on November. It was a complete nightmare because my car broke down on the way which made me miss the appiontment and have to wait in the cold, rainy weather for 2 hours to be picked up, and then fork out £100 to get the car fixed!! argh.
Anyway luckily my ortho could still fit me in at the end of the day so I managed to drag my dad all the way home from work so he could take me there in his work lorry!!
The appointment itself went well. It was IPR time!! Yey
The IPR itself didn't hurt, just felt strange, kind of like pressing an electric toothbrush really hard onto my teeth. I got powerchains on either side of my front teeth to start pulling the teeth in and closing the newly created gaps. I ended up with approx 5mm of new space created from the IPR. It felt weird to see gaps in my mouth after my teeth had been so crowded previously. I was also very consious of the powerchains being there, they are really un-noticeable because they're white but they felt weird. My ortho also changed the wire on the upper teeth back to a circular one rather than the rectanguar wire that I had before. This new wire looks tiny compared to the old one and u can hardly see it
There was a bit of pain over the next few days from the powerchains but nothing compared to spacers, or when I first got elastics. I'm still wearing elastics for about 12 hours a day, two on the right side of my mouth and one on the left (the right side is stubborn and doesn't want to move as quickly as the left!!)
The 6th Adjustment @ 3.12.07:
This time my car didn't break down - yey!!
It was a very simple adjustment, the powerchains and ligs were changed and another powerchain has been added to go across the front teeth.
Both the ortho and assistant commented on how much my teeth have moved which is exciting because I have also noticed that they seem to have moved inwards a bit. This is the bit of the treatment I have most been looking forward to (no more sticking out teeth!!)
I'm feeling really good about my treatment at the minute. My overjet is now only 3mm, you can really see a difference when looking at my profile. I have a wider arch and much straighter teeth. I still have one gap that hasn't closed yet and my bite still needs working on, the right side is still being stubborn and itsn't moving as fast as it should!! I'm wearing the elastics as much as possible to help it along!!
Heres some progress pics:
Arch Before
Arch Now
Teeth now - notice the white powerchain across the front
You can see the right side still needs working on!! I think it's improved a bit, the pic below is old was taken after the 4th ajustment:
Overjet - Look how close they are!!
Theres the gap!! and powerchains
Well it has been 9 months into the treatment...woohoo. Expected 'go naked' time - May 2008!!
HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!