Thumbsucker Tries Again

[catgyrl]

SonyaM-

I actually had to ask my orthodontist (and his staff) if I was driving them insane with all my questions. They all said "No, not at all. Call us anytime you need to." I had to reiterate to my doc that I only ask out of crazy curiosity, and that I totally trust in what he's doing. We shouldn't be afraid/ashamed of asking any questions. I do believe, though, that adults are a bit more difficult to work with than teenagers and pre-teens because they pretty much don't care what's done to their teeth... AND they're not paying for it, either. They don't have the "control issues" that adults (or, maybe just ME) do.

I can't believe I'm 5 months in, and I still constantly examine my teeth. I will be glad when they're off.

-Cathy

[khublei]

Thanks everyone! I don't know what I'd do without this place for the reassurance.

Well today is D-Day. 1st post-brace check up. I didn't feel the squeeze after they were put on, so I'm guess she gave me some time to settle into them, and now it's time to get the teeth in check.

I completely agree that adults can be more awkward to deal with. I see it in my night classes as well. When I was learning languages as a teenager we were happy with whatever amount we learned but the adults in my current class seem to be driving my teacher mental!

Happy Wednesday everyone. Think I'll take some new teeth photos tonight.

[khublei]

Call me crazy but after 3 weeks I'm seeing movement!

I only notice it in the brace line but I presume that means my teeth are on the move also.

First to remind you of what they were like. Notice the curve on the brace.





And now me, 22 days in!







I'm going back to Ireland tomorrow, so for the first time my friend and family are going to see them but I'm so happy with this possible movement that I don't care! I'll be showing my metal to everyone.

I'm moving closer and closer to my goal; Having a smile as good as this one ->

[khublei]

Oh no, my photos seem to have died. I'll have to try that again....

[nightowl]

Hellooo there

I feel like i'm crazy too for thinking that i've already had a little bit of movement but i'm positive one of my bottom teeth is getting into the right place

looking forward to seeing the pictures soon!

[Clare]

You know yourself if you see movement, I saw movement after a week! I was delighted! But my teeth appear to be on a go slow at the minute.

If you are coming home to Ireland, bring your brolly, the weather is crap

[khublei]

Ok! I'm going to try this again. It's a real shame we can't edit our posts here. I would like to fix the photo links in some older posts of mine.

Anywho - this is how my teeth looked on the 8th of September when I got braced. Notice the big gaps and the brace slanting upwards:



And three weeks on:


They look better to me! Now I'm 5 weeks in so I'll take new photos. One of my brackets has actually come off (I can twirl it around and move it side to side) so I'm going to have to get that fixed today hopefully.

I'm getting excited!

[khublei]

One of my ligs came off!! It just twirled around on it's brace. Heading in tonight to get it re-affixed. This was unexpected!

[khublei]

Lig went back on. I'm amazed. After one of the little metal fellas fell off my front tooth on the bottom (second from right of centre) was a bit behind the others. Just two days back in braces and he's back in line with his colleagues.

This has also made me very aware of how easily the teeth could move in the wrong direction after this brace experience, so definitely need to look into retainer options.

So now I am two days off 7 weeks in. I have noticed a big difference lately, and I want to share some photos. First, the difference in my overjet in the last 10 days.

Please excuse my new way of hiding my identity. The camera on my laptop is so bad that if I cut out my face it zooms in on my teeth and they look very out of focus. So this way is better.




And then just ten days later!!



My bottom jaw is becoming more circular. I must find a photo of this before. It was very square.


And my top jaw is becoming less of a severe curve at the front.



But still from the side they're quite bad. You would not think that my teeth are closed here:



Good luck to everyone else on the same journey!

[khublei]

I've made some progress again! Finally my teeth fit into each other properly. So you probably can tell that my teeth are (meant to be) closed now. Next time I'm alone in the office I'll take some photos!

[rhomboid]

Re: pictures are easily edited size, crop etc with Microsoft Picture Manager. Right click on the picture and the edit feature will appear and you can then experiment. I am reluctant to give unsolicited advice and am far from expert, but thought that might help.

[nightowl]

Hello there

Just dropped by to say that from your pictures i can tell that you're making great progress! You can really see the changing shapes of both your archs
I'm jealous indeed!! haha

Alsoo wanted to say sweet jumper in the picture of your bottom arch, it's soo pretty haha

[khublei]

Re: pictures are easily edited size, crop etc with Microsoft Picture Manager. Right click on the picture and the edit feature will appear and you can then experiment. I am reluctant to give unsolicited advice and am far from expert, but thought that might help.

Thanks. I did that for my first few photos, but the most recent ones there were taken with the camera that is inbuilt in my laptop, and so to crop them it made them larger in size and fuzzy. So the silly pink thing was actually the best solution!

[khublei]

Hello there

Just dropped by to say that from your pictures i can tell that you're making great progress! You can really see the changing shapes of both your archs
I'm jealous indeed!! haha

Alsoo wanted to say sweet jumper in the picture of your bottom arch, it's soo pretty haha

Thank you very much!! That was my Christmas jumper for 2010! I'm glad you can see progress, I've been questioning whether I have been lately, but I think I can't constantly expect big changes, some times it goes through slow stages.

I haven't been on here in a while, I think it's about time I went and took some new photos!

[nachoesq86]

Very nice progress hope you continue to post pics with every adjustment because 1 picture explains more than a thousand words.

Thanks