Opinions plz! chrisD invisalign- ceramic- metal- off(Pics)

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#31 Post by **chrisd** » Tue May 09, 2006 4:43 pm

I'm still not sure of a specialty. Not peds, for sure.

i hear that. pediatrics sounds like it would be great, but it just never clicked for me. i just could not get into it. too much screaming maybe. lol. keep plugging along BracedMD, it is a long, but very worthwhile road.

missingu, i am a second year resident in radiology, and despite what everyone thinks, i spend about 50-60% of my time in direct patient contact. you are correct though, most of the patients i see are one or a handfull of times. no long term relationships. but honestly braces are so common today i think most people - patients and colleagues- simply dont care. but i must admit that even after 3 months i am still a bit self concious, which is really stupid i know

chris

#32 Post by **chrisd** » Tue May 09, 2006 4:53 pm

wow i have been very busy lately and have not had a chance to post, so i will add a quick update...

i had my third adjustment yesterday. it went well, i got a new archwire on the bottom (18 gauge square) that now goea ll the way back to the tubes on my rearmost moalrs to match the one i got on top at my llast adjustment.

as for the last adjustment...HOLY COW!!! i was super sore, which was really the only time i had been so sore. today my back molars are a bit sore but not too bad i can still eat, chich i like

we are continuing with the same diagonal elastic pattern right and left, which i have gotten used too, except for the intermitant irritation.

my ortho was really excited by the improvment in my bite. enough to call his partner over to show off. that made me pretty happy to hear. when we see our teeth everyday it gets harder to see the progress even with pictures

he thinks we are maybe a third of the way there already. good news, but i am still going to plan on being in for the full 1.5 years or so.

i am getting bolder with m lig color choices, on the bottom anyways, and went with a bright blue this time. still working up to a yelllow or red

well ill post some new pics soon. keep hanging in there everydody
chris

#33 Post by **chrisd** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 1:17 pm

thanks linda and kiwi. things do seem to be plugging along. so far so good. next appointment is a week from tomorrow wo we will see if things are continuing to go well.
a few recent pics, about 4 weeks after my last adjustment. sorry for the no shave;-)

#34 Post by **samantha_lou** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 7:45 pm

Looking good Chris, you've already got a really nice shape to your arch...everything is going to look so fantastic when you're done!

#35 Post by **chrisd** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 3:02 pm

thanks for the compliment samantha_lou. i just wish i had taken some preinvisalign pictures so i could show where things really started. i am happy with the way things are going though

i have to say i am in absolutally no rush to have my braces off. i just really want everything to be as best as possible, and i have gotten used to the braces to the point where they really dont bother me (other than the 15 minutes to floss;-)

i looked at your pics kiwi. yup the color looks pretty close. i really like this color. i think i may go with a red at my adjustment on monday. we'll see what catches my eye

here is a picture showing my midline alignments pre elastics and after 3 months.

i must say though that my upper and lower incisors have not moved early as much as my upper/ lower back teeth. hence the gaps - bottom left, and top right.
thats all for now, hang in there everyone.
chris

#36 Post by **jennielee81** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 5:03 pm

Good gosh!!!!

I am amazed at how much that upper and lower midline are coming together with the elastics Chris!

Keep up the good work!

#37 Post by **chrisd** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 6:01 pm

well at my last adjustment on june 7th i had lost my rearmost lower molar bracket. they decided to leave it off for now and clipped the wire. i got a powerchain from my upper right lateral incisor to my second to last right molar which in combination with my continued elastic wear has opened up a nice space between my central and lateral right incisor (PICS SOON) pretty sore on that right side for a few days, but not too bad.

i went with red ligs on the bottoms, which i really kind of like

next appointment is in two weeks
chris

#38 Post by **juf_84** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 10:19 pm

Hi Chris,

Glad you are seeing lots of progress! And go the red ligs! (I don't have ligs so I'm slightly jealous)

#39 Post by **chrisd** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 2:09 pm

thanks for the words of encouragment juf and kiwi.

well here are the pics as promised aafter adjustment 4;

missing lower left bracket

right upper chain

#40 Post by **chrisd** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 5:18 pm

well today was an exciting day, i had another bracket come off. it was the lower right rear most molar bracket. the oposite sid eof the las one that came off. not sure what did it, i was only eating a pretty soft sandsich

anyways my orthos office had me come in, they reattached the left (which fell off previously) and right, fit a new lower arch wire (old was bent) and i was on my way.

i have a new system off picking lig colors. i just told the assistant to surprise me. ended up with a blue i had previously though. lol
next appointment july 10th

chris

#41 Post by **chrisd** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 10:34 am

well i have not updated for a while so here goes. things are going well. have seen some real movement in the past month. my bite is looking a lot better though it still feels bad. lol i no longer crash my upper and lower incosors when i close my mouth (big relief) and my deep bite is pretty much fixed (hope the tubos can go soon).

at latest adjustment i got powerchain running from my right upper molar to my left central incisor to close up a big gap that developed on the right (see pics) and to continue the move of everything to the left. continuing with elastics. went with black ligs on bottom, which i really like;-)

the ortho had progress pics taken, which allow me to see the progress a lot better. wish i could take pics like that;-)

comparison of fronts at initial consultation to now 6 months or so (you can see the attachments from the failed invisalign in the before pics)

right side (with big old gap) i marked to show how differently things are lining up

and the left side

all in all a good adjustment, and i think i am really starting to see progress, and things feel better. but i am more sore than i have been since i got the braces on. i dont mind though that means progress right?
chris

#42 Post by **lionfish** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 5:43 pm

Looking great, Chris. Good luck with the powerchains.

#43 Post by **chrisd** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 9:48 pm

thanks for the kind words kiwi, lionfish, and linda.
i think sometimes it is harder to see our own progress, than it is to see others. it is good to hear that others can actually see a difference

i must say linda21 that it IS a nice releif to close my mouth and not have all my incisors grind into each other.

my molars still dont come together as they should but i am sure that will be fixed down the road

interestingly after 4 days the powerchain has not closed the gap at all. it sounds like others have had rapid movement with powerchains? i hope my front teeth are not being stubborn

we'll see, i guess.

next appointment is september 5
chris

#44 Post by **Drewjb007** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 1:31 pm

Hi Chris!

I only have braces on my top teeth. I recently had powerchains put on my front two teeth. I had a HUGE gap there and it closed in 5 hours

! At my last adjustment I got more powerchains on all but my back four teeth. I have gaps all the way to the back of my mouth. I have had the new powerchains on for about 2 weeks now and I haven't seen much progress at all

. But I know that they will start moving eventually. Some teeth just don't want to cooperate like others do I guess. I hope mine and your gaps start closing very quickly so we can get a little bit closer to de-braced day. I hope you have lots of progress very soon!

Good Luck,
Drewjb007

#45 Post by **chrisd** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 5:59 pm

well i have been super busy with work and well with life in general so i have not updated lately so here it is.

at my september appointment (#7) i got a replacemt for that upper power chain, and was told to continue with the elastics to try and align my bite and midline. and amazingly by my oct 4th apppointment things were looking good. my midline is actually on!!!!! and thats after being off by a whole tooth!!!! the ortho was impressed. and that big old gap on the right closed up finally

so for the oct 4th appointment (#8), i got a new though smaller and round upper wire which the ortho put some bends in. the bends were mainly to get my upper centrals back in vertical position. that is like this: II and not like this: //. he alos did some IPR between my upper centrals to allow them to come together. they were kind of pear shaped instead of rectangular.

he also wire tied the centrals together and wire tied in the left lateral incisor trying to get it to come into line its a bit off too. kinda like this: \. it has not really moved yet so i am anticipating a nbracket repositioning down the road

i was told to stop wearing the elastics (yahoo!!!!), but i still have the terrible bite turbos (argh).

my uppers were super sore after this, and i am still a bit sore two weeks later

. next appointmet oct 31

and now onto the pics with orange ligs for halloween

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