Jillianleab is NAKED!!! Pics included!

[Jillianleab]

Holy cow, it's been six months!!! I can't believe how fast the time really has gone; I remember thinking the first week was never going to end, and now, before I can blink, it's been six months! Hang in there people, it will fly by!

My next adjustment is December 11, but I wanted to post my monthly progress pics. I don't see a lot of differences from last month to this month (minor things, but nothing huge), so I've decided to post comparison pics from my first month to now. I really can't believe the progress I've made; looking at the pics is very inspiring!

The left is after one month in braces, and the right is today, at six months. Sorry for the blurryness... I'm in a bit of a rush today and did these really quickly. You get the point though...

[hannah164]

Happy 6 month anniversary! That's some amazing progress! Congratulations! You must be ecstatic!

~hAnnah




Top braces: 4/28/04
Bottom braces: 11/16/05
Braces OFF! November 1, 2006
Retainers (Upper Essix and Lower HAwley) : November 8, 2006

[M1k3y]

Wish my teeth looked that good after 6 months. Congrats.

[Eleni]

Six month progress pictures are the best - and yours prove that! Congrats on the movement and reaching a milestone.

[alexa]

Happy Six Months!

[tulip]

Your teeth are looking amazing. Congrats on getting to a major milestone in the process.

[Meghan's braces Part Deux]

You've had a lot of movement in your first 1/2 year - you should be very happy! Congratulations!

[Jillianleab]

Thanks for all the congrats, everyone; you're making me blush!!!

I really can't believe the time has passed so quickly, and since my ortho revised my treatment time to possibly less than 18 months, I really feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I keep thinking, wow, next Fall I could be able to take a big honkin' bite out of a caramel apple! That makes me soooooooo excited! I don't want to get my hopes up or anything, but hitting this milestone has been a huge encouragement, much more than I expected!

I'll update after my adjustment on the 11th, hopefully I'll have more good news, like no more elastics or something!

[Jillianleab]

Glad my pictures have given you some hope, Denise! And hey, my birthday is in May too.... what date? I'm the 6th!

[Jillianleab]

Actually, I'm a Taurus, but we certainly will have to celebrate the month of May!

Party time indeed!

[antsika]

Jillianleab, congrats for your 6 months! Your teeth look great, it is excellent progress in such a short time!
At the end of this year I will also have my 6 months anniversary
Time goes by so quickly it is unbelievable!

[Jillianleab]

Well I just got back from my 4th adjustment.... it went really well!

I left my house in plenty of time to get to my appointment, but lo and behold, I hit EVERY traffic light on my way there and was about five minutes late! Once I got there my ortho came and looked at my teeth and again praised at how nicely I'm progressing. He told the asst to put another powerchain on the bottom and change my elastic configuration to Class II, right side only. Hooray! No more spittle-look from the triangles!!! Now I have only one elastic that goes from my last bottom molar up to my upper canine, which cannot be seen when I talk. Woo hoo! The new configuration also comes with a new size elastic, these are called "Indonesia" and are a little larger than the ones from before. It feels sort of strange not having the old configuration since I got so used to it, but when I was having lunch today I was actually able to chew normally! Yay! I chickened out and went with a gray powerchain... maybe next time I'll go for a color. Maybe. Then I have to worry about staining, so maybe not, lol. My ortho said to make my next appointment for 8 weeks from now, and at that point we will start working on more expansion of my arches, so that will mean new wires on the top and bottom. I thought I already had enough expansion, but what the heck do I know???

I'll be posting progress pics in about a week; on the 19th I hit the seven month mark. I can't believe it's been that long already!

[Jillianleab]

KK I actually thought about you and purple when the asst asked if I wanted a color for my powerchain! The one I have is really dark gray, it matches the brackets almost perfectly so you can't see it at all unless you are looking for it, so staining isn't a problem. Maybe purple for next time.... of course, hopefully next time this darn gap will close and I won't have to have another powerchain!!!!

bracedagain My mouth does feel a bit empty now that I'm down to one elastic, actually. For the first two days I kept "looking" for them with my tongue and for a split second I'd freak out that they wern't there!

Denise I never developed a gap on top, only on the bottom where I have twisty teeth. I've noticed there is less of a contact point between my top four teeth (the floss is easier to go in/out), but so far no gap. I really hope I don't end up with one, and I hope yours doesn't get bigger!

Meryaten The Class II elastics aren't bad at all - they are so BIG compared to the last ones I had! Honestly, until I eat and have to pick stuff out of my teeth I don't even notice they are there. Still would be better if they are gone though....

Thanks to everyone for your positive comments Pics coming soon, I promise!

[Jillianleab]

Another month, another series of progress pics! I haven't seen a lot of progress in the past month , maybe I'm missing something. The gap I developed on my lowers arch is sloooooowly closing with the powerchain, I'm hoping it will get its a** in gear and be totally closed by my next adjustment in Feb. My ortho says he wants to start on expansion when I go in next time, and I don't think he will do that unless they are all in line. You know, my teeth moved so fast in the beginning, what the hell??? Oh well, I guess I just have to be patient. I've been doing some figuring on my own, and with my "extensive orthodontic knowledge" (ahem, what I've learned here) my prediction is I'll be done in September. Here's the logic: We start on expansion in Feb. Assuming it takes me four months to get the proper expansion, that puts me in June. Then, I need time for tweaking and letting my teeth "settle", so I figure three months for that. That would have me debanded in Sept. My ortho expects me to be done next December regardless, but he did say he wouldn't be surprised if I finished sooner. So... I'm going to hope for Sept! I graduate next Dec and will be looking for a job in Jan, so I suppose as long as they are off before then it's no big deal. But I'd really like to have them off for the fall so I can have a caramel apple!!!! Can you tell I'm obsessed with those things? This is only about the trillionth time I've mentioned them on this board!

Moving along, here are the pics for this month. As I said, I don't see a lot of changes, but if you see some, please point it out! As always, left is last month, right is this month.











Now that all that is done, on to Holiday stuff! I finished my quarter last week (my GPA is 4.0, btw) and go back on Jan 8. I was hoping for some down time, but no such luck. I hosted Christmas Tea this past Sunday at my house, which is an annual tradition for the women in my family. Thursday is dinner and gifts with my hubby's parents since they are going out of town Friday, Friday afternoon is lunch and gift exchange with a friend of mine who lives about an hour away, and this Saturday I am hosting Christmas Beer, which was started by the men as a retaliation of the "girls-only" tea. Obviously though, tea is still women only and beer is equal opportunity! I went beer shopping today, which was a ton of fun! Meryaten, you'd be thrilled with my fridge right now! I bought a bunch of stuff I've never had; winter/Christmas brews as well as general odd stuff. We always buy beers based on the name or label, as we figure if those are good, the beer will be good (we've been wrong before...) I think I'm most excited about the "Mad Elf Ale", which I'm fighting the urge to sample before Saturday... Monday brings Christmas with my family, then a few days break until New Year's Beer on New Year's Eve. I'm not hosting that one though, so it's a little bit of stress off my back!

So now you are all 100% updated on the goings-on in my house! Hope everyone has a great Holiday and a Happy New Year!

[Jillianleab]

Denise, I'm not sure if expansion will create gaps or not, I sure hope not! My ortho said he plans on just using archwires, no additional appliances. I think you're right that my arches are a little wider, but not much. It could be the angle of the pic...

I have not heard of Santa's ale... sounds interesting! I'll never understand controversy over labels, at least not on things you have to be over 21 to purchase!