Cowlypso's Quest - Springs!

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#46 Post by **debbiepotter** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:35 am

Hi cowlypso
Congratulations in having your braces fitted, hope after 2 days that all is go well for you and not to much pain, Like you I have full braces with a headgear but no nance appliance. What headgear do you have I am in a hi pull headgear now , so as I can compare can you post a picture of your headgear and one of you wearing it

Best of luck and again good luck

Debbie

#47 Post by **cowlypso** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:48 pm

Sleeping with the headgear isn't great, but not horrible, either. I actually was able to get comfortable and go to sleep fairly easily. I don't think I drooled too much. I did have a towel on hand, just in case.

My main problem was that every time I changed position I woke up. So I kept waking up to roll over. I was kind of tired today and took a nap, but I should get used to things eventually. Maybe a week or so.

#48 Post by **Sumendoza** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:13 pm

Hope your sleeping through the night get better... You are doing awesome!

Glad to read about your treatment and progress!

#49 Post by **Brunoise** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:47 am

Cowlypso, you are a trooper. I just know that headgear is really going to make a huge difference. Things that seem like torture devices generally do----I learned this in physical therapy with my back, but that's a whole different blog.

Good luck to you gettting adjusted to sleeping with it and looking forward to reading your next update.

#50 Post by **cowlypso** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:57 pm

Well, short pit stop in to the ortho today to get the headgear adjusted. Fortunately, the massive amounts of hardware on the sides of my teeth have stopped trying to create new orifices for me, so that problem was fixed. My big complaint was that the headgear was hitting my ears and hurt.

So he tried bending the wire a bit so the strap was farther forward, but that didn't really do it. He ended up making some other adjustment which moved the "module" (the plastic part with the spring and all) down from the side of my head to the side of my face. Now, the stuff next to my ear is farther forward and it's just the canvas strap, not plastic stuff.

Now we just have to see if I can get used to having the stuff near my face...

While I was there, I asked about installing a kitchen sink... He just laughed. I'm not sure if he was laughing at my joke, or laughing because it was scheduled for my next visit.

#51 Post by **OBG** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 6:03 pm

Well, I think you have fallen into the reality of hg. Of all the obstacles involved in the orthodontic road to a beautiful smile I found hg to be the toughest to get used to. Mine was hi-pull similar to yours. It only took me about a year to be able to sleep comfortably while wearing it. (I might be exaggerating, it may have been only 11 months.) Have you banged the facebow on your phone yet?

Enough of the negativity. You will be pleasantly surprised at how fast the time goes by and you will never regret the decision to venture into the world of orthodontia.

Keep smiling and we all look forward to sharing your progress through your posts.

#52 Post by **Lisa65** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 5:04 am

Hi Cowlypso
How's it going now the headgear has been adjusted? Any easier? And have you got used to the dreaded Nance yet?

Here's to continued progress for you!

Lisa x

#53 Post by **cowlypso** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 2:02 pm

Thanks everybody.

Sleeping pretty good now. Slept for about 12 hours last night, actually.

Me and the headgear seem to be cooperating very well.

I actually noticed that my molars are moving backwards. Not really a bad thing, and not totally weird, but not what I was expecting. I was under the impression that the headgear and nance were both just to be holding the molars back, but not actually moving them back. So I called the ortho just to make sure that everything was okay. His response? "Hmm... I guess you've actually been wearing it exactly like I said." He's so used to all of his pre-teen patients not wearing their headgear long enough that it sort of surprised him when he got a patient that actually is wearing it according to his directions.

Anyway, he said that the molars moving back a mm or two is just fine, because once we start using them as anchors to bring the anterior teeth back, they will have plenty of motivation to go forward. So as long as they don't move back so far that I'm getting food trapped under the nance, I shall continue. If they move back more than a few mm, then I get to back off on the number of hours of headgear wear.

The good news is that he said that he doesn't think it will be too long before we can start moving those anteriors backwards.

Plus, he called me back promptly, which is always nice.

#54 Post by **iBorg** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 4:29 pm

Glad you're adjusting well. I still feel for you. Bet you've already figured out the happy dance when your ortho says "well the HG has done its job. You're free."

Mike

#55 Post by **cowlypso** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:22 pm

Houston, we have liftoff!

Teeth are on the move... I was flossing the other night and I realized that my front lowers are actually moving. As in literally wiggling. Like a loose tooth. Icky. But, the search feature here on archwired eased my mind a bit when I was able to see that others have the same thing going on and that my teeth aren't going to fall out of my head.

So, since I'm about 3 weeks away from my adjustment that was scheduled for 6 weeks, I thought I'd take some pictures and see if they were actually going anywhere special, or just packing their bags.

So here were are...

I guess I knew that they were moving, but I didn't really think they'd move that fast! Thinking back at what the ortho originally said, there was crowding of my lowers. Now, some of them are hardly even touching each other. Amazing what a few strategically placed pieces of metal can do, huh?

#56 Post by **iBorg** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:37 pm

Wow....it seems you have made real progress.

Based upon something that was mentioned at my last appointment I need an opinion. If given a choice of either one or the other (NO NOT BOTH!), which would you suggest headgear for 12 hours a day or a fixed Nance?

I know my ortho will want to keep my molars from moving or slide them back. I figure knowing options is better than making an uninformed decision.

Thanks,

Mike

#57 Post by **cowlypso** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:03 pm

Hmm.... I guess you've just got to pick your poison.

The nance doesn't bother me much in terms of comfort. My tongue was a little sore the first day or two, but not at all bad. The main problem with the nance is speech. For the first week at least I sounded fairly awkward. It got better from there. I still occassionally feel like I'm messing stuff up when I'm speaking, especially if I'm talking fast or I'm tired.

The headgear is a little more bothersome to me personally, but nobody else needs to know about it. So it's no impact on your public life, but may impact your home/private life.

It depends on whether you can get the 12 hours in on a consistent basis or not as well. Fortunately I've got the nance as a backup, since I'm more towards the 10-12 range most days. And that's just because I leave the house at 9 am and don't get home until 9 pm. So, when you take into consideration that I take it off in the morning to eat breakfast and brush my teeth, then don't put it on at night until after I've had dinner or a snack and done the extended oral hygiene routine, there's just not enough hours in the day.

It took me some time to get used to sleeping with the headgear as well. I definitely had some sleepless nights the first week, when I woke up every time I wanted to roll over. Had a little trouble getting it adjusted so it was comfortable with my ears, and I'm still working a bit on the comfort issue. But for the most part now, when I put it on, I don't really notice it much at all. I guess I've also been lucky because I haven't had the drooling problems that others complain about.

Oh, and I've had to rearrange my shower schedule because I can't take a shower at night then go to sleep with wet hair and my headgear. It would end up looking very weird in the morning. But if I go to sleep with dry hair, it usually doesn't get too bent out of shape by the headgear.

So, it all depends on whether you want comfort but with some public aspects like speech issues, or possible discomfort but in the privacy of your own home.

And if your ortho actually wants to move your molars backwards, rather than just keep them from moving forwards, then headgear it is. The nance only holds them in place, and won't move them back at all. The headgear can actually help move them backwards. The pendulum is another appliance that is kind of like a nance and actually does move the molars backwards, but from what I've seen on the boards it's usually used before braces. Not sure about that one, though.

#58 Post by **iBorg** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:18 pm

I appreciate your opinion. I'm concerned about the speaking (I teach for a living) and have had a few times where the bite plate has about got the best of me. I'm also concerned about keeping the Nance clean. As for hedgear....the privacy of your own home issues are true. Not sure how my wife and kids would react.

If I'm given an option, I'll at least have some idea of which route I want to go.

Mike

#59 Post by **Lisa65** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 6:20 am

Wow, I'm impressed! There's some real progress there.

I almost wish my ortho would give me a headgear to help hurry up and move my molars, but he says he doesn't use them on adults.

Hope things continue to go well for you!

#60 Post by **todddutton** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 9:40 am

Wow. You're lower teeth look great! You must be so happy. Good luck in the rest of your adventure.