Full metal Damon mouth [4th adjustment, lowers came out]

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#46 Post by **jxds** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 1:25 am

I had a new adjustment. I was scheduled to have the lower wire changed but I've had TMJ pain on one side in which I am developing a kind of posterior open biteand the doc decided not to change anything and wait three weeks. I am worried because I don't want to slow down my treatment, but I guess it is the right thing to do.

He cemented a 'button' (sic) to the back of my top right molar, which is a kind of small bracket that in the next appointment will be used to place a cross-bite elastic. It is hurting my tongue but other than that it does not seem a problem, at least until the elastic is placed! I am not looking ofrward to get elastics, but on the other hand I wish everything would be faster!

#47 Post by **Andromeda** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:45 am

I had the button you are talking about on the inside of my bottom right molar for elastic use. They come off really easily so just watch for that. My ortho must have known this because they glued two buttons onto that tooth saying that "in case one fell off" Id still have one left. Well one came off my first week and the other 3 weeks in. It did make my tounge hurt while I had them but wax helps. I've never had anything else break or pop off in my year in braces so far so I don't think it was anything I did. I wound up swallowing both buttons bc I didn't even know they fell off til I went to brush. Anyways, just keep a lookout and hope you don't have any isues.

#48 Post by **Andromeda** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:49 am

And in regards to your teeth not touching on one side, that is pretty common. I've been in that situation for a while and my ortho is using elastics to pull my top and bottom teeth together so I can bite again. I think that is the standard "fix" for this problem. Good luck on your continuing journey!

#49 Post by **jxds** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 5:23 am

Thanks, andromeda!

The button is definitely rubbing my tongue, so I am back to wax 24/7... However, I'm not sure if I'll be able to use wax when I get the elastic. How do you deal with that? do you use wax and wear the elastic at the same time? does the tongue ever get used to the rubbing?

#50 Post by **jxds** » Tue May 19, 2009 1:28 am

After a month of wearing a cross-elastic from the inside of my upper molar to the outside of my lower, today I went for an adjustment and unexpectedly I got two extra elastics..these are more like the ones I had seen to other people: from upper canine to lower 1st molar. But man they do hurt! with the three elastics it is really difficult to open wide my mouth, and now all the teeth involved are super sore...

I am also concerned bc these ones are quite visible, and I look weird with all these withe things in my mouth...

Please tell me that it does get better and you get used to them! I know it is the same every time you get new hardware, but right now it seems difficult to get used to this!

#51 Post by **jxds** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 6:46 am

Ok, so after 2 and a half weeks with all these elastics I am more or less getting used to them. I manage to wear them most of the time, though not all the time. Sometimes I still have a hard time putting them in, though also that has gotten better, today I even managed to place them without a mirror! I can't really tell if they are moving my teeth or not, since I'm not sure in which direction they should be moving now, I just trust my ortho and hope he knows what he's doing!

The 2 'class 2' elastics make me quite self-conscious when I open my mouth wide, since they look like you've got saliva or something!

now I wonder how long will I have to wear the elastics: what's the common or average elastic wear time, if there is such a thing?

#52 Post by **jxds** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 1:43 am

Update:

I got an adjustment, I'm now almost in the 1 year mark!

Good news: they told me to stop wearing the cross elastic. It was quite uncomfortable, so that's good. He didn't take the button out so I guess at some point I might get it back. Anyway, 2 elastics is definitely better than 3!

Not-so-good-news: he changed the orientation of my left elastic. Now it runs from lower canine to upper molar. So I wear a class2 in the right and a class3 in the left. He called that 'parallel elastics' and said they would correct my midline. Never heard of that before, I hope it will work because my midline really needs it: its way off.

However, I've been wearing a class2 elastic on that side for a month, I wonder if it has been really worthless and now they're undoing all the work that has been done on my left side. It would be disappointing, because it would mean longer treatment and more time with elastics -for me, the worst part so far excluding the first week braced!

Bad news: I went from a "wear them as much as you can" to a much more strict "wear them 24 hours a day, take them out only for brushing, please try to leave them in for eating". So there we go!

Pics to follow.

#53 Post by **jxds** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:57 am

Update: I got used to the new elastics, I am wearing them pretty much all the time, I even try to eat with them even if it is not a nice experience. I haven't seen my midline move, though. Maybe it just needs more time! What I've seen is my lower canine erupt quite a bit, bc of the elastic... Whatever, it is getting better although I am definitely ready for getting rid of the elastics!

Undoubtedly for me they are the worst part so far. I wonder if I am the only one that feels like that?

#54 Post by **jxds** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:47 am

So there we go, finally I upload some pictures. These are more or less of my 1st anniversary with braces!

As you can see, my teeth aligned a lot, my deep bite got better, it was 110% at the beginning and now it must be around 70% aprox, and my posterior cross bite (you can't see it in the pics) has also improved a lot. It's slow progress after a year but I'm happy with the overall. Now I have some gaps opening here and there, some alignment issues, my midline is still way off and the deep bite has still to be corrected, so I don't see myself anywhere near the end! My original estimate was 18 months, we'll see but I suspect this is gonna take longer! I'm ready to get them off, but I want good results as well so I'd rather be patient!

In a week I go for an adjustment, we'll se what they say. I've been wearing the elastics very diligently but I don't see much movement in my midline. I'm also concerned about my 2 upper front teeth, one seems to be higher than the other, I hope this is just one of the 'get-worse-before-getting-better' stages!

Anyway, how do you see my progress? You think it's ok, or too slow? They haven't changed my wires for a long time now, is that common?

#55 Post by **invertigofreak** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 4:30 am

Hey there -yours looks like they are coming along nicely. I have Damon 3's but they are pretty much the same. I have just had my fourth adjustment today. yay

#56 Post by **shinyRiver** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:35 am

I see this one tooth longer than the other in a lot of people with braces. For example, if you look closely, one of my canines seems longer than the other (due to the fact that one erupted high in the gum line and the other was forced to come in in the middle of a very crowded situation on the other side...) I know it's a little different with canines but with front teeth I know they can do "tooth shaping" where they shave your teeth to an even shape and length to make your bite more symmetric and comfortable. I've heard my ortho say to his fellow ortho that he does it all the time and that even though people are worried about getting part of their tooth removed, it's perfectly safe and it makes the final outcome look 100% better. it's what I think they would do in your case, and I believe that at my office, it might even be covered in the cost of braces.

#57 Post by **jxds** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 1:05 am

I thought about that as well, the point, though, is that there is one that is higher in the gumline as well, not only shorter. One of my front teeth is actually a crown, and the bracket is not attached to it (it was at the beginning, but it would pop off all the time) so the braces seem to have intruded one incisor and not the other one. Anyway, I'll ask the ortho next time!

#58 Post by **jxds** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:52 am

So I went for another appointment today, and guess what? I got my crossbite elastic back in!

The ortho said my crossbite has receeded a little bit and he wants me to keep wearing it for the summer... so I'm back to three elastics: one classII, one classIII and a cross elastic

He also put me a sort of metal ligature that somehow ties together the front upper teeth, it is like a powerchain but made of wire rather than elastic. It does hurt right now! I had never seen that, has anybody had it?

#59 Post by **Lela** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:11 am

jxds wrote: He also put me a sort of metal ligature that somehow ties together the front upper teeth, it is like a powerchain but made of wire rather than elastic. It does hurt right now! I had never seen that, has anybody had it?

One of my daughters had the wire lacing done. It was in the last month of treatment. All her teeth were just where he wanted them and the wire PC kept them from shifitng at all while the elastics finished up her bite.

It is probably for extra stability.

#60 Post by **opera^gal** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 10:05 am

I've had my upper front teeth wired together for months now. They are being advanced forward, so I suppose it is to keep them on the same plane of movement.

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Full metal Damon mouth [4th adjustment, lowers came out]

elastics!!