Betsy's getting braces

[Realizingadream]

Hi everyone.
I have had bottom braces since 27 January, that is uh 10 weeks. I went back to see the orthodontist after 9 weeks, (NINE weeks for my first appointment!) and he said they hadn't moved as much as he had expected, so he wanted to "watch and see" how they would move for another SEVEN weeks. Good heavens at this rate I will be in braces for 5 years! He won't brace the tops until he sees how the bottom teeth move.

Why do my teeth have to be so special? I just want them straight and pretty, AND so I can floss them more easily. They have been SO HARD to floss all crookedy as they have been for so many years.

They've gotten terribly wiggly, and I haven't read many posts on here about wiggly teeth, except for yours. I hope that is good news, that they are moving properly, but I hope they will also cement themselves back in. Sheesh.

I used to be a MAJOR ice chewer. I would get a "thirsty-two ounce" cup of ice at work, and chew it down and go back for more. I would chew down at least 2 BIG cups of ice a day. But then one day my doctor found out I was anemic and fixed it. My goodness, about 2 days into treatment to fix the anemia, my ice chewing went away! I can't explain that. But I surely did enjoy chewing ice. Now, not so much.

Your story is amazing, I love the ligature colors.

Real

[BetsyBug]

Hi Real!!!

I would say wiggly teeth is a good sign. Sometimes when your teeth are all wonky and crooked it takes a while to get them to start moving around. It will happen. I don't think your teeth are abnormal. My lower incisors have had a little bit of change because they have pulled the one lateral that was way behind the others forward but they are all still crooked so I expect by the ache in my teeth this morning that they may actually start moving now. Take heart...it will happen and you will have beautiful teeth!!!!


I neglected to post about yesterdays appointment. It was pretty uneventful. I had that loose bracket on my right upper canine they reattached which was done pretty quickly. Then the ortho pulled off my wires and took a look at my bite and told me that I was doing really well keeping everything clean. He decided the lower wire needed to go back on and they put a little thicker wire on my uppers.

Instead of putting the elastic ligs on around my brackets like they were before most of my teeth have a figure 8 pattern around them thats putting alot of pressure on my wiggly little teeth so hopefully they will start being agreeable and get in line. My front bottom incisors got steel ties, little wires that are wrapped around the brackets that hold the wire in the bracket tighter because they are so close together the brackets actually face each other and touch.

One thing I have noticed this week is my midline is shiffed on my lowers pretty signifigantly to the right several mm. Everything was straight when we started so I don't know how that happened but its something that will have to be fixed eventually because its going to bug the heck out of me.

So all in all a good really quick appointment in and out in like 20 min and I have new bubble gum pink ligs now as well

[smilehope]

Sounds good, Betsybug. Looking forward to your pics with pink logs!

[BetsyBug]

5 weeks first adjustment with day one natural smile

week five top with day one top

week five bottom with day one bottom


its a little hard to see but the steel ties are on the lower center incisors. I think that overnight that right lateral incisor on the upper arch turned and its so sore as well so I think its on its way to getting in line. Overall for a little over a month I like the changes I am seeing

[Noni]

Wow Betsbug your top teeth moved and are getting aligned ,, your bottom are improved as well they are getting there

I just noticed you don't have a bracket on your lower first molar !!

[BetsyBug]

Yeah, that premolars is a baby tooth. I didn't have an adult tooth to how in and paying it out. It's still in great shape so we left it there but they don't put brackets on baby teeth. I am beginning to wonder though if leaving it there is going to make my treatment more difficult. I guess only time will tell.
I really hadn't noticed much change on my upper arch until I tool the pictures. I has noticed some leveling and that the wire looked less wonky but the wayward lateral incisors ate beginning to play well with the others. Must be why the right lateral and surrounding teeth have been so sore lately.

[smilehope]

Wow your upper incisors are fab. Love the colour - get that lip gloss back on!
I hope they can start getting your bite right soon, I appreciate that was your main problem.

[tmroy79]

I wish my baby tooth looked that healthy. Mine is still in and my ortho said its not going to mess up any progress to leave it there for a few months. However mine is eventually getting pulled. It looks bad and has a very short root. And since my looks so awful and I am getting married in June my dentist is actually going to put a temporary crown on it. I hate baby teeth that won't let go. My daughter is 8 and hasn't lost a tooth yet. Her dentist isn't too concerned yet but I am worried she is going to have issues like me.

[BetsyBug]

My baby tooth may or may not stay. We are trying to keep it but that depends on the amount of space we can gain with the arch wires. It probably helps that my baby tooth is a molar and it had a bigger root to begin with. I have tried to take care of it to this point bc I didn't want a big ole hole if I lost it. I think you are definitely better off pulling yours!!! If mine was where it could be seen I would too.

I'm a little disappointed that my lower centrals aren't responding much to the wire ties. Hoping that something starts happening. I know it's going to take a long time to get those teeth wrangled though. I can see a difference in the gap between on my right side (on the left in the pictures) but not much difference on the right so I'm sure I'm stuck with these turbos for a while. Good thing I have pretty much gotten used to them

[BetsyBug]

Tmroy- my ortho told me that retained baby teeth tends to be genetic. But I think 8 is too early to say she is having problems. Does she have all her adult teeth on x-ray? If so they can pull baby teeth if necessary to encourage them to come in.

[tmroy79]

They did an x-ray at her last visit and she does have all her adult teeth up there hiding. And her baby teeth are a little wiggly but they just aren't coming out. I am definitely going to go the route of pulling them sooner rather than later. When I was little my mom wasn't the best at making sure our dental needs were taken care of. I have learned from her mistakes. I don't want my daughter with a wonky smile when she gets older.

[BetsyBug]

My daughter is 7 and she is currently toothless without her top or bottom central incisors. We had her bottoms pulled bc the adult teeth were coming in behind them. If all her daily teeth are there I might just encourage her to wiggle the loose ones and see if my come out on their own.... I'm sure she is fine though. You could always take her to the ortho orenyion her situation to your ortho and see what they think....

[smilehope]

Haha my 8 year old girl has got 2 rows of teeth like a shark. She is quite proud of the fact that one day she'll have braces like her mummy. (They're all crossed like mine, but thankfully beautifully white and she's really good at brushing)

[BetsyBug]

Emily had two rows of teeth briefly the dentist told her to wiggle them til they came out and if they weren't out in a month he would pull them.

Meanwhile in my mouth feels like a whole lot of nothing going on. Those lowes with the wire ties were tight feeling and sor for maybe 24 hours and have stayed put right where they were. My upper lateral incisor is sore along with the canine directly to it's right but no real change there either. The only thing I can see happening is my jaw teeth on the right side are beginning to get closer and as a result I keep biting my cheek...yay for progress??? Lol
My molars on the left are moving slower so now my mouth is a bit lopsided.

So nothing else new I am hoping the next few weeks go by quickly. I'm wrapping up my spring semester have a couple more papers to write then I'm done. Then a few weeks of rest then back to school for the summer semester. I'm taking physics in the summer and I'm hoping to not have a nervious breakdown lol. Just a few more classes and then I will be doing my student teaching and internships. Am definitely ready to be teaching.

Well I think it's bedtime now, will be back soon
Keep smiling

[BetsyBug]

It's funny how I'll be going along just fine without anything hurting then all of a sudden WHAM!!! Everything hurts! Even my rogue babytooth that doesn't have a bracket hurts. However, you can tell that the molars around it have moved out leaving the babytooth hanging out where it was. I think the movement around it is creating pressure on that tooth. The gap between that tooth and the wire is getting much bigger as well. Its catching all sorts of stuff. I'm going to ask next time if there is something we can put on the wire to help with that from happening. My lowers have been aching alot as well they are wiggly and they want to separate you can tell by when I put floss through them individually they separate very easy, but they still don't have anywhere to go so no real movement. Uppers have been sore as well but no real movement there either. I think its going to take a few teeth being steel tied to the wire to get them to turn or rotate into line.

How is everyone else doing? We have about a month until our next adjustments.