As usual, I've been a turd about keeping this up to date. I figured it was a good time to update since yesterday marked my 9 month braces anniversary! I cannot freaking believe it's been that long but, simultaneously, I feel like time is crawling by. If I get them off on the low end of my treatment estimate, I could have them off before my next birthday but, if I land on the high end, I've got two whole summers left in these suckers.
I read back through my post history today to try to remind myself how far I've come and to try to inspire some feelings of progression, but it seems like I have so much longer when I think about my debrace date (22 months would be June 14, 2014 - UGH
). I'll have to go back to counting down the days until my next adjustments - it's a lot easier to think in terms of weeks instead of months when you have my level of impatience.I had an adjustment on Monday 5/13 and - lucky me! - my orthodontist installed my first power chain. I'd developed a random gap between some teeth on the lower left (below - I've been calling it The Bad Gap). I prepared myself for being pretty uncomfortable after reading some of your experiences with power chains, but the pain has been pretty minimal. I hope this thing is ready to be tested for stain resistance seeing as I'm a pretty heavy black coffee drinker. So far so good.
They also reactivated the spring on the upper right to continue pushing my teeth apart (below - The Good Gap). This gap has gotten considerably larger since I first showed it to you, but it's still not big enough for an implant yet which is the end game. It hasn't been that uncomfortable either - I'm pretty much used to it by now.
I've been on the same bottom archwire for two adjustments, but they did swap out the top archwire for a stainless steel one which IIRC is the last in the series of straight archwires. I think they said it was the stiffest of this type and that the next one up would be different or something. I really need to stop taking early morning appointments so that I'm not half asleep when they're explaining things to me.. The only weird thing is that, in two days, I've already developed a gap between my front teeth again. Slightly concerning since getting rid of that was sort of the point of getting braces in the first place. From looking at the progress pictures of others, I've noticed that sometimes things get worse before they get better at this stage. Here's to waiting and seeing.
I know you're all here for one thing. Behold - my teefs:
The Bad Gap
The Good Gap (Day 1)
The Good Gap (Month 5?)
Day 1 / Month 6
Month 9
I hope everyone has a great week!
