Bridging the Gap - Treating TMD...(Finally an update! p.5)

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#61 Post by **Meloho** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 12:41 pm

Alrighty, so here they are finally, my cruddy 2-month progress photos:

Photo 1 is of my bite with the bite plate in place. I hate how the pics don't turn out like I see in IRL; actually, I have about 1/4" of a gap left between my molars while wearing the plate, so I have a few weeks to go yet if the ortho wants them all to meet while wearing it.

Photo 2 is my bite w/out the plate. Because my arches need straigthening out, my midline is way off. The top arch would need to be brought out on the right and the front.

Photo 3 is my bottom arch to show how off it's getting...the front teeth almost look straight and the side molars kinds square off from the front. Oh well, it'll get fixed when the bottom wire is put in.

I've been noticing a lot of gum sensitivity, but I believe that's a common complain w/ the braces. Specifically, the bottom teeth that are covered by the bite plate give me a hard time, when I floss, there are two teeth that it feels sort of sticky when I get right under the gumline. And the gums around the lower first premolars often bleed a little.

But other than that, all's pretty good. The missing bracket hasn't affected much, I ignore it most of the time. Food wise, I still have a hard time eating harder things, like carrots, nuts, apples, etc., and biting into things like sandwiches is annoying...just don't do it in public.

So, it's all good, at least I'm not starving (far from it!). Later!

#62 Post by **cwatt1** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 3:33 pm

Hi Meloho!

Wanted to drop by and extend a very belated greeting. Just finished reading your fascinating blog. First off, I echo the sentiments others have expressed about your teeth -- they really are very nice looking! As you mentioned, your bottom arch is squared off, but the bottom archwire should take care of that when it's braced.

Your attitude is amazing, and I commend you for it with your having to deal with so many appliances -- the Nick-a-nator, the elastics. When my daughter was a teenager she had some issues with TMJ and was prescribed a bite splint, but we could never get her to keep it in her mouth! Plus she broke several of 'em -- not cool, since we had to pay extra for each one of them! Never did get the TMJ completely under control, but at least it doesn't bother her too much as an adult (at least not so far). Apparently it was never that severe.

It's great that you and your ortho seem to be on the same page at this point -- that really makes the treatment go much easier and enables you to not obsess about the changes that occur in your mouth.

Continued success! You are a fascinating writer and I look forward to future updates and pics!

#63 Post by **Meloho** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:01 am

Thank you cwatt1 and KK! Your support is greatly appreciated!

#64 Post by **Laurie** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 11:44 am

How much longer do you have the bite plate?

#65 Post by **Meloho** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 12:01 am

How much longer do you have the bite plate?

Until my molars meet while wearing it...I imagine another month or so. So I'll wind up with my front teeth not meeting, but my ortho said that he wanted to over-adjust because they would settle and lower down a bit again...

#66 Post by **mjbusch** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 4:36 pm

I have updated my site again since I got braces. I wanted to know how your treatment is going. My orthodontist said I would need to also get a rick a nator. Have you had any problems? I am worried it will make me lisp so I am researching on any alternatives right now. I will also have to wear vertical elastics that connect each molar.

#67 Post by **Meloho** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 2:52 pm

It has been a LONG time since I posted, I know. It's odd how when they're new, braces are all you think about...but life goes on and my obsessions have shifted elsewhere.

But, I will still post an update...My wearing of the elastics almost 24/7 has paid off, my molars are almost all touching. The upper right rear molar is not quite; my band came off it 2 different times and I had to spend a total of 2 weeks without any elastic on it, so it's lagged behind a bit, bit it's no big deal.

On Thursday I go for a cleaning and then we'll progress to the next phase, which I presume will be putting brackets on the lower front teeth (which means no more biteplate, YAAA!!!) and wiring them up. I have gaps all over the top arch and my lowers are crowded...hopefully they'll even out, maybe w/ the help of some powerchains, which I'm anxious to wear...lol!

I'll post any major developments as they occur.

The collage I'm posting is a bit old, it's from a month ago, and my molars are closer still from what the pics show. Hopefully I'll take a couple more before my appointment.

#68 Post by **Meloho** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 7:04 pm

Well, I'm afraid to report that my appointment wasn't too productive. Although the cleaning went well (I thought it would be more painful, with more scaling to do, but it looks like my braces didn't impede my cleaning efforts at all), I was told that my lowers need to settle before proceeding to bracketing them all. They all meet, but they're all still wiggly, so my ortho wants them to firm up I guess. I feel this may be difficult though, since my teeth stay up all the while I wear the elastics, but then when I take them off to eat and clean, they go down a bit again...not much, but a bit. I guess in the net two months, they'll stay up, I don't know. But hopefully my next update will be more productive.

Oh, and I'll post pics of my purple ligs soon...

#69 Post by **mjbusch** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:42 pm

I know how you feel. All my bottom teeth feel loose, almost to the point that I am worried they will fall out. How long do you have wait until get lower brackets?

I will have to update my post when I get some extra time.

#70 Post by **Meloho** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 6:24 pm

Well, he says it's another two months for the rest of the my bottom brackets, which will make it a total of 10 months of brace time JUST to get my lower molars erupted. I had visions of it taking 2 months...right...

#71 Post by **Rebelda** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:57 pm

Sorry to hear about your lowers taking so long, but I must say your teeth are looking great so far. Hopefully things wil speed up for you soon. Take care.

#72 Post by **Meloho** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 2:48 pm

Well, two months have passed and I went to see the ortho on Friday. Hallelujiah! He told me I could remove the bottom bite plate and stop wearing the elastics so that the bottom front teeth could erupt to catch up with the molars (apparently they'd do it by themselves). Then I was to make an appointment for in two weeks to get my front bottoms bracketed and lowers all wired up to match the top, assuming to start working on aligning these gappy, crooked buggers.

Well, just an hour or two after removing the bite plate, I noticed that my jaw felt awfully weak and sore, but I tolerated it for a while, thinking was just due to the change. But it kept getting worse and worse, exacerbated by chewing. Checking out my bite, when I bite w/ the bite plate in, my molars don't touch, so that's telling me that my molars aren't yet high enough.

I'm thinking the ortho will have to build up my stupid bite plate to get my lower molars higher. Right now, they're not wanting to come up any higher, I guess cuz they touch the uppers, but then settle when I remove the elastics to chew, then touch again, and settle down again. He probably has to overcorrect just so my lowers stay up enough to allow my jaw joint to be open enough to avoid pain.

This'll mean another 2-3 months I bet, but I'd rather that than "finish" the treatment, have perfectly straight teeth, but STILL have pain at the end...

#73 Post by **Meloho** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 2:51 pm

Rebelda wrote:Sorry to hear about your lowers taking so long, but I must say your teeth are looking great so far. Hopefully things wil speed up for you soon. Take care.

Thank you Rebelda...oh well, we do what we have to do, huh? Your teeth are looking great too!

#74 Post by **Meloho** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:39 pm

Well, I had another appointment today and the ortho did what I figured he would; he built up my lower bite plate so there's a ton of space between my molars while I'm wearing it, to be filled up with the use of elastics again. He's thinking I'll be stuck like this for another 4-5 months

before we can try me not wearing the bite plate and seeing if the pain comes back (it had better not). We both realized he really has to overcorrect the height of my teeth because when we think they're just high enough, they're not...

I'm kind of worring that my bottom teeth will be too high now, especially my left lower canine, it looks like if it comes up anymore it'll pull out completely (just by the way you see it's shape at the gumline). It's probably alright, or else the ortho would have said something, or I should hope he would.

I've posted a couple pics of my altered appliance and my new blue ligs.

Although I like the ligs, I HATE how my set up now looks just like it did back when I started this mess in July last year. I just hope that since my molars are used to moving that they don't take so long to finish erupting.

#75 Post by **Meloho** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:10 am

Grr, it's always something...I went in again to have my bite plate tigthened and at first, it was fine, I could talk and it wouldn't move, whatever. Now that I'm eating, it's popping up again, it's as though saliva or whatever getting under it is loosening its grip. He tightened it enough that it's been hurting my lower front teeth too, but it's STILL popping off. I didn't have this issue before it got built up, so why now?? This whole process is really wearing on my nerves!

I'm also frustrated because I've come to the realization that I may not be out of braces by my graduation in May of '09 which pisses me off. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't know...