Metal Mouth Message Board

PREFACE:
My story begins like most of yours. I was young and never really thought much about my teeth until one day when I was maybe 12 or 13 a friend made a comment about the gap between my two front teeth. I think from point on I became instantly self conscious about my teeth. I would cover my mouth when I laughed and I would never ever smile in pictures. Come to think of it I actually hated taking pictures because my closed mouth smile always looked so forced and like a grimace.

Dental care wasn't a huge thing in my family so I really never saw a general dentist when I was growing up even though my mom had dental insurance and all. When I was 18 or so I started having some issues with my teeth, I had a few deep cavities which I ended up needed a root canal on and eventually a crown on.

After graduating from college I managed to get a job with dental insurance. Now that I had the means I decided to take matters into my own hands. I spoke with my general dentist about orthodontics but the answer has always been that I needed to get my cavities filled first and then have some crown and bridgework done. It took a good 2 years before my mouth was in good enough condition to even consider orthodontics.

After the 2 years my mouth was ready for orthodontics but I wasn't ready financially to make that move so another year or two pasted as I saved up the necessary money for treatment.

I moved out on my own (for a second time) last year and got a new job with a higher salary and I was finally ready to take the plunge into orthodontia however being in a new city I had to find a new dentist and an orthodontist and being the procrastinator that I am I put the whole thing off while I adjusted to my new surroundings. I considered going to the dental school to get treatment for less money but I was hesitant to go that route.

FAST FORWARD TO AUGUST 2004:

I realized in August that I had some cash in a mutual fund that was just losing value. So I decided to cash out that investment and use that as a down payment for my treatment. I called an ortho close to my apartment after looking at her website and I went in for a consultation the day after I made the call.

AUGUST 18tTH 2004:

I go in for my consultation. The ortho talks to me briefly and tells me the different kinds of braces that she offers. After seeing my x-rays the ortho commented that my gap wasn't the only issue that should be addressed with my treatment. She mentioned that my teeth weren't in the ideal positions and should be shifted back slightly something I never realized this until seeing it first hand in my x-rays. Additionally, invisalign wouldn't be the ideal treatment in my case and would not lead to ideal occlusion.
She also told me that treatment with ceramics would be quicker than had I chosen to go with Invisalign. I left her office feeling fairly comfortable with he proposed treatment plan. I felt nervous and excited all at the same time. I was finally doing something to correct a smile that I was never happy with.

AUGUST 23RD, 2004:

I went to a new general dentist for a thorough cleaning and to evaluate my overal oral health. Left the office with a clean bill of health and all signs pointed to "GO".

Pre-braces photo:

Click to enlarge photo

AUGUST 24RD, 2004:

I took the day off from work today to go to my afternoon appointment. I hardly slept a wink several nights prior and was eager for treatment to begin. I got to the ortho's office a little early and had to wait a few minutes in the waiting room. Banding was pretty straight forward and I just remember being shocked when I first saw what my teeth looked like in the mirror. My avatar is a picture of what I looked like day one. Pain from initial banding lasted approximately 10 days. (Oh what a long 10 days that was)

SEPTEMBER 28TH, 2004

I went in for my first eagerly anticipated adjustment. In the month or so leading up to this adjustment I noticed that my bite was totally out of whack and that my gap had closed just slightly. During this adjustment my ortho changed my ligatures on my upper arch and gave me a powerchain on my lower arch. Pain from this adjustment lasted about 2 days.


Click to enlarge photo
Notice how clear ligs and powerchains can be before consuming any food.

OCTOBER 28TH, 2004

I went in for my second adjustment and in the month prior I noticed some slight movement of my two front teeth. At my second adjustment I given a stronger rectangular archwire and choose purple powerchains for my lower arch. I went with glow in the dark ligs for my upper arch. My ortho commented that most of her adult patients don't experiment with color until they are about 6 months into treatment or so....guess I was slightly ahead of that curve. Because of the thicker archwire, my ortho was nice enough to put on less strong powerchains on my lower arch to give me some time to adjust to the new archwire. The ortho also used a wire tie underneath a powerchain on my right centrals I assume to anchor that tooth in place.


Click to enlarge photo: In this photograph you can see what a difference two weeks can make.

NOVEMBER 19TH, 2004

Third adjustment. My gap is hardly noticable anymore and my ortho changed my ligs and my lower powerchain, I chose green this time. My ortho decided to surprise me with a small package of rubber bands to call my own. I was instructed to wear the elastics every day 24 hours a day and the purpose of the elastics was to correct my wayward midline.

I will say that this was my most painful adjustment thus far because she had to use some serious pressure to affix a powerchain to my two upper central teeth. Pain from this adjustment last approximately 2 days. On my first day of waking up with my elastics I as if I had gotten into a fist fight the night before. The second day I experienced some pain but I was nothing compared to the day before.

I was able to eat Thanksgiving dinner but I did wake up that morning feeling a little achy. I took two advils and things seemed to be much better. Next adjustment is scheduled for morning of December 17th, the same day as my company holiday party.


Click to enlarge photo:Notice how far my lower teeth have to move.

DECEMBER 17TH, 2004

So I had an adjustment yesterday and for the first time since going to my ortho I saw another adult patient in her office. Weird thing was this adult didn't appear to be wearing braces so maybe he had linguals or had a retainer or was in for a consultation, not sure.

So I go back to the chair to sit down and she asks what color powerchains I would like on my lowers and I asked if she had gotten any pink ones yet and to my surprise she had a whole bunch of new colors, she really wanted me to go with fuscia but I decided on light pink. After taking a look at my teeth she told me that things were looking good and that I would not be needing powerchains at all on my lower arch...YIPPIE. She switched out the powerchain and pink on adorable light pink ligs.

Now on to the top arch...she removed my ligs on top and put a funky wire tie on my two front teeth to hold them together. I assume the wire tie is a little stronger than the powerchain that I had on previously because it hurt a lot when she was applying and twisting it. When the space between my two front teeth closed it created some smaller gaps on the sides of those teeth so my ortho decided to put powerchains connecting my canines to my lateral incisors to my central incisors on each side. My ortho initiailly tried to connect a strong powerchain on these teeth however the pain was almost unbearable as she tried to stretch it across the teeth so she decided to go with a different strength.

Going into this adjustment I felt as though the hard part was over because my main gap had closed and I was able to actually bite down on things with my front teeth. I was eating pizza and cream puffs without utensils the past few weeks like it was my job. That all changed on Friday however. I felt some mild soreness by the time I got to work so I decided to take some advil to ward off any additional pain. I went out for a walk during lunch and it was as though I could actually feel my teeth moving and creeking....one of the weirdest feelings ever. I was pretty much in a lot of pain for most of the day and I hardly ate anything at my holiday party. I kept myself content with champagne and strawberries dipped in chocolate fondue. I'm still in some pain today but it isn't unbearable and I haven't taken any advil I also haven't tried to eat anything requiring a lot of chewing.

Now here's the amazing part, I took a picture last night before going to my holiday party about 10 hours after my adjustment and you can see that the space between my lateral incisors and my cuspids is almost gone!!! I do have some spacing between my cuspids and bicuspids but I'm guessing that may be addressed via the same process during my next adjustment (I'm not looking forward to the pain). No word on when my frenectomy surgery will be but my ortho tells me that it will take longer for my mouth to get numb than it will to perform the surgery itself...I guess I'll see about that.


Click to enlarge photo: First photo was taken on 12/10 and the second on 12/17.

P.S. I flossed this morning just to make sure I wasn't imagining things and even though it was painful I was excited by the progress.

Well Sunflr, I hope you are on a diet, picking right before Thanksgiving and then the day of your company holiday party! But, even if your not, I am sure you have and will enjoy yourself. Your smile is looking great! Keep up the good work.

Looking good !

It's amazing how fast the mid-line can really move, you'll be surprised! Mine was way off in beginning but has been getting in line lately. BTW, I like the green ligs.. .

Wow, you are making really great progress! You must be so happy to finally lose that gap!

Excellent summary of your progress so far, sunflr - hopefully it won't take long before that midline falls into line. Your gap closed quite quickly.

Wow, great progress so far.

The green is nice, but I like the lavender, too. That's what I have right now.

Updated my story all.

Thanks for all of the kind words.

Kristine: the green powerchain was ok but the lavendar was definitely cooler but now that I have the pink ones they are my all time fave thus far.


Attagirl: Definitely not on a diet just a coincidence that my appointments all fall before big eat/grazing days.

First off let me say that I had some issues with my other name (sunflr7) so I had to create a new login.

So since my last post I had two adjustments. My first adjustment was two weeks after my December adjustment. I went in to have my stained ligs changed and I walked out of there with new ligs and a new elastics configuration. The new configuration was to close up my bite and was some sort of box configuration. The pain after this adjustment due to the elastics was unbearable. I also caught a cold a day after that adjustment and let me just say that coughing and elastics don't mix. I tried to wear them as much as I could but the first week was rough. After that it got a lot easier.

Fast forward to yesterday
FEBRUARY 2ND, 2005:

This has been my most uneventful adjustment by far. I'm so over having the having braces thing that I let the ortho assistant choose the color of my lower ligs. The ortho asked me how many colors I wanted and my response was "Oh I don't care" so needless to say I ended up with a rather cute and festive look this time.
On the top things are progressing smoothly and I requested wire ties instead of my customary clear ligs. The wire ties make the braces feel smaller on my teeth if that's at all possible and when I rub my tongue over my teeth the sensation is a little different than before. I have a small gap between my left canine and central incisor that hasn't closed yet however the same gap that existed on my right side closed after my last adjustment. WEIRD. Another thing to mention is that now the canine tooth isn't attached to the lateral incisor at all to help close up the space so I'm pretty clueless as to my ortho's plan with that tooth.
One last thing to mention is that I have an appointment with a peridontist to discuss my frenectomy surgery. At this point I'm not too anxious about the surgery as I have heard that it is not that big of a deal. To quote my ortho "it will take longer for you to get numb than for the entire procedure itself."

Here are some pics:

Pesky Gap (Click to enlarge)


(Click to enlarge)


My Festive Ligs (Click to enlarge)

FEBRUARY 18TH, 2005:
I went to the periodontist for a consult regarding my frenectomy surgery. I went to the appointment psychologically prepared for a consult only but it turns out the doc. was willing to do the surgery at that time as well. I decided to go ahead with it despite my not being mentally prepared. The procedure took all of maybe 5 minutes AT MOST. It took about 10-15 minutes to get numb. I'm glad I decided to go ahead with the procedure that day as opposed to having to make a repeat visit.
The healing process wasn't so bad. During the day after the numbing wore off I did feel some tightness and pressure in the area. I popped 2 Motrin and things were fine after that. I was a little sore for a few days after (the most annoying part was reinserting my rubber bands because that required me to stretch my upper lip in a way that aggravated the area.
About a week after the procedure things were pretty much back to normal.

As a side note my dentist and the periodontist were very pleased with my orthodontic treatment so far.

MARCH 2ND, 2005:
I had an adjustment. A few key comments from my ortho:
1. Braces will definitely be off before August. (YIPPIE)
2. Ortho is pleased how my frenectomy is healing.
3. At my next adjustment she will have a better idea how much longer I will need to be wearing elastics.
4. When my treatment is over I will get a bonded retainer on my upper and lower arches as well as clear essix retainers.

My ortho basically changed my lower ligs and put on festive green ones. On my upper arch she left the tie wires in place and also added a power chain across the six front teeth. I have a small gap on my left side that my ortho is trying to address. She mentioned that if it doesn't close this way she will have to remove the tie wires and go with power chains alone. I almost want to suggest to her to go with a closing loop just to get it closed and done with but I'll keep my mouth shut and let her do her job.
My post open bite is closing nicely (more so on one side that the other). Hopefully at my next adjustment she will do something a little differently to whip the left side into shape.

Here are some pics:

After adjustment (Click to enlarge)


Spaces that still need to close (Click to enlarge)

One final note: I am so thrilled with my progress so far and all the pain and discomfort early on was totally worth it. I think that when all is said and done the pain and discomfort will be a small side note in my overall story to improve my smile.

APRIL 4TH, 2005:
I don't really remember the details of this adjustment. I'm still in elastics to close my bite but my ortho had my extend the rubber bands on the left side to cover my first molars all the way to my lateral incisors. Not a very pleasant configuration but I have seen worse. My ortho also changed my lower wire to a round one (I had previously been sporting a rectangular one since my 3rd adjustment or so) and put a little bend it in to move one of my molars out a little bit b/c it had gotten misaligned somewhere along the way. A few months back I had a bracket pop off and after it was replaced my molar started doing its own thing. The bend in the wire really helped it move out to a better position.

Two weeks after my initial adjustment I went in to have my ligs changed because I ate something that turned them bright yellow and I have no idea what it was I swear. My ortho noticed a gap opening up between my laterals and central incisor on the left side so she applied a nice thick closed powerchain. Needless to say the space was closed within hours and I was in some minor pain for a few days.

MAY 2ND, 2005:
I went in for an adjustment today and my ortho looked at me a little strangely. Apparently I showed up two days early for my adjustment. It was unintentional I swear and my appointment card actually said May 2nd!!!
I thought I was going to get a finishing wire at this adjustment but that didn't happen. My upper arch went untouched which is a little disappointing because I still have gaps on both sides between my canines and laterals and I'm getting a little impatient.
On to my lower arch...she changed the archwire again third time in as many adjustments. It's still round but she removed the bend near the wayward molar. I'm thinking that was a bad bad idea because a few hours after the adjustment I felt that molar moving back to where it had previously taken up residence somewhere in the middle of my mouth way out of line from the other teeth.
The other thing my ortho did was apply a wire tie to my right canine to rotate it slightly. This was pretty painful because as she was tying it up it felt as though she was actually rotating the tooth manually with her hands. I'm a little discouraged now because the canine that she is trying to rotate is very very painful and sensitive to cold and air. It is also causing the tooth next to it to fall out of place. Add this to the wayward molar and the bite that doesn't want to close and the gaps that aren't being treated I feel like there is no way in hell I"ll be out of these braces come August. Oh and did I mention the friend that got braces after me and just recently had them removed in time for her wedding? To sum it all up I"m one discouraged braces wearer.

Updated to include my latest adjustments.

So I got a debanding date. My braces will be coming off on Sept. 7th and I have mixed emotions. I feel like I'm going to be disappointed when my braces come off because there are a few things that I wanted fixed that aren't going to be fixed.

I thought I would be happier.

Sunfl77,
WOW you've had some great progress in very short amount of time. I like you also had a gap but you're gap closed even faster than normal. You get your braces off on my bday! But if you're not happy with your results tell your ortho this because you paid the money and its your smile and you want to be happy with it. Good Luck!

-Hannah

I have spoken to my ortho about my concerns and she seems convinced that they cannot be fixed without jeopardizing the stability of my bite.
I know when my braces come off my teeth will look great to the casual observer but as someone who has been obsessed with her teeth for the past 12 months I will notice the minor imperfections.

I'm sure I'll be delighted when they come off I was happy 3 months into my journey when my gap initially closed.

Thanks KK and hannah for your support.

Sunflr, you're teeth are beautiful! I apologize if someone has already asked, but how do you keep your brackets so clear?? Wow! I feel sheepish for the less than adequate care of my brackets. Wishing you well on your eventual deband date.