My ortho has been tweaking. And tweaking. And tweaking. One tweak causes another issue that needs to be corrected. The light I thought I saw at the end of the tunnel has proven to be an illusion.
Quite a number of months ago my ortho put me in a box elastic configuration on my left side to close an open bite. I must say that I wasn't as diligent in wearing that config as it was right before the election and I had to talk on the phone and at doors A LOT, and the elastic caused me a lot of discomfort. Disclaimer: this was the First Time I had been a slacker when it came to wearing my elastics. At the next visit I was also got a power chain across my "social six" to close a gap that had developed due to said box configuration. I was also told to continue to wear the box configuration at night.
So...on my January 9th visit, ortho noticed my midline was 1/2mm off. So, I got a diagonal elastic to wear 24/7 to correct for that on my left side and was told to continue the box config for 12 hours a day. Power chain stayed on.
Well, the midline corrected and the bite closed on my left. BUT my bite began to open on the right. ARRRGH! It was quite noticeable to me and quite discouraging. After all, things seemed to match up so nicely after my surgery and these tweaks didn't seem to be improving things At All.
Sigh. So, on my visit to ortho on Monday (2/26) I point out my opening bite. Tech tells me that sometimes this happens and that it may need to settle in. Ortho comes in and looks at my mouth and agrees we need to now close the right side, but protect the closure on the left, and oh, by the way, that cuspid on the right needs to be rotated a bit.
Double sigh. So. I get a triangle on the left to "hold" the bite. Instead of a power chain across my social six, I am wired tied across the top four to hold the closure, a wedge is put on my right top cuspid, two triangles (4-4-5, 5-5-6 I think is what he called them) to close the right open bite and a diagonal from top cuspid to first lower molar to help rotate the cuspid. I will post a picture of this lovely torture device. I feel like I am back in the guiding elastics from my surgery, I have so little ability to open my mouth right now. And it hurts. A lot.
On top of that, the tech says the ortho has me scheduled for 31 months of treatment which would make my debanding date around December, not May or June as I had hoped.
He wants to see me back in 4 weeks. His biggest concern is issues with the jaw muscles post surgery and making sure this new config isn't messing with that.
Other than that, everything is fine. Why do you ask?
I promise to not abandon the board again.
Think Movie Star Smile, it helps me.
