Metal Mouth Message Board

I put up a sorta dysfunctional photoblog of myself in braces here:

http://www.maj.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=82441

Not much text, just pics of my teeth and perhaps my beards...

Here is a recap of what had happened so far:

8/15/04 - CDN$400 Record appointment. Official commitment to get my teeth fixed for a protruding lower canine from overcrowding that keeps biting into my cheek. Bye bye eternal canker sores!

Early Sep/04 - 4 spacers go in to make space around the first molars. Since I could not get 4 bicuspids extracted in time, 2 more had to be added later on.

9/10/04 - 4 molar bands go in first. Spacer out. Positioning tabs on those are slicing my tongue. I eventually had my ortho grind them out.

End of Sep/04 - I was supposed to get the extraction with my regular dentist but he was sick that whole week. Thankfully the ortho found me another one, penciled me in personally, and sent extraction info direct to him.

10/2/04 - 4 bicuspids out after 4 shots of lidocaine (I guess), tons of gauze and 2 days of oozing blood...

10/5/04 - Back for a checkup and scaling.

Banding - 10/7/04 - GAC In-Ovation 2 braces, thin round leveling wire upper and lower. Lower left lateral incisor ("Lower Left 2" in my ortho's lingo) is not bracketed because it was too far back. It will be bracketed later. Kiss $1200 goodbye!

Couple days of Campbell's cream of mushrooms followed.

1st adjustment - thicker square wire upper and lower, power chains, there are also some springs used to spread the gap between front incisors and the lower left canine (the aforementioned offending canine) so the one remaining tooth can be brought close enough to be braced.

12/10/04 - 2nd adjustment - power chain replaced. Nothing special. The right side moved real quick. No more incisor sticking out that side!

1/4/05 - I had to book a visit because the lower right side moved so fast the archwire started poking my cheek and had to be shortened. Grabbed a couple small tubes of Colgate Total Advanced Fresh. These are $2 each if I have to buy them myself. Good thing he has a whole box to give out.

Not so for the heads of the proxy brush. $3.7 for 4.

1/12/05 - 3rd adjustment - Upper power chain removed. Not much news on the lower. The lower teeth are now so packed I can't floss them now.

To be continued...

I clicked on your link and received the following error message...

This folder is not yet public.

Looking forward to seeing the pictures!!!

i clicked on your link as well and i got the same error message as rcbeep.

"this folder is not yet public"

i too look forward to your pics, i hope they get fixed soon!

Thanks for telling me.

They do have an moderation system but I uploaded those pics long ago. I'll have to find out what's going on.

I will have my next adjustment this Wednesday, meaning perhaps another set of pics.

If it happens again I'll make my own index page and edit the link here.

Adjustment today!

The "lone one out" tooth finally have enough space to be braced. I can feel it being pulled outwards now. That also means cream mushroom for me. So spring is out, and the lower power chain is gone as well.

The ortho also repositioned the lower right 3 bracket (the one on lower right canine). Debonding one bracket is no big deal, but imagine 20x that for the big day... I guess he replaced the bracket because he had his assistant bring him two brackets, but I don't know for sure.

EDIT: Pics finally up. I slipped in a picture of a Buurin cushion so you can see where my nickname comes from. Hint: I like pigs.

This one is less dramatic than the last, but is still major.

I got a thicker archwire in the bottom. I even got its bag here:



Also the power chains return! Have them on again top and bottom.

You can see from the photoblog that my lower middle incisors seems higher than others. My ortho says this is the 'curve of Spee', are normal, and will be taken care of later. Well, I'm only less than a quarter through, so I'll just take his word.

Well, I skipped update on one previous adjustment because only the power chains were replaced.

The adjustment today is 3 weeks from the previous one, my next one will also be 3 weeks from now. Now, he says, is the time the close the gaps (from the extractions) on top and bottom at the same time.

I think he put in a thicker power chains. I am feeling pain for one full day after the visit, something that had not happened for the last couple visits.

Again, time for some more pics later.

Thanks to this ortho treatment, RRSPs and other things I should be able to claim two grands in tax refund this year.

Didn't update for two visits because I am executing a career change - my interest in car repair rekindled and I'm not happy sitting a help desk. That job in an Indian-run ISP has no future.

Gap-closing continues. Lower power chains was out for one visit (May), and on the next (6/13) they're back. Ortho says that is to synchronize the closing of gaps on top and bottom.

Gaps on lower right is now closed, lower left have about 2mm left. More still have to be done on upper arch.

During the gap between this and last entry, my lower archwire was changed to stainless steel, which was bent to take care of mister Spee. Power chains were on all the time, top and bottom, except for a few weeks.

One more instalment and I'd have paid off my $4800 bill.

My ortho mentioned my orthodontics knowledge again today - suddenly - because he has new things for me this time - elastics! I was given a whole bag of 4mm 6oz elastics with a little white plastic hook to help put them on. The order is top canine to bottom first molar, both sides, 24/7 except eating, until further notice.

And by the way, the career change didn't work out.

Good to see you back! Nice progress!

I got elastics at my last appointment, too, but no little hooky thing.

I have had a hard time putting those buggers in with my big fat fingers. Lucky for me, I only have to wear them at night for 1 month.

Hi fellas, I'm back again! I know it's been a while, but this is another milestone so I have to post again. I have been busy with computers and doing SPAM with them , Lego, Corollas (the car) and spotting buses...

The 24/7 elastics thing only lasted for about one or two visits worth, in other words 8 weeks tops. Then it was nights only. I never needed that hookey thing to put them on. Yay.

The milestone was yesterday, when four braces are added to my second molars, and the archwires changed to top .016 and bottom .018 sentalloys. Because of this change Ortho ordered no elastics for the next 3 weeks which is when my next visit will be.

During these time my proxy brush (GUM Snap-ons) really helped. I used it more than my superfloss. I have been through countless packs of heads while my original pack of superfloss still haven't run out. I won't be getting more superfloss, but when I found a supermarket that stocks the snap-on heads at $3.49 vs $4 for everyone else, I just had to stock up when it ran a storewide sale on top of the already low price.

I snapped a set of pics of me and my teeth before that, when I opted for clear powerchains for a change from the silver one I have been given. Right now there's no powerchains. I will try to snap pics of my new braces to post.

And I landed myself a new job programming surveys.

This, according to my ortho, is the last major milestone; ie. I'm in the final straight!

See ya and wait for my pics!

Your teeth have come a long way. Those powerchains must do wonders.

Another few months of being lazy, but this is not a time to be, because I have a debonding date!

April 23 is when my teeth will go naked!

For the last adjustment (4 weeks before yesterday) I got criss-crossing wire ties twisted ~3 times between teeth through the entire upper row, and power chains (per my ortho's speak) upper 6 to 6, lower 3 to 6 left and right (and maybe one more adjustments before that - I'm losing count ) Yesterday's adjustment is simple crisscross ties underneath a "finishing" archwire that was put in new, and powerchains upper and lower that includes the second molars that got banded later. Those four (and the banded #1 molar IIRC) will get debanded first on April 14, when an impression for the retainer will be made.

I got to snap some pics for this final set of metal mouth apparatus before they're gone, for pics taken afterwards will be my "after" shots.

buurin wrote: I got to snap some pics for this final set of metal mouth apparatus before they're gone, for pics taken afterwards will be my "after" shots.

PICS ARE UP!

http://www.maj.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=137943

It may not be available right away because of the moderation they're doing there. Just check back later if you don't see it right away.

Any angle you guys want to see?