Brandon's Excellent Adventure -- update: extractions on 5/2

[BrandonH]

I've been a little bit all over the place with my updates, so I figured I better begin one of these progress threads.

Just a recap:

Name: Brandon H
Age: 31
Location: Warren, Arkansas, USA

Initial Ortho Visit: Dec 28, 2007

Initial Prognosis: I qualified for braces, but will need an RPE. Estimated B-day -- January 17

January 3 -- did impressions, photos, and x-rays. got spacers.

January 4, 5, 6, 7 ---- HATED spacers

January 8 --- disliked spacers

January 9 --- okay with spacers


January 10 --- ortho TOOK OFF THE SPACERS


Back on January 3, the plan was to do some impressions today for the RPE and get the brackets and wires put on January 17. That has changed a little bit.

I will need a stabilizer appliance on my lower arch -- not sure what it's called. The ortho said it won't cause discomfort or impair my speech.

They took the spacers off today and will not be putting them back on until my appliances are made and ready to put on. The ortho office will call me (probably a week or so) to let me know the appliances are in. At that time, I'll go in for spacers. When the spacing is right for appliances, they'll go in.

I'll turn my RPE for a week or two, then the wires and brackets go on.

We're estimating that the braces will go on in early February.


The ortho knew I was disappointed, but said at my age it takes a little bit to get the braces on. However, once on, I'll start seeing results. . .. just gotta be patient.


Just a quck FYI --- my RPE will not be surgically assisted. I'll wear and turn it for 4-6 months. He only needs 4 mm of movement, but will expand more than that (maybe 8mm) to account for some relapse.


The spacers did their job as I was fitted with some bands today. However, they immediately took the bands off They just wanted to make sure they'd fit. FRUSTRATION


No doubt, I'm ready to get this thing on the road . . . see some movement. . . look a little goofy. . . . get a little bit uncomfortable. . . . .



I guess I need to take some pics. I'll see what I can do.

[BrandonH]

Here are the pics ---- sorry about the clarity on the upper arch. I tried the flash, etc but it was too bright and the lighting in my living room was just not all that good.


Front view



Lower Arch



Upper Arch





I guess I have a good mix of "issues" going on in my mouth My ortho says he will be able to make all the necessary moves without extractions. The estimated time of treatment is 36 months.

[victor36]

Hello, BrandonH!!! Congratulations on your decision to get braced! Your teeth are in excellent shape, so the end result is going to be awesome. Here's to hoping that the RPE works its magic and you can start your way to a million dollar smile

Until next time,

~Victor

[BrandonH]

I just moved to Warren and my Dentist there told me that my teeth are strong and in great shape. I thought he was just saying it to be nice because I always thought of myself as having bad teeth.



Today I told my ortho that it's absolutely remarkable the work they (orthos) do. I've seen pics on here and looked at various molds at the ortho office and I'm just amazed at what can be accomplished with braces, etc.

[BrandonH]

The office finally called and the RPE arrived. So today I went in to get spacers put on (AGAIN).

The first time around they broke about 12 spacers because my teeth were so crowded. They were on for a week then my ortho plan changed --- RPE to go on before braces.

So they took the spacers off until for a couple of weeks.

Well, today it took about 3 minutes to put them in.

The RPE goes in next Wed at 9:00.

[kittymeow84]

Good luck with the RPE!!

Its funny you mention that you thought you had bad teeth. I also thought the same and its probably because we're so used to having them all crooked that we think they're in bad condition too. But its nice to hear from the dentist that they aren't as bad as we first thought huh! I was so surprised when my dentist said I had no cavities and very strong enamel - I always thought my teeth were horrible.

Here's to good teeth!

[BrandonH]

When I was little, I liked to NOT brush my teeth.

By the time I was a teen, it caught up to me and my upper and lower left molars all but rotted away. The dentist was able to save them and now they are crowned.

I did have to have root canals on the other molars.

That's why I thought I had bad teeth

Since then, I've brushed like a pro. Now, I'm teaching my son the importance of taking care of his teeth.

He's very much a part of my bracing, as he will likely need them when he gets older. As the typical son who wants to be like his Dad, my son has told me that he wants to get big so he can "get braces like Daddy."

[kittymeow84]

When I was little, I liked to NOT brush my teeth.

Yep me too. My parents didn't really place much importance on clean teeth at all. We come from a very poor country (Romania) where just getting food in your gob each week was a struggle enough let alone spending your precious little money on toothpaste!

I got shamed into brushing my teeth when someone in my class said I had yellow fuzz all over them. Ever since then I've brushed every day. But those initial years resulted in my three fillings.
If I had've taken care of them from the start then I wouldn't have had any cavities at all.

When I have children they too will be brushing daily!! Hehe. Its so great to hear you're passing on your hard earned knowledge to your children. And even better that your son is not scared of having braces because his Daddy has them! But all in all - here's hoping he has beautiful straight teeth and he won't ever even need them!

[KateinCO]

Hi Brandon --

Great pictures .... you are going to be so excited to document the changes in your smile over the next few years. I have had braces for about two months now ... I thought I had seen a bit of a change, but when I saw the pictures my dentist took at my records appointment, I was AMAZED by how much had changed.

I wish you the best with your experience ... I am sure you will see dramatic changes fairly quickly!! Good luck to you and welcome to the forum!

Cheers from the Rocky Mountains,
Kate

[BrandonH]

An upper RPE and a lower RPE (I know that's not the right name for it) went in today.

I'm getting better at talking, but some words just give me fits.

I'm trying to eat a burger right now and that's not working out too well.

Pain is not there at all (yet).

Anyone know what the lower contraption is called? I'll try to post some pictures later on tonight.

My doc says he's going to try and keep this treament under 6 months. . . . . Lord, I hope he's right

[bracesonfebruaryfirst2008]

Hi Brandon!
I had to laugh at your hate of spacers....I was the same way. My dentist got the top and bottom right, and top left in, but he broke like 10 spacers when it came to my lower left cause my teeth were so tight. So he left the other spacers in for about a week, and when it came time to put the metal rings around my molars (do those metal rings have a name? I have no idea of dental terminology!) he got the first 3 in fine but when it came to my lower left teeth that had NOT been spaced...he just fit the metal ring over my molar and shoved it on.....omg it hurt soooo much! Can you tell me what an RPE is? I think I need to study up a bit more on "braces words"

[BrandonH]

An RPE is a fancy word for "doo-dad that makes you talk like you have half a tongue."

It's actually a cool little thing that exands the palatte and gives the upper aruch a more horseshoe shape. My arch is almost triangular in shape. The doc says I get at least 4 months of RPE.

Those things around your molars are called bands.

In 3 weeks I get brackets put on -- what joy. Maybe by then I'll be able to speak like a normal adult

[Miss Smiley]

Try the reading the Rainbow Passage out loud to help your speech return to normal.

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon.

There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Throughout the centuries people have explained the rainbow in various ways. Some have accepted it as a miracle without physical explanation. To the Hebrews it was a token that there would be no more universal floods. The Greeks used to imagine that it was a sign from the gods to foretell war or heavy rain. The Norsemen considered the rainbow as a bridge over which the gods passed from earth to their home in the sky.

Others have tried to explain the phenomenon physically. Aristotle thought that the rainbow was caused by reflection of the sun's rays by the rain. Since then physicists have found that it is not reflection, but refraction by the raindrops which causes the rainbows.

Many complicated ideas about the rainbow have been formed. The difference in the rainbow depends considerably upon the size of the drops; the width of the colored band increases as the size of the drops increases. The actual primary rainbow observed is said to be the effect of a super-imposition of a number of bows. If the red of the second bow falls upon the green of the first, the result is to give a bow with an abnormally wide yellow band, since red and green light when mixed form yellow. This is a very common type of bow, one showing mainly red and yellow, with little or no green or blue.

[BrandonH]

anyone ever been sick with the metal on? I get metal on and the first day, I catch the stomach virus. Let's just say that the appliances catch things. .. . . . . GROSS.

[Lisa65]

oh no!

Have you by any chance got a Waterpik? It will make it a lot easier to get those little ummm "remnants" out from the RPE and the brackets.

I hope you feel better soon!