Metal Mouth Message Board

Well here goes:

I went to the orthodontist in November 2007 for my evaluation. I was told I would need upper and lower braces for the average 18-24 months. The orthodontist gave me the following notes on her evaluation:

-crowding of the teeth
-normal bite
-the jaw shape is uneven; right and left sides do not match
-moderate crowding of both the upper and lower dental arches
-the lower teeth are shifted to the left
-the upper teeth are shifted to the right

With this evaluation packet, the orthodontist gave me an estimate of 21 months. After the evaluation, I made the appointment for my records and impressions for November 26, 2007. The records appointment was pretty typical. Pictures were taken and I had impressions of upper and lower teeth made.

After this appointment I went ahead and scheduled the appointment for the braces to be put on December 3, 2007. OTC pain relievers were my BEST friend for the week after this. I would walk around with my hand in front of my face because I had the fear that someone would fall and hit me in the mouth (bizarre, I know!). Between then and now (July 23, 2008) I had one new wire on top and two new wires on the bottom. Not much excitement and only moderate movement my teeth, so I'm gonna skip ahead to my 5th adjustment (July 23, 2008).

At my 5th adjustment (today) the assistant checked my bite and told me to keep wearing the elastic configuration (24/7) that I was given at my 4th adjustment on June 11, 2008. The elastics are Ormco Fox Z-Pak Elastics. That's about all I know about them. I wear them from my upper first molars, down to my lower canines, and back up to my upper canines. When the elastics come down I loop them around a hook. Here's a picture for you visual learners (like me) out there!

These aren't my teeth. I just googled "teeth" to find an example.

Anyways, the assistant looked at my wires and said that I was ready for a rectangular wire on bottom (I got the rectangular wire on top on April 30, 2008). After a few minutes of prodding, the wire was in. Now to the bottom, she looked and noticed that one of my brackets was missing its ligature and the tooth had shifted backwards because of this. I admitted that I had popped the ligature off and never came in to have it replaced. So to fix this she put a wire tie "to engage" that tooth/bracket. Within a few minutes she said that the tooth was already moving back into position (can I get wire ties on all my brackets then? )

After getting that wire tie on, she asked what color ligatures I wanted. Since I have Inspire Ice clear brackets on top, I usually go for the clear ligatures on top, and the smoke gray color on bottom. I wanted something different this time (I'm stuck with braces, might as well have fun with them) so I got radical red on the metal brackets.

That was all that happened at this adjustment (but it's still more that what's been happening at my last few adjustments). As of right now, that new rectangular wire on top is already making its presence felt .

And if you were wondering why I never mentioned the orthodontist never coming to check me, it's because she never did. That's fine with me though, I have more faith in the assistant that I had today than with my orthodontist. Which is a sad truth...

EDIT: I completely forgot that I had some IPR done today on my centrals to help them line up more evenly.

Ok, my favorite part, pictures!


This picture was taken before my adjustment today. You can see part of my elastic configuration. I can thank tea and coke for my stained ligatures.


You can see how uneven my teeth are. My bite still has a lot of work as well.


My bottom arch with crowding. You can see how uneven my teeth are in this picture as well. My first molars aren't this stained looking in person.


Upper arch. If you look carefully, you can see how the left (looking at the picture) central incisor is not in line with the right central incisor.

Thanks for sharing your story and your pics uga09. You're lucky to have an assistant you like. I seem to keep getting the newbie who makes mistakes. Minor mistakes, thank goodness, but annoying all the same since I end up having to make a special trip back to get stuff fixed. (Do these people go to school or is it all on-the-job training? Sheesh!)

It's weird for me to hear that your ortho assistant is making decisions regarding your wires. My ortho assistants do not make any decisions, even the girls who have been with him for 10-15 years. My doctor always comes around and informs the girls what needs to be done or selects and cuts down the wire for the girls.

Thanks for sharing your story and your pics uga09. You're lucky to have an assistant you like. I seem to keep getting the newbie who makes mistakes. Minor mistakes, thank goodness, but annoying all the same since I end up having to make a special trip back to get stuff fixed. (Do these people go to school or is it all on-the-job training? Sheesh!)

Catfish : Thank you for reading my story! And I know about having the newbie assistant. At one of my adjustments the girl didn't even put the ligatures back on (and me being ignorant about braces didn't realize it until I left), so I had to make a trip back to get them put on.

It's weird for me to hear that your ortho assistant is making decisions regarding your wires. My ortho assistants do not make any decisions, even the girls who have been with him for 10-15 years. My doctor always comes around and informs the girls what needs to be done or selects and cuts down the wire for the girls.

Miss Smiley: Thank you for reading my story as well. I am very irked about it and I plan to discuss this with my orthodontist either before or at my next adjustment. I guess she doesn't realize that I am paying $5,000 for HER services and not the assistants. No matter how much I like the assistant that usually works on me, I want to see the person who went to school for 10+ years for this!

In the fourth picture I posted, you can see that the left central is moving forward. I asked so many questions about my bite and elastics that I completely forgot to ask about this. I am thinking about making an appointment this week to have it looked at. I don't want to go another month with a tooth moving in the wrong direction. (The tooth started moving forward about a month ago, and I'm hoping my new wire on top will fix it. I'm gonna give it a few more days to see what happens before I try to make an appointment with the ortho.)