Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello fellow brace faces!
A little about myself:
I'm 28, and just got braces last month. In fact, I got them the same day as my consultation! I almost cried when he said he could do it the same day. He is a highly respected ortho in the community, and I've been to 2 other consults years ago and had pretty much the same treatment plan (mainly the 4 extractions), so I was expecting to have to do that. I was fully braced with SmartClips on 12.01.2008, and had my extractions ten days later (on my birthday, but heh, I had nothing better to do than have 4 teeth ripped out of my skull ). I have my first adjustment on Feb. 4th, and I'm pretty excited. Maybe I'll get a powerchain so I can have some color
Oh, and my husband is out of the country for the year (he's in the Air Force) so he hasn't actually seen me yet....He'll be home for a month on leave in March so he'll get to see me then. Guess I'll have more things to get used to with the braces then

I look forward to being a part of this nice community over the next 34 months (well, 32 now, since it's already been almost 2 months).

Here is a picture I took right outside of the ortho's office:


This is after my extractions:


These were last week:






And yesterday:








I can't manage to get a good picture of the top row and I can only get my phone so far into my mouth! And I know they are really hard to see, maybe you should stand across the room and squint your eyes to see them better My phone doesn't have a macro setting! My husband has the nice camera with him. Any tips on getting a good picture up top?

Thanks

Looks like you've had some progress already! Congrats on starting your journey! Do you have wire ties or regular ligatures? if they're regular ones, you should be able to use colours, even with clear brackets

I fiddled with some of the settings on my phone until I got some semi-good pics, then uploaded them to my computer and resized them in Paint Shop Pro. Now I have my regular camera, so it's easier to get pics.

Good luck!

Thank you. They are self-ligating so I don't have any o-rings or wire ties.

I think I have an old digital camera in the house somewhere, so I'll see if I can find it and get some better pictures.

You're welcome! I've only had my braces on for about 3 months, but I've found this forum to be a wealth of information and support, hopefully you'll find it as useful as I have!

I had my first adjustment today. Pretty quick, only took maybe 20 minutes and I was back to work. I got both wire replaced with stronger ones, and pink powerchains on the bottoms to help my canines move out of the way so I can get brackets on the little teeth-in-hiding. The ortho said things are moving, so that's good. I am really starting to feel the PC kicking in, though! Here are a few pictures from this evening:







I have my next adjustment on April 6th. Take care

Congrats on the first adjustment! Looks like you got that touch of color that you wanted. Looks cool!

Been a while. My husband was here for a month, and while he was here, I had my second adjustment on April 6th. Replaced the powerchains....and that was it. But the ortho said that I will have new wires and powerchains top and bottom next time. Next visit is June 15th. I found a couple of pictures of my teeth before braces. I was making funny faces so my son could take pictures (he was telling me what to do), otherwise the pictures would never have seen the light of day! And although it looks like I have an open bite in one of them, I don't...it just looks that way because I have my jaw pushed forward. Without further ado....





These are from today (almost 5.5 months in!) I'm getting there....


Mouth open (bottom teeth starting to look like a picket fence, but that's great since I've never had spaces before!)


Got the top arch this time


Right side


Left side


And the picture with the most progress goes to.....Bottom Arch! for the canines finally making way for the rest of the folks!


Well that's all for now. Just need to decide what color I want for my powerchains next time. I'm thinking I'll stick with the teal, and for the adjustment in August (football season), I'll go with orange on top, and blue on bottom. Works out pretty good since my dad is a die hard Denver Bronco's fan (I had to take an oath for the Bronco's before they brought me home from the hospital!), and my cousin-in-law plays for Auburn University. Can't go wrong I guess

Oh, and Tommm....Thanks for your comments especially. Not just here, but everywhere else you comment you seem to say something to make me think, and it brightens my day. I like your outlook. Keep it up

Thank you Ken! I'm not sure what else needs to be done before the last two are bracketed in, but it wasn't even mentioned at the last appointment. Guess if it doesn't happen next time I'll have to suck it up and ask! And I didn't really notice until I took that picture of the top arch how much it has rounded out, 'cause it doesn't look all that round from the front!

I had my 3rd adjustment today, and I am now 6.5 months into braces I finally got the bottom laterals bonded, and a stronger wire on top, and a pink PC to start closing to gaps on top. I don't need the pink ligs on top, but I thought it was nice of the girl to offer to make them match at little better. I was going to go with purple, but they didn't have it. They really don't have much of a selection there, but oh well.

Okay, pictures from today:











That's all for now. About to go chow down on some mashed potatoes

Wow! Look at that great movement on the bottom!!

Great progress,and liking the pink too

It's been 15 days since the last 2 teeth got braced. Here is the progress so far:

06.15.2009


06.30.2009

Tomorrow it will be one month since the last two got SPAM SPAM SPAMMING. It's looking much better And it feels much better too, like I have more room in my mouth.

02.04.2009 (The day I got the first PC's)


06.15.2009 (The day the laterals were bracketed)


07.14.2009 (Today )


And the best news of all is my husband is coming home in 2 1/2 weeks!!!

your teeth are looking fantastic now! Keep going, they'll look so good when you're done!

I just got back from my appointment. I am now in month 35 of 32-34 month estimated treatment. SOOOO ready to be done! My next appointment is January 5th, and if all goes well I will start vertical elastics to set my bite. The ortho said that he might be able to schedule the debanding for a few weeks after that. So by the time I am done it will have been 38 months. But here are the progress pics. I know it's been a while.