weird_wired's exciting story (going TOPLESS!)

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#46 Post by **braceface1230** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 1:25 pm

Wow, you teeth are looking AWESOME! It's been a while since I've checked your progress and it's looking great. You really have great looking teeth. Great shape, nice and white. Well done. Those elastics look like they're a major pain to deal with though. I'm so not looking forward to wearing them when I get that far. It's hard to believe that you're only 50% done though. I guess getting that bite just right is pretty time consuming. Well, at least your teeth are nice and straight and looking fabulous. Good for you!!

#47 Post by **weird_wired** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 2:38 am

Thanks guys!

Re the elastics: the front one is a pain, it does affect my speech a bit (especially when I'm tired) and you can't eat anything with it at all.

However: the orthodontist told me at this last visit that I'm clearly wearing them very well, and confided that I only really need to wear them at night. He says he doesn't always tell patients this, because people tend to wear them less than advised. So if he says: "wear them all the time" they usually wear them half the time, which is what he wants. But if he says "just wear them at night" then sometimes people won't bother, so they won't work properly.

#48 Post by **chelsea28** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 2:25 pm

haha im gonna sound stupid asking this but what is shaving?
and how much did your braces cost?
i think they look great
do people notice them alot?

#49 Post by **weird_wired** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:53 am

Well - good news at today's appointment - it should only be another 6-7 months!

Even more exciting, I have now got powerchains to close gaps on the lowers. What was happening was that every morning the middle lower teeth were tight together from the removable elastics. Within 30-60 minutes of removing them, a gap would appear. The powerchain will hopefully solve this.

The orthodontist didn't have many colours: blue, green, lime and a medium pink. I went for that, and as a result, had paler pink ones put on top than the usual Wild Pink, as they matched better. Fingers crossed they won't stain to pale apricot...

The other changes are the removable elastics: a downgrade to lion on the right, still keeping rhino on the left, and removing the tiny heavy python from the front altogether.

The pattern is kind of interesting, looking left/front-right/right:

1. Light - [nothing] -Light
2. Light - [nothing] - Strong
3. Light - Strong - Strong
4. Strong - Strong - Strong
5. Strong - [nothing] - Light

The other thing that will have to be fixed near the very end is my top midline: apparently it's 1mm towards the left. I'm not too bothered about it, so if it can't be corrected (which apparenty is a bit tricky but he's going to try) I'm fine with it as is.

#50 Post by **scuzzy_creature** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 1:00 pm

awesome, your teeth look great =)

6/7 months will fly by in no time

#51 Post by **hannah164** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 4:51 pm

OMG Weird_Wired! Your smile is absolutely gorgeous!

I'm jealous!

I'm absolutely lovin' the pink powerchains!

Great to hear that you only have 6 or 7 months left, and those will fly by real fast!

You have such beautiful teeth, very white and nicely shaped.

KEep us posted!

~Hannah

Top braces: 4/28/04
Bottom braces: 11/16/05
Last Adjustment: February 28, 2006 where they gave me a new bottom wire and attached my impacted canine, newly bracketed, to the wire! OUCH!

#52 Post by **weird_wired** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 3:45 am

KK wrote:weird_wired your teeth look fantastic! Love your ligs and your powerchain!

I got my first two half powerchains today ... and my ortho put on tooth coloured ... YUCK! I was reading your post and thinking about what you wrote about your ortho not having many colours ... I just hope that if I have to wear these things again ... my ortho does have some colours ... as it doesn't bear thinking about what colour these chains will be in six weeks time at my next adjustment! Not the colour they are today ... that's for sure!

Good luck with your final months!

Thanks everyone for your kind comments!

I can't wait to see your tooth coloured chain KK! I find the powerchain has a really nice look generally, because it covers the dark wire a bit more.

Website · #53 Post by **alexa** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:12 pm

Your teeth are looking great, and a 6/7 month estimate is even greater!

--alexa

#54 Post by **weird_wired** » Thu May 04, 2006 5:27 pm

Well, something exciting and new yet again: figure of eight white wires. These are designed to stablise the teeth in the final stages. They can still move a little, but not much. Rose pink ligs again, they haven't stained noticeably at all, and blend really well. And they're a pleasant colour if someone does notice them (actually they look a deeper colour in this picture than in reality, probably because I tried to increase the saturation and contrast so the colour didn't all fade out during the save-for-web compression):

It's also time to fix the midline (or try to). My orthodontist is optimistic that this is possible, but one thing he mentioned is that midlines can be the quickest thing to relapse once braces come off. Anyway, two diagonally placed elastics (red lions - the standard size, gentle strength ones) are there to try and move the line. You can see how the midline is off in the photo above.

For those that haven't had white (arch)wires yet, that black dot in the centre is a placement dot. It eventually disappears after you've brushed a few times, but in reality is not very noticeable. Scrunch your eyes as you look at the photo and you'll see what I mean. I was paranoid about it when I first got white wires, but really it doesn't show.

#55 Post by **M1k3y** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 10:15 am

I love this thread of yours because your smile is beautiful. I too wondered what that black dot was until I finally figured it out. I love having "tooth colored" archwire because it keeps my braces discreet. You are almost done!

#56 Post by **weird_wired** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 9:01 am

Well - not really much change to report, if any. The midline doesn't appear to have shifted, but in fairness the ortho said he expected it to take longer than a month.

The elastics are upgraded to Rhino (medium size, heavy strength) so that might give them more of a nudge. Same configuration as last month. I've also got a high-strength powerchain to try and close the gap between the front lower teeth. I wanted a coloured one, but the only one he had available in the high-strength was clear. He also wants to improve the bite on the left side, it's a bit open at the moment whereas the right side is nearly perfect - strange because the right side was the horrible concave crossbite side when I started out! However he can't put triangle elastics on again while he's still trying to fix the midline.

One thing my ortho was surprised at was the way the pale pink ligs have resisted staining. Despite masses of hot tea, iced coffee, tomato-based sauce and even mustard and soy, they were the same colour four weeks after being put on. I got a fresh set, but I hardly needed to!

(The photo above makes the ligs look a little pinker than they really are, because I fiddled with the colour saturation to stop the photo bleaching out with Save For Web compression. They are a very pale, pastel pink. The lipstick is Versace V2057 with Lip Venom gloss on top ).

#57 Post by **weird_wired** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:09 am

Thanks so much Linda and Karen! As expected, today is a bit thump-in-the-teeth feeling, something I always get right after a heavier elastic or new configuration, but it will soon pass. Hopefully

#58 Post by **weird_wired** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 11:02 am

I honestly have the coolest orthodontist in the world.

White wonderfulness
Today I was lamenting the awful brown stains around my teeth, that I cannot get off with any type of toothbrush or even bleaching toothpaste. (They were underneath the wire, and on top of the bottom teeth where it was really hard to get pressure with the brush I assume - my teeth never stained in those places before braces). So he got a special dental brush thing and some paste, and got rid of them all! My teeth feel so much whiter now.

Purple power
I was so happy I let him pick out lig colours. He tried five different ones on (red looks like blood by the way - best avoided on ceramics) and in the end chose alternating pink and purple. Voila:

Midline madness
Unfortunately as can be seen in that picture the damn midline still isn't corrected, so I've got two packets of Rhinos (heavy medium size) to do day and night.

Farewell to magical powerchain
He removed the partial-lower powerchain as the teeth have closed. Interestingly despite being clear it hadn't stained at all, unlike regular clear ligs do.

Tightening the whites
He redid very tightly the white figure-of-eight thin white wires that go under the archwires. As a result I've got post-adjustment soreness for the first time in months (kind of cool really - probably hell tomorrow though!)

So another month of praying for the midline to sort itself out, then it should be back to some triange elastics to fix the slightly open bite on teh left.

Anyway here's a toothpaste-ad style smile (very fake - not how I really smile at all!) to celebrate:

#59 Post by **jenfire** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 1:30 pm

wow, i love the purple ligs! Your teeth look great!

#60 Post by **weird_wired** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 2:35 pm

Thank you! I'm not sure if one colour would be better, but I couldn't choose between the two!