Now as far as the MARA goes, everything is moving along great! I’m scheduled for 6 more months with it. I’ve had it in for 3 months and it’s seems like a life time already. One thing my ortho noticed was that the MARA was creating some spaces between my top molars on both sides so he fitted me with a power chain that only covers those last 3 molars on both sides. This is my 2nd month with the chains and I could not believe the pain after about 2 hours
! I had no idea I had power chains when I left the ortho since they sit so far back in my mouth and no one told me that’s what they were going to do. Needless to say I was back on my soup diet for the next 2 weeks. And just as soon as the pain starts to subside (I bet you can guess) I was scheduled for yet another visit to the chair and got slapped with the power chains once again. It wasn’t as bad the 2nd time however I have this strange feeling that I’ll be in full power chains before this thing is over. A few visits ago, I was told that the MARA had been advanced to the fullest and that there was no room for anymore adjustments. At my last visit it seems as if my lower jaw has gotten use to the 2 mm adjustment made in the past and has made room for 1mm more. I go back on March 26th for that. I like when they make those advancements because it makes me feel like there’s progress being made.
Let me try to explain the advancements a little bit. If you look at page #1 near the bottom of this forum then you may be able to get a better idea of where and how they advance the appliance. So as I said in the past, there’s a crown on the lower molars with a stopper on them and the upper molars have crowns on them that have slots that these elbow things can slide in and out of. Okay so what the ortho does to advance the MARA is add small rings from ½ mm to 1mm each to the elbow which pushes the elbow out further/forward and it then rests against the stoppers on the bottom molars (the stoppers never move by the way) and because the elbows move forward and rest on the stoppers, it forces the lowers jaw to sit forward and that’s how the stretching and training of the jaw starts. It sounds more painful then it really is. I have room for 1mm so that’s what he’ll do on the 26th. So far I’ve had 3 advancements! I started with a 7mm over bite and I’m down to I guess 1mm.
This is such an adventure for me. I can’t begin to express how happy I am that I made this decision. I am however very anxious to bring this journey to an end. I have been craving a PayDay candy bar more this weekend then ever before which is absolutely not possible at this point but I’m wondering if it’s worth a try…..
I’ll keep you all posted.
OH YEAH! AND MARCH 9TH MARKED MY 1 YEAR IN BRACES! I MADE IT!
Hello All! I haven't written anything in awhile because nothing has changed. I'm still in the MARA until October some time. Things are progressing quite well with it. My ortho takes the elbows of the MARA out at every visit and checks my bite to make sure it’s settling right. I notice once it’s out that if I try to slide my lower jaw back into the over bite position, it’s very VERY uncomfortable and I can’t slide it back nearly as far as I use to. My ortho said that’s because there has been some bone growth due to wearing the MARA. It’s taking some time for my bite to completely settle but it’s worth waiting for. I was told that I may be asked to keep it in past October and I’m honestly ok with that. My next appointment is August 2nd and it will be the normal changing of the ligs, changing the MARA rubber bands and out the door appointment. My appointments have now been spaced out 7 weeks apart now which leads me to believe I’m getting closer to the finish line! I still find myself stopping by to get my ligs changed. They tend to get really messy after 5 weeks. I know this sounds crazy but I’m looking forward to getting my power chain put on. I guess because I haven’t noticed any real movement in some time and I have some gaps that I never use to have that I desperately want closed. I’m just very excited to see the finished results. I’m due to be released in December or January of next year so that’s really making me anxious. If anyone is reading this who is struggling with deciding to get braces all I’ll say is I wish I did it sooner. I was terrified to get them but honestly once I got them, it wasn’t so bad….wasn’t bad at all and my husband likes them too. 
Oh yeah, I got married 07-07-07 like 35,000 other people in the state of Indiana. That was a very busy day for many families. I didn’t get my braces off for the wedding. It wasn’t that big of a deal to me. I just got clear ligs and smiled big for the camera! You can’t really see the braces in pictures either. I wish I knew how to post pics on this site so you could see (or not see) the braces! 
but it gave me the opportunity to get a second opinion on my progress. I never thought about getting a second opinion before but to get one unexpectedly was a great surprise. I had the usual changing of the ligs (got 
:
. Pics are a great way to track your progress. You can really see the changes when you line them up in order from beginning to end. I'm going to see if my ortho will give me or make me a copy of my "before" photos. They tell the whole horrible truth 
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