I have to explain that I haven't been on here because I was unhappy with my progress.
* My upper and bottom arches did not meet, I still have a little gap in the biting surface on the left side of my arch.
* One of my front teeth looked crooked
* and my incisors did not even come close to meeting.
I preferred not to think about my progress or my braces for 6 months. Call it Denial, Big Time.
So, at my appt. yesterday, I mentioned my concerns. My ortho. pulled out a disk and zip, zip, zipped my teeth. He reshaped my front tooth a bit. Apparently the root is aligned, but the tooth had worn more on one side. He did IPR on my front top teeth to pull my front teeth back a bit. They appeared flared before and I did not like that, so this is good! I'm in a power chain to close gaps.
I wasn't expecting IPR and so my anxiety level jumped. I had been worried about losing too much enamel. I had no idea it was such a painless, easy procedure. I can't even tell anything was done!
Because of the anxiety, my eyes began to tear up. Then he mentioned that we may have to consider pulling the bicuspids to get the front teeth to perfectly align.
I freaked!
My biggest anxiety about getting braces was that I did not want teeth pulled. He explained that I had a half tooth malocclusion and pulling two teeth on top would deal with that. By then I actually did start to cry.
I'll live with a bit of a gap and slide my lower teeth forward if I have to, but I am not getting removals and prolonging my treatment at this stage. It's just not happening. I have a mental block about it.
All that said, here are my progress photos. I included one of my gap.
I'm actually happy with my progress. Next time I go in he plans to do detail work and talk to me more about "my options".
I'm going to post my current photos now.
Upper arch
Bottom arch
Smile-- sorry about the shine on my gums from saliva.
The Gap
Thanks for looking!
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)