If you want to share the detailed saga of your braces story, this is the place to do it. You can use this forum as a braces journal, editing and updating your posts as your treatment goes on. Remember to also visit the main ArchWired.com site for additional stories from other readers!
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So I got a posted wire on my uppers yesterday as well as springs that connect my top 6's to the posts. I was all excited that we're FINALLY going to work on closing the spaces. I was also looking at the spring and wondering what it looks like when it is not stretched out. Well, now I know, because as I was brushing after lunch today, I felt/heard a BOING and the spring on the left popped off the bracket and was dangling from the post off my front teeth. Yeah, really attractive. =) I tried to fiddle around and hook it back on, but that only resulted in my unscrewing the end of the spring from the loop that is wired onto the post.
Anyway, I had to make my first real emergency appointment. Only it's with a different ortho who is closer to where I live because my regular ortho is in his far office, 50 miles away from my house. Let's just hope I don't end up liking this other ortho more because I shouldn't be switching orthos partway through my treatment.
Finally got around to uploading my photos. So after my left spring un-sprung, and I got that fixed, my right one un-sprung too! This time I got to snap a picture before I put it back on, since I was home brushing instead of at work. It was much easier to get it on w/ a pair of tweezers handy.
Me looking less than thrilled...
The emergency ortho put on a similar spring as what my ortho put on, but it was a little tighter than the original one. So I can definitely feel a good 4-5 mm of wire poking out on my left upper. Good thing my cheek had already toughened up from the last time I had a pokey wire. I think I can hold off on going to get the wire clipped til my regular appointment.
No springs on my bottoms, but my lower left gap is closing up pretty well on its own. There's maybe 2 mm hanging off the end of the wire down there too.
My springs help close the gaps from my extractions. I guess they act like powerchains. My ortho seems to prefer more metal in my mouth rather than elastics/rubber bands/ceramics. The plus side is they don't stain, and they make a funky twang if I play on them.
Alrighty... bad news and good news for me. As my wedding is only 3.5 months away, I felt it was the right time to bring it up again w/ my ortho. As I suspected, I won't be done w/ my treatment in time for the wedding =( My ortho said that most of the delay came from my stubborn rotated wisdom tooth. He also said that I can take the braces off temporarily though and wear a clear retainer (similar to the Invisalign trays) while my braces are off and he can probably do something to fill in my gaps if they're still very noticeable by then =) The retainer will at least give me peace of mind that at least I won't be going BACKWARDS in progress for that time period. And it's good to know I can get something to fill the gaps so I won't look like a 14-yo bride. But the other bad(ish) news is that the process of taking the brackets off and placing them back on is going to set me back 2 months, no question about it, because the brackets can't be placed EXACTLY where they were before. =( I guess I'll just have to deal with that delay. The way I think about it, it's either pay my ortho money to physically take off the braces or pay my photographer to edit the select few pictures and digitally take out the braces. At least with the former, everyone will have a preview of my new million-dollar smile.
Another thing was I have the option of just taking off the uppers and leaving the lowers in place so I won't lose time there. I personally feel like the lowers have a bit of catching up to do, so maybe it won't be a bad thing. I'll have to ask his opinion again next time. You can definitely see the lowers when I'm talking, and if I'm smiling really widely, but I think hidden enough that I wouldn't notice too much w/ a normal smile. My lower lip seems much bigger in pictures since I've been braced though, which I'm not thrilled about, so I haven't decided what I want to do yet.
I forgot to ask if it was possible to switch entirely to invisalign at that point. I'm not sure how much he works with Invisalign though, so I don't know if it'd be a great idea. I know it's usually a slower process too. Then again I've gotten used to the metal braces, so I can deal with a few more months of treatment.
As for the adjustment itself, I had my wires trimmed top and bottom and a new powerchain on the bottoms. My ortho decided to snip the wire on top at the 5, so my 6 is only held on w/ the wire tie. Not sure why he decided to do that. My bottom wire got upgraded last time to a curvy one that's supposed to help open my bite, and I kept the same wire this time. Will post pictures at some point...
Pictures, as promised, albeit a little postponed. I've been preoccupied with wedding planning. My how time flies. I think I've decided to take off the uppers only for the wedding. Looking at recent pictures the bottoms aren't too noticeable, unless I'm taking a closeup of a super-wide smile. Hopefully that'll keep things reasonable. I'm guessing my total treatment time will increase to 24+ months by the time I'm done though. A little bummed that it's taking so long, but honestly, it hasn't felt like that long.
Got partially debanded on Thursday. I left the bottoms on and just got rechained for that. My super nice ortho decided to waive the fee for the partial deband and the essix retainers he has to make for me. I got one the same day to keep my teeth in place, and he's sending my impressions out to get another one done that'll have something to cover the huge gap on my right side from my extraction. I'm getting that this coming Thursday
The first essix retainer felt really tight on my teeth. The ortho said that in the 3 hours it took for them to make it, my teeth shifted already. I have to wear it 24/7 and only take it out to eat and brush. My teeth are sore for the first 15 minutes of taking it out, but after that it's ok. It's Day 4 since I started wearing the retainer and it's definitely a lot better now. Hopefully the new retainer won't give me problems. I'd really like to eat on Saturday. T-minus 5 days til the wedding.
Stumbled across your story tonight. It looks like you've made wonderful progress. When exactly is the big day? I wish you well with many happy years to come.
Dance a dance for your AW family.
Mike
I wore braces (this time) for 1294 days or 3 years, 6 months and 17 days.
But who's counting?
Jaw Surgery June 1, 2009
Thanks for praying for me and thinking happy thoughts.
Alrighty, so it's been 4 months since my temporary removal of the uppers for the wedding. Married life is going well, except we're *STILL* homeless. I'm finally back to where I was with the uppers before I got them taken off for the wedding. Ortho said though, because I kept my lowers on that we did get my bite opened up in the last few months so I'm maybe only a month or 2 delayed overall. I hope so =)
Anyway, today's nth adjustment was a long one. I had a newbie assistant work on my taking out my powerchains and wires and I was super nervous that she wasn't taking enough precaution to prevent the Damon tool from stabbing my mouth if it slips cuz she seemed so indifferent to the whole thing. Surely enough it did slip and she drew a bit of blood but it wasn't awful. To give her credit, she did seem like an eager beaver watching the ortho put in posted wires top and bottom with springs, elastics, wire ties, and another funny elastic thingie to hold my lower left molars together and she was on her toes grabbing the right tools for the ortho before he needed to ask for them.
I guess it's different being the one in the chair vs the one holding the metal tools. I think all orthos and assistants should have to go through getting their lips pinched by wires, faces used as handrests, tight brackets opening and closing, wires stabbing their cheeks as they get threaded through the back brackets, and lips stretched to the max without chapstick as part of their training. Cruel, maybe, but compassion and sympathy goes a long way with orthodontics.
Will post pics when I get a chance, but need to find a place in the house with privacy and good lighting to stick a camera in my mouth first.
Me looking less than thrilled...
