Because of my crowding I kept a lot of baby teeth for a very long time, and in fact kept my upper left baby incisor until they pulled it a year ago. That was one of the causes of my crossbite on the upper right second tooth- the adult tooth grew in right behind the baby tooth.
Anyhow, enough of the before! I initially got two expander appliances my junior year of high school. One on the bottom and one sort of like a saggital appliance on top (There were two cross-sections, so I'm not sure what that's called exactly. Covered my molars though.). They really created a lot of space, over half a centimeter in places, if the gaps in the appliance were any indication, but after my dog ate the top one and I went through a lot of mis-made and incorrect appliances we left the chain orthodontist I was seeing. Well, about a year and a half ago my father and I decided to go through my regular dentist for ortho treatment, as we'd been seeing the guy for years and years and it was a really friendly office. They directed my to an oral surgeon to get my wisdom teeth out 'cause they were pretty near to my sinuses, and once they healed there was no stopping me!
I got in a saggital appliance on top in February this year, pulled that upper left baby incisor, and got braces on my bottom teeth. Although I was only supposed to have the appliance for three to six months, I kept it for seven. It was a horrible thing, gave me a really bad lisp and it was SO hard to eat with it in. I had one break on me, and I think I ignored a lot of discomfort that I could have gone to my orthodontist to fix, but I didn't really know what discomfort was normal and what was the appliance just digging into me in unhelpful ways. I got my braces on top about two months ago, and there's been a TON of movement. My top left incisor has dropped dramatically and my upper second teeth are coming forward really well. My bottom teeth are also very straight.
One of the problems that I'm experiencing is a really weird bite from having that appliance in so long. Everything has drifted so much that my molars don't fit together much. After the inconvenience of that stupid appliance it doesn't seem like such a big deal, though.
And all of my jaw clicks and teeth grinding problems are gone, too!Anyhow, I've had one adjustment on the top braces and several on the bottom, and as far as I can tell, it is all going really well. My gums are healthy and although I don't LOVE the braces, I was so self-conscious about my teeth before that it is sort of a relief to have them there.
Not sure how long I'll have them, my orthodontist suggested two years in total, but I don't think he really knows.
Here's a picture from last night. There's a lot of unevenness, especially on top, but that's just because of the pressure of pulling that incisor down. I'm sure it'll even out quickly once I get a powerchain on there, and probably some elastics to yank it all together. I'm just starting out, and I'm really happy with my progress so far. Especially on the bottom! Everything is settling really well with those teeth.
So.... Anyone else have a similar bite?
And yello everyone!
PS: One thing that's really bizarre to me is that now my top teeth almost meet exactly with my bottom teeth. There's almost zero overjet or overlap. I'm sure things will overlap a little bit more in the end when my molars fit together better, but what a trip!
