Volare's Story - 10 months lingual iBraces:New Wire/elastics
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The top braces only took me about a week to get used to. The bottom braces are much more intrusive and took about 2 weeks to get used to.
I had my top arch wired for 3 years, 9 months, 3 weeks and 3 days with iBraces
I had my bottom arch wired for 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 4 days with iBraces
with Clarity conventional brackets top and bottom
I had my bottom arch wired for 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 4 days with iBraces
with Clarity conventional brackets top and bottom
I went today for a standard 6 week checkup. I think this was the 2nd time in a row that I hadn't broken anything off that needed to be replaced. Now the last time I went, they changed my bottom wire, so I wasn't expecting much to be done today. But the tech had a look and said "time for a new bottom wire"! So out with the old, and in with the new. So I am now on Wire #3 for top and bottom. I think I am done getting new wires on top, but there are a couple of more for the bottom. I have square wires now on both top and bottom. The ortho took a look and said it was time to start elastics. So the attached 6 buttons to the front sides of my teeth- 4 on top and two on bottom. They showed me how to put the bands on like a triangle. These things make my teeth ache more than the braces ever did! So here are some photos from today:
The new elastics and buttons:
The top arch:
The bottom arch. You can also see my top 2 front teeth are still messed up in this photo, although it has gotten better:
and finally my still crooked smile:
I guess more elastics down the road will help straighten out my midline offset. Elastics are supposed to stay on 24/7 to help close my open bite. Will be interesting to see how that works out!
The new elastics and buttons:
The top arch:
The bottom arch. You can also see my top 2 front teeth are still messed up in this photo, although it has gotten better:
and finally my still crooked smile:
I guess more elastics down the road will help straighten out my midline offset. Elastics are supposed to stay on 24/7 to help close my open bite. Will be interesting to see how that works out!
I had my top arch wired for 3 years, 9 months, 3 weeks and 3 days with iBraces
I had my bottom arch wired for 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 4 days with iBraces
with Clarity conventional brackets top and bottom
I had my bottom arch wired for 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 4 days with iBraces
with Clarity conventional brackets top and bottom
Had to go to the ortho today and get one of the buttons replaced (left side, lower). The first install had been put on slightly wrong, and the band would slip off whenever I closed my mouth. I was often unable to keep the thing on for more than a couple of mins at a time- very annoying. So now that I can keep them installed for long periods of time- including overnight, hopefully we will see some quick improvements.
Incidently, people often ask how lingual braces affect kissing. I can confidently say that my iBraces did not negatively affect kissing at all. These buttons however are the work of the devil. They significantly and negatively affect kissing and most other mouth movements due to their abrasive properties on the inside of my lips. I am guessing this is what normal braces feel like- of course I have only 6 buttons installed instead of brackets on every tooth. Oh well, hopefully these things will be off soon!
Incidently, people often ask how lingual braces affect kissing. I can confidently say that my iBraces did not negatively affect kissing at all. These buttons however are the work of the devil. They significantly and negatively affect kissing and most other mouth movements due to their abrasive properties on the inside of my lips. I am guessing this is what normal braces feel like- of course I have only 6 buttons installed instead of brackets on every tooth. Oh well, hopefully these things will be off soon!
I had my top arch wired for 3 years, 9 months, 3 weeks and 3 days with iBraces
I had my bottom arch wired for 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 4 days with iBraces
with Clarity conventional brackets top and bottom
I had my bottom arch wired for 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 4 days with iBraces
with Clarity conventional brackets top and bottom
error when posting...
Last edited by Volare on Thu Dec 11, 2008 8:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
I had my top arch wired for 3 years, 9 months, 3 weeks and 3 days with iBraces
I had my bottom arch wired for 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 4 days with iBraces
with Clarity conventional brackets top and bottom
I had my bottom arch wired for 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 4 days with iBraces
with Clarity conventional brackets top and bottom
Oh gosh, those "buttons" sound evil!! I hope I don't have to get them...crap, now that I think about it, I may have to! LOL...I will be getting elastics at the next visit...I really hope they can put them on another way... why dont they ever tell you about this stuff when you're deciding whether to get iBraces or not?
Well, my ticker says I am now 14.5 months into treatment... Yesterday I had a regularly scheduled appointment for my Ortho to see how my bite was doing. I've been in elastics for several months now. It was my opinion that the bite wasn't doing so hot. Ortho took a look and said that my wisdom teeth were screwing up the bite. I have all 4 wisdom teeth and they are fully in place, but were not braced. When I did my consult way back at the beginning, my Ortho said iBraces doesn't do wisdom, but that they would be fine back there (although not straight).
So yesterday he told me I had two options: Get them removed (at significant additional cost) OR get them straightened (as part of my treatment). So, duh! Straighten those things! So now in addition to my full iBraces grill which no one can see, I am having conventional brackets added to the last molar and molar bands around the wisdom teeth to tie them into the iBraces system. They bonded the brackets yesterday, and next week I will go in to have the bands put on the wisdom teeth and wires installed.I also had four spacers installed yesterday. These things generate quite a bit of pain- the worst I have had to deal with so far in my ibraces treatment. I don't have my camera right now- otherwise I'd post some photos of the challenge that is presented by these wisdom teeth. I have no idea how he will get bands around those teeth, but he says it should be ok and that there is more room there than it looks like. Next Tuesday is my appointment for banding, so we shall see!
So yesterday he told me I had two options: Get them removed (at significant additional cost) OR get them straightened (as part of my treatment). So, duh! Straighten those things! So now in addition to my full iBraces grill which no one can see, I am having conventional brackets added to the last molar and molar bands around the wisdom teeth to tie them into the iBraces system. They bonded the brackets yesterday, and next week I will go in to have the bands put on the wisdom teeth and wires installed.I also had four spacers installed yesterday. These things generate quite a bit of pain- the worst I have had to deal with so far in my ibraces treatment. I don't have my camera right now- otherwise I'd post some photos of the challenge that is presented by these wisdom teeth. I have no idea how he will get bands around those teeth, but he says it should be ok and that there is more room there than it looks like. Next Tuesday is my appointment for banding, so we shall see!
I had my top arch wired for 3 years, 9 months, 3 weeks and 3 days with iBraces
I had my bottom arch wired for 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 4 days with iBraces
with Clarity conventional brackets top and bottom
I had my bottom arch wired for 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 4 days with iBraces
with Clarity conventional brackets top and bottom
Those things are soooooo far back in my mouth that they are very difficult to photograph. In these photos of my arches, you can just see the back wisdom teeth and their bands.
Top Arch:
Bottom Arch:
The brackets are so far in the back corner of my mouth that they are very irritating!
Top Arch:
Bottom Arch:
The brackets are so far in the back corner of my mouth that they are very irritating!
I had my top arch wired for 3 years, 9 months, 3 weeks and 3 days with iBraces
I had my bottom arch wired for 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 4 days with iBraces
with Clarity conventional brackets top and bottom
I had my bottom arch wired for 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 4 days with iBraces
with Clarity conventional brackets top and bottom
Got some better photos!
Top Arch - check out those newly banded wisdom teeth!
Bottom Arch - bottom wisdoms banded too!
Close up view of the action. I have more hardware in my mouth than I know what to do with! Ceramic buttons, metal buttons, lingual braces and conventional braces! It's a wonder I can eat!
Top Arch - check out those newly banded wisdom teeth!
Bottom Arch - bottom wisdoms banded too!
Close up view of the action. I have more hardware in my mouth than I know what to do with! Ceramic buttons, metal buttons, lingual braces and conventional braces! It's a wonder I can eat!
I had my top arch wired for 3 years, 9 months, 3 weeks and 3 days with iBraces
I had my bottom arch wired for 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 4 days with iBraces
with Clarity conventional brackets top and bottom
I had my bottom arch wired for 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 4 days with iBraces
with Clarity conventional brackets top and bottom
Re: Volare's Story - 2 yrs 10 months now!
Oh my I still have my braces on with no end in sight. My wisdom teeth are screwing up my bite and making it tough to finish the process.
I had my top arch wired for 3 years, 9 months, 3 weeks and 3 days with iBraces
I had my bottom arch wired for 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 4 days with iBraces
with Clarity conventional brackets top and bottom
I had my bottom arch wired for 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 4 days with iBraces
with Clarity conventional brackets top and bottom