Andromeda's Braces Story

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#16 Post by **rubberbandshurt** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 2:17 pm

Hi there.

I see what you are saying. Now, bare with me because I'm not too good with names of teeth but I'll try.

Firstly, I do see the holes. And for some reason or another, the holes seem to be more obvious on your left side (right side in picture) of your mouth. I'm not sure why?

Also, I noticed that your canines are in different places. I noticed this because this is how my teeth are and it really makes me nervous because my ortho doesn't seem to care. So your right canine (left in picture) is more in and the left canine (right in picture) is out. Do you know what I mean? I dunno if rubberbands can help? But I would think so. My ortho has had me in rubberbands since the first six months of treatment. I am not at month 25 with complaints of crooked teeth but I know it's getting better as he keep changing the configuration of my rubberbands.

Have you asked about rubberbands? I know it's kind of hard, cause in my experience when you question an ortho, they almost take a personal offense thinking you are questioning their ability, rather than questioning your progress.

My advice? Talk to your ortho. Let us know what he/she says.

Oh and sorry you haven't had much response on here? I think most people (like me) feel like they aren't experts and don't want to give wrong advice.

#17 Post by **tinnygrinny** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 2:30 pm

Hey Andromeda -- sorry, in my story I accidentally referred to you as andromedIa. My bad lol.

I'd love to give you advice and insight on your concerns but I honestly am a brace virgin and have no idea what to say! I can't see the pictures now, as I am at my work computer and sometimes the pictures don't show, but when I am home I'll take a look and give you my honest opinion.

I'm with everyone else though. If you really are concerned about something, give your ortho a call and see what they have to say. It's possible that you are just in the last stages of movement? Talking to your ortho could be very reassuring

Anyway, chin up. You're near the end here and I am sure your teeth look fabulous! Keep us posted!

#18 Post by **Andromeda** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:26 pm

Yay thanks for the comments

I mean I'm not so much looking for professional advice or anything, just some comments on if you can notice the things I do and if they would bother you, things like that.

rubberbandshurt - yea my right side and left side are not super symmetrical... I think it has a lot to do with my midline being off and so my teeth are shifted to one side more than the other - i think that's why the holes are more noticeable on the left. But he hasn't said anything about my midline yet and no mention of rubber bands either. I know what you mean about not wanting to ask the ortho questions for fear that he might take it as me asking if he knows what hes doing as opposed to me just wanting to understand my treatment plan and progress. You're right, I really do need to talk these things over with the ortho. I made a whole list of things that I want to ask at my next appt. and I have it saved in my cell phone so I can't forget it, hehe. I feel kind of guilty coming in with such a long list of questions when I never asked any before, but I really do need to know!

Thanks for the encouragement too, tinny. I feel so much better now that you guys/gals have responded haha. Phew. I think maybe I was taking out my frustrations at having to wait 2.5 more weeks before I see my ortho to ask questions on you guys a little but I really did want to know if I was just crazy and asking silly questions before I march into my ortho's office asking them.

#19 Post by **Braaces** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 4:50 pm

Aww... I feel the same way too sometimes... I feel like no-one replies to me when I post pics and stuff... Oh well
Well, let me say I think your teeth look awesome..

Although, not trying to be rude, is the orho going to fix the space between your two front teeth?? Or is that permanent? -------> Please tell me if that was rude! Hehe
Can't wait to see more of your progress!

#20 Post by **starzz** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 5:45 pm

Hey Andromeda,

I registered just so I could respond to you.

(I've been lurking regularly and am 20 months into my second treatment with braces.) Here is my honest opinion and advice about your questions. It will be important for you to communicate assertively to make sure you are satisfied with the functional and cosmetic results from your treatment.

1. I'll say it again, you have beautiful teeth and they have made great progress in a short time.
2. I see the issues you are talking about and would not be satisfied until they were addressed.
3. You are the customer, do not let them remove the braces until you are happy!!
4. It's good you have a list of questions prepared. You might call ahead and ask for extra time to discuss these with your ortho. It's important to communicate to understand her/his plan and get the best results.
5. In my non-expert opinion, I think you need more work on your bite with elastics and would be surprised if this could be accomplished in only a couple months?
6. Should your concerns are not be adequately addressed don't be afraid to consult with another ortho, especially as you switched orthos mid-treatment. Best to do this before braces are removed (to save time and money in case you might need any additional treatment).
7. It appears you had 2 pre-molars removed on top but not on bottom. I'm curious why this was recommended?

Best of luck to you.

#21 Post by **Andromeda** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 6:43 pm

braaces - I certainly hope he fixes the space between my 2 font teeth, haha; I won't be letting them take these bad boys off before that happens. The space just developed since my adjustment last week and it's one of the things I want to ask about.

starzz - wow thanks so much for responding! I feel so special that you registered just for me

Thank you for such an honest opinion and good advice. The reason I didn't have teeth on the bottom removed is because I actually did when I was like 11 years old. I had bad cavities in the first molar on each side (bottom) as a child and they had no choice but to pull them. Over the years my second molar and wisdom tooth on each side drifted forward and completely filled in the gap on the bottom. I actually had to tell my orthos this because they couldn't even tell! I had several consultations for my braces and they all agreed that the top first premolars should go or else I'd be left with an overjet since I was already missing those molars on the bottom. I am glad you could see the issues I was worried about and confirmed that I do need to make sure they are addressed. I won't let them take the braces off until my bite is right - I can live with a little midline issue or something not perfect bc I really don't even think I would notice something like that on anyone else but I want to make sure that my bite feels right and is healthy and fully closed, etc.

#22 Post by **Andromeda** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:16 pm

I accidentally put that I had the first premolars out but it was the second premolars - the ones next to the molars...

#23 Post by **Andromeda** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:17 pm

Which you can see from my very first set of pics when I still had the extraction gaps. Dang I really hope admin gets the "edit" button working again soon.

#24 Post by **Neptune** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 11:42 am

Hey Andromeda,

Sorry for simply just lurking for the longest time. My question was like starzz's: I wondered why it looked like only your top premolars were extracted...but now you've answered my question. Regarding the "holes" in your smile, I have a similar issue with mine. While the right side of my teeth have chosen to progress and close as expected, my left side remains open. (My left side looks similar to your left side.) The "hole" is around my upper left canine and lateral incisor. My ortho now has me wearing two configurations of elastics:

1. Triangle: from my upper left canine to both my lower canine and lower first premolar.
2. Class III: from my upper right second molar, to my right lower canine.

Based on this configuration, I can tell that my ortho wants the upper teeth brought down, but also wants the lower jaw to shift out of the way to allow enough clearance for the upper teeth to do so. Since this makes complete sense to me, I'm satisfied by this action. So far, the teeth have come down at least a millimeter (maybe more), and both the canine and lateral incisor are ever so slightly tilting outward to get in front of the lower teeth. I started this elastics configuration on 27 Jan 2009.

Based on my non-expertise, perhaps triangle elastics might work for you....but it also looks like your upper teeth need to tilt outward or your lower teeth inward to allow this fit to occur. Perhaps, at your next adjustment, your ortho can shine some light on what he's expecting your teeth to do.

Hope this helps.

#25 Post by **Andromeda** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 6:48 pm

Hey Neptune - that elastic configuration sounds like exactly what I need (or something similar). I don't understand why my ortho keeps telling me I'm on track for debonding in early April which is like 1 month away and he still has not given me any elastics to fix this stuff. It seems like a fairly common thing that he should have seen many times in his 30+ years of experience. I looked at a ton of his before and after pics of patients and none of them were left with an issue like this so I'm just confused. They have a lot of information packets in the waiting room at my orthos office and I was reading it at my last appointment. It said over 90% of their patients finish treatment on time or before schedule - and the ones that don't are almost always really difficult cases that would take several years to finish no matter what, which I don't fall into that category at all...

I'm counting down the days until March 9 when I can go in and show him what I'm worried about and ask what is going on. I'm worried he's gonna be like, "oops I forgot about the elastics - sorry but you'll need to have the braces on longer now". I would probably cry

But anyway, I'm glad you responded and gave me hope that a way at least EXISTS to fix this stuff bc I was afraid that it just couldn't be fixed and I'd be debraced looking all "holey" haha. I even had a nightmare about that exact scenerio the other night

Sounds like you've had them for about a month and had 1mm of movement. I don't really know how many mm my teeth would need to move but it's probably more than a mm so yea I guess I wont be getting them off in April. Dangit

Thanks for the info; it really did help! I hope your treatment is going well and let me know if you have a braces story or pics somewhere bc I'd love to see the progress that your elastics have done for your bite

#26 Post by **overseasmel** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 8:09 pm

Hey there.

I too had the sort of "see through your smile" thing going on. Kind of a small open-bite tendency I guess. Much of that was fixed with elastics (which I wore for a VERY long time!), but if you look at my pics (I think you've seen them) around my canine area my top teeth still don't totally overlap my bottom teeth - and my treatment has finished. I was a bit disappointed too but a) it seems most people don't actually notice and b) there's nothing that can be done about it - my teeth are just slightly funny shaped and there's always going to be little 'windows' around those particular teeth I guess.....

#27 Post by **sdawdy** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 11:36 pm

I can see what you are talking about. In my case, i see the assistant first and ask all my questions to her...then she will answer what she can and then when the ortho comes in the assistant reviews the questions with her and what she said and then the ortho adds or confirms what was told to me. By all means you have put all this time and money into this journey and you deserve to get what you want out of it. I agree don't let the braces come off until you get another opinion if your current ortho doesn't/won't address these issues. Also, since you do have a list of questions, as mentioned above, you might want to call in and let them know so they can plan more time with you. I personally don't have a lot of time to reply on posts (mostly because I am lurking while at work, and my train of thought gets distracted often) but I am trying to do it more these days. Keep your chin up and best of luck with these issues...I will keep reading to see what happens!

SD

#28 Post by **Andromeda** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:59 am

Hey overseasmel - thanks for your post

Yea I had already read through your story and looked at all your pictures and was thinking we seemed to have simliar teeth. I was really impressed with you final result because I could see where you also had the similar "holes" issue earlier and they fixed it with the elastics. I was even thinking of showing my ortho your final result pic to show him how I wanted my teeth to look! (of course I would have asked permission first) - but I'm fairly sure he will be able to see what I'm talking about and know what I want without me having to show him pictures. I notice a lot of other people's teeth are more flat on the bottoms whereas mine are pretty odd shaped so I will be okay if some things cannot be fixed but I don't see why I couldn't receive a similar result as you if he did the elastics for me. I'm concerned that your wore yours for a long time and I haven't started yet

....

Thanks sdawdy for your reply as well. I hadn't really thought about asking the assistant... I didn't think they'd be able to answer my questions. The ortho is always the one who tells them what we are going to be doing next in my treatment so I figured they wouldn't know whether we were going to be fixing these things or not... I will give it a try but I definitely want to hear what my ortho says too.

Only one week from today and I will finally get some answers no matter what it takes!!

haha...

#29 Post by **shinyRiver** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:30 pm

Wow, Andromeda.

For only having your braces on since March 08 (less than 6 months before I was braced) your teeth are moving so quickly. I certainly hope that mine progress that fast. I like how your ortho has had that clear elastic pulling back your (first) premolars on top, that looks like it has really helped organize your smile. I wish my ortho would be more aggressive with my treatment like that, but i think the reason that he isn't is because he's afraid it would create some gaps in my front 6 teeth and make me self-conscious. I don't care about stuff like that though, which he should know by now considering the 7 months of funky colored ligs and bizarre springs and things I've been wearing shamelessly.

However I can see why you'd be a little uspet with how quickly your treatment seems to be coming to a close. I can clearly see that you are not finished, and perhaps it is indeed the case that you need more time in braces/elastics to close the obvious gaps (which I am dealing with at the moment as well... but my treatment is nowhere NEAR over...). I think you should hold out to see what your ortho's next move is but DO NOT let your ortho debrace you until you are 100% satisfied with the results or until you've discussed and agreed upon another course of action (tooth shaping/special retainer/veneers) to perfect your smile, or until you've come to the conclusion that you need to consult yet another orthodontist. My ortho specifically discussed with me at length that because I've have 4 premolars pulled that means he has to mediate between my *not having any space* before and *maybe having too much space* now- so my smile will never be *exactly perfect*. But he's a Harvard man so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he will work a little magic in my case. I have every confidence in him and I know he'll do his best to make my smile as close perfect as it can possibly get. And I think everyone should be able to say that about their orthodontist after the first 6 months, once you've got a feel for how they operate and what kind of attitude they have and what kind of results they can deliver...

Hope I helped!

-River

#30 Post by **Andromeda** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 7:25 pm

Hey River - thanks for checking out my story

I really have trusted my ortho completely until very recently. He also went to Harvard and has even taught there... He has all these other degrees, and his list of professional experience is very long and impressive. All his photos of befores and afters are great and hes really nice and laid back at all my appointments and has a good staff as well. I just don't get it... all this and it seems he is still claiming the impossible will happen (me being ready to debrace on time in only ONE month when clearly I have many issues). My teeth have been doing really well the whole treatment and then they just seemed to come to a standstill the last few months. My teeth have shifted some but always just to another bad position that was no better than the first and not seeming to be going towards an end goal. I am gonna ask for like triple the strongest elastics they make for my next adjustment haha, then maybe I'll get "out" on time. Even if it weren't for all the visually obvious issues, I would never feel comfortable keeping the bite I currently have for the rest of my life. I can't bite on any left teeth, I'm hitting all my front teeth, and hitting only a couple of my right teeth when I bite down fully. It feels awful...

Those clear elastic things I had on in the beginning when I still had extraction gaps were pretty sweet. They really didn't hurt and didn't feel very tight even, but my gaps closed really fast. I think they were close to closed completely by 6 months in. The reason I had those extractions was to make room for my top canines to shift down and back. They moved into position very quickly and since then my only problem has been the bite, which it seems my ortho has really done nothing about...

Monday is so close - can't wait to see what happens! Well maybe I can, if its gonna be bad news...