Jaws' Story-Updated Dec 12/07--Follow-Up Pic (page 12)

Message

#31 Post by **Dodger(UK)** » Wed May 25, 2005 10:14 am

jennielee81 wrote:You won't get canker sores if you use toothpaste that does not contain Sodium Laural Sulfate.

Never knew about that, thanks jennielee - could have done with that advice when I got my canker sores in the early days of my braces, now I'm debonded and thankfully free of them.

#32 Post by **jaws** » Wed May 25, 2005 8:26 pm

MAY 25TH, 2005

Hello All,

Well today I went in for what I thought was just going to be a little 'checkup' on that ache that I've been having in my molar...however the hygenist decided that she'd might as well change my elastics while I was there!

HOLY CRAP IT HURT!

I didn't know that I was going to be getting the elastics changed, or else I would have taken some painkillers beforehand!

The hygenist said that my teeth are very sensitive because they are just starting to move (I've had the braces for 6 weeks). She said that at first, it's almost like your gums/bone are 'bruised', and when she pressed on my teeth it felt like she was pressing on a bruise!

I found my two front teeth (top and bottom) to be the most painful.
However, I know that it will get less painful with each adjustment.

She didn't need to change the wire, as she said that my wire is still doing its job and applying torque/pressure on the teeth (it's a very thin Niti wire). She also said that I'll probably have this same wire for a good 4-5 months as my teeth align properly--especially on the bottom.

The ortho also came in and took a look, and he said things are moving along nicely. Then he decided to fix my upper expander, as I guess it had shifted a bit because my upper arch is expanding. So, now I have a whole new lisp! I was just starting to get used to speaking properly...and now I'm back to square one

The good thing is that the expander is now more flush with the top of my mouth, and it feels more comfortable...I just have to get used to speaking again. Plus I have to give a talk at a conference next week, so I hope things improve by then!

Ok but the fun part about this whole thing is that I got blue ligs! The hygenist put two different colours of blue on two of my teeth at first so that I could pick a colour...I went with light blue, and I really like them! I feel like the grey ligs made my teeth look too black/dirty/heavy. I feel like these ligs look cleaner and lighter!

Here is a pic:

#33 Post by **ThatsMrsGeek2U** » Thu May 26, 2005 11:17 am

They look very pretty! Blue is my fav color and now I am jealous that I don't have ligs.

#34 Post by **Manda** » Thu May 26, 2005 7:37 pm

I'm Jealous too! I would love to change my ligs to light blue...or even light pink or light purple for that matter. Unfortunately my dentist does not have pastels, only brighter colors.

I think you're right...they do make your teeth look much whiter and the brackets look smaller in my opinion. Good luck on your braces journey!

#35 Post by **jaws** » Mon May 30, 2005 3:43 pm

MAY 30TH, 2005

I know, this may be the strangest post ever...where someone is actually sad about having an expander removed...but here is why:

I had a bit of an 'experience' with my lower lingual arch/expander this weekend. For some reason the wire kept getting 'stuck' under my tongue, to the point that it was causing A LOT of pain/canker sores under my tongue!

Even though I was just at my ortho's last week, they told me to come by this morning, and he said that because my lower arch has expanded, the expander that is in now is too 'short' and is catching on the bottom of my tongue (this is really hard to explain--but see pic below for details).

He took out my bottom lingual arch/expander (which really hurt because he had to give it a good yank!) and tried to fit one in that is the 'next size up', but it was too long for my mouth! So I am stuck in a bit of a quandry with my old expander being too short and the next 'level' of expander being too long.

So, the ortho said that he will just leave me without a bottom expander until my next adjustment (in approx. 1 month), and rely on my actual braces to open up my arch a bit so that he can fit the bigger expander in my mouth.

At first I was really excited because it felt SO good not to have that damn thing in my mouth! But now I'm scared that I'm going to lose the space that I gained because my expander is no longer there to maintain the space. Also, the wire on the outside of my teeth (that is attached to the actual brackets) is quite thin (because of a lot of crowding) and therefore moves the teeth very slowly. Plus, I asked my ortho whether going a month without the bottom expander will increase my treatment time and he said most likely yes, but there is nothing we can do about it until my arch slowly opens up.

So, overall my upper teeth are moving along quite nicely...but as I expected my lower teeth are creating issues

I'm kind of discouraged because up until now my lowers seemed to be moving along. Now I feel like I'm going to be starting back at square one in a month! Plus, my teeth are very crowded on the bottom but my ortho decided not to do extractions...it would really suck if I went through all of this just to have extractions done at a later date because they can't create enough space!

I guess I just have to remember that I still have brackets and a wire on my lower teeth, so that will have to do something. We'll see how it goes!

Here is a pic of my lower expander from last month:

Here is my lower mouth now (the place where the expander was hurting my tongue is circled in black, and the 'stubborn' tooth that is messing everything up is circled in red!):

#36 Post by **michele** » Tue May 31, 2005 4:50 am

Hi,
I had a lower lingual expander for 6 months (sorry no pictures of it). I had to have molds (so instead of just one set of molds being made I was luckly and got 2 sets made (one with bands in place)) made and the expander was custom made in the lab for me, took a week. I have never heard of the lingual expanders being standard sizes. I never had a problem like you with the expander being too small. I did have the expander dig into my gums right behind my lower teeth (this was after my ortho adjusted it), there is still a spot that I can feel that it left (it has been about a year that it has been out). I am greatful that it is out, a lot of food got caught around the connection with the bands.

Good luck,

Michele

#37 Post by **TessaLeoni** » Tue May 31, 2005 9:44 am

Hi there,

I can understand your worries - I guess I have the same ones!
My bottom teeth are also really crowded and my ortho suggested not to extract any teeth but only to slenderize some of them.
In the first two months my teeth move pretty fast, but from then on I haven't seen a lot of movement

I'm really scared that at some point of my treatment my ortho will tell me that he needs to extract bottom teeth - and then everything will take forever!!

I hope everything goes well for you.
Tess

#38 Post by **jaws** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:07 am

Thanks for your replies guys,

I also had my lingual expander custom made for me...but my arch was so narrow to begin with that once it started to expand the wire became too short. I'm not sure why I can't just have another one custom made...but I'm definitely going to ask at my next visit. The ortho said that he's going to rely on the 'bumping' that will be achieved by my wire and brackets on the outside of my teeth for now, until he gets a bit more space to fit a new expander in (I'm not sure what 'bumping' means!).

Anyways, I'm really hoping that things turn out ok. I was skeptical at first that I wouldn't need extractions on the bottom (and one ortho told me that he wanted to extract)...so I will be pleasantly surprised if it all works out.

I guess I just need to stop being obsessive and to realize that my ortho knows what he's doing!

#39 Post by **jaws** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 4:57 pm

JUNE 22nd 2005

I had my second adjustment today! Nothing much new was done...the assisstant changed my ligs (I got light pink!), and it didn't hurt as much as when she changed them last time, so that was good! Here is a pic of the pink ligs:

It's still not time for me to have my wires changed, as the assisstant and ortho said that there is still more leveling that needs to be done. Although they both noted that my teeth are lining up quite nicely for having such a thin wire (a .16 NiTi wire).

They still can't fit a new lingual expander in the bottom of my mouth, but the ortho said something about how once they move me up to heavier wires there will be more stability so both my upper and lower expanders will be able to work better. He said that it's too early to tell whether not having my lower expander will increase my treatment time, but hopefully not.

My one wonky tooth on the bottom is still the main issue, but supposedly that will get better with time. He said that my top teeth are rounding out nicely. He also said that with this controlled arch procedure that they are using on me, patients tend to finish really fast (like 1 year) which was good to hear!

Right now my teeth look really messed up, because of that one strange tooth on the bottom that is creating a big space--but I'm still happy because I can tell that things have moved!!

Here is a pic from my FIRST DAY in braces:

Here is a pic from today (11 weeks):

Notice how you can see more of my back teeth because my arches have expanded a bit.

Here is a pic from today of the top:

And Bottom (still no lingual expander):

My next adjustment is July 20th so I'll keep you all posted!

#40 Post by **wating4braces** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 6:43 pm

hey erm i was just looking at your braces and is it just me, or do you have hooks on every one of your brackets? sorry, just wanted to know

good luck on your braces... er... adventure...?

#41 Post by **jaws** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:09 am

I thought the same thing when I first saw my brackets! I thought every bracket had a hook on it, and I was scared that I was going to end up with some crazy elastic configuration. But my ortho actually uses a different kind of brackets that allow him to put more force on the teeth (or something like that), and allow for lots of different ligature shapes to get the right kind of push/pull.

Not a very scientific explanation, I know, but here is a link about my kind of brackets:

http://www.orthoorganizers.co.uk/Produc ... #Stainless

In some ways I don't like them because to me they look bigger/bulkier than the traditional metal brackets, but if it makes things go faster then I'm all for it!

#42 Post by **caryca** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 2:23 pm

you had really a lot of movment!!! once can see that strightaway!

#43 Post by **stargirl** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 3:09 pm

Wow, your teeth are looking really good! The light pink ligs are awesome, too. I wish I had as much movement as you've had!

#44 Post by **wating4braces** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 6:07 am

jaws wrote:I thought the same thing when I first saw my brackets! I thought every bracket had a hook on it, and I was scared that I was going to end up with some crazy elastic configuration. But my ortho actually uses a different kind of brackets that allow him to put more force on the teeth (or something like that), and allow for lots of different ligature shapes to get the right kind of push/pull.

Not a very scientific explanation, I know, but here is a link about my kind of brackets:

http://www.orthoorganizers.co.uk/Produc ... #Stainless

In some ways I don't like them because to me they look bigger/bulkier than the traditional metal brackets, but if it makes things go faster then I'm all for it!

ohhh.... well, that makes sense!

#45 Post by **GraceM** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 10:29 am

wow, i see alot of movement...it makes me hopeful for what i'll see when i have them on a bit longer.