opera^gal's story

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#211 Post by **opera^gal** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 10:09 am

Called ahead of my appointment to ask if they wanted me to reschedule due to the bad cold, and they said 'we are masked and gloved: come on down!'. Off I went, and found a tiny spot of non-snow-piled pavement to park on..yay! No big changes really this month. Doc did say 'they look good, really good' during the first round of bite down open bite down open. Said to keep going with the box elastics, to close down what is left of the open bite at the premolars. She tweeked the advancing loops on the top archwire, to continue to forward advancement, and wire tied all four incisors on top. Went with silver ligs on top and sparkley dark blue on the bottom..not sure if I like them yet.

#212 Post by **opera^gal** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:26 pm

And the strangeness continues...My premolar area on both sides of the top arch were REALLY sore yesterday after the adjustment. I know the doc was doing some twisty something or other back there, which I thought was tweeking the advancing loops. The front incisors don't feel any different, so no more advancement is happening..so whatever she did back there, that resulted in premolar pain all night and into a migraine this morning, apparently resulted in closing the last bit of open bite I commented on yesterday...Whhaaa? The right side appears closed and the left isn't far behind. After 3 months of elastics not doing a whole heck of a lot, is it really possible that some fancy schmancy twisting action caused the movement??? I am continually amazed at what can happen in a short space of time concerning tooth movement!!! Perhaps this all means that, not only will spring arrive in April, but the box elastics will disappear?!? Cross your fingers...I am!

#213 Post by **iBorg** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:38 pm

It possible that the elastics helped get the teeth ready to move and a new arch wire or other tension device shoved them to their new home. Good luck with the headaches going away.

Mike

#214 Post by **opera^gal** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:34 pm

After closer inspection with a flashlight and double mirrors, I finally got a peek at the new bends in the old top archwire...well *that* explains the discomfort now doesn't it! One bend after the canine on each side, and another just before the advancing loops before the molar bands.
iBorg: could be that the elastics prepared the way, yes. At this point, just glad that things are getting to where I'm guessing the doc wants them to be.

#215 Post by **opera^gal** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 12:42 pm

Got a bad bag of elastics, as every time I swap them out, one or both break a few hours into wearing them. I noticed that they were not 'smooth' and had a little extra piece of latex on them...so I tossed the whole batch and opened a new bag. So far so good...but breaking snapping in the mouth = zero fun!

#216 Post by **opera^gal** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 1:18 pm

The pesky cold continues...bleh! The bends in the top wire plus elastics seem to have stalled, and I'm not thrilled. Suppose they did all they could do so far. I keep looking, checking, being totally obsessive about any more movement. I'm not crazy, I promise you..well, at least that's what the voices in my head keep saying!

#217 Post by **opera^gal** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 10:54 am

Broke another frikken koby today...OMG! This is getting to be beyond annoying!! Granted, this is the oldest of the set of four, but at what point will the doc realize that perhaps..just perhaps..adding brackets with hooks MIGHT last longer and work the same if not better??!!?? Will call in the morning to see when they can fit me in yet again. At least the cold seems to have left the building <knock wood>

#218 Post by **opera^gal** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 8:50 am

Office staff this morning were not exactly on the ball. When I called for an emergency appt, they first said 'totally booked today..<pause pause pause>', so I asked about Weds and 'also fully booked..<pause pause pause>'..I then asked to speak with the doc personally, get placed on hold for all of 30 secs and the phone chick comes back and says '11am, see you soon...<click>'. Gotta wonder, what house landed on her sister in the big storm over the weekend?!? Speaking of which, 75mph winds, rain, lightning, thunder...on the block before the ortho office, huge trees with root balls 18ft across and more, were ripped from the ground and tossed into the road, wires down, etc..was an obstacle course getting there and luckily, they had power in the office. Anywhoo..got into the chair, told the techie about the umpteenth broke koby, blahblahblah..she asked if I needed more elastics and I commented that I had a bad batch that broken repeatedly, to which she replied 'oh, that must be why we have a new supplier..here!'..so instead of 'USA' size, I'm now in 'Seals'. Doc came in, no smiles, no chatting, whipped the koby onto the bracket, sat me up..and I asked 'will there be a ligature?'..she laughed having forgotten it, and checked my bite saying it was much better in just two weeks <YAY!>. I know..such a long post for such a small bit of wire being replaced.

#219 Post by **opera^gal** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:15 am

Bright disk in the sky..what's that?? Oh yeah, the sun! And warmth..that's a new one as well. Enjoyed the morning taking a drive with the roof down. Still brisk if you get going fast, but the hit of vitamin D was worth it!!!
New koby is holding up but the bite correction via elastics is still slow going. Hoping for the last bit to finish up in the next two weeks before the next adjustment.

#220 Post by **opera^gal** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 6:51 pm

Rain rain and more rain..blah! Less than a week until my next adjustment and I really have no clue what to expect. I'd like to be done with the box configuration elastics, but I somehow doubt that will work out. I'd like to have a larger wire on the bottom as the one I've had has been 'working' for more months than I can recall. I'd like to get a bit more advancement on the top, which is also unlikely until the elastic drudgery has completed. So, there you have it. What might happen? New ligs, and that's all I know!

#221 Post by **opera^gal** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 8:52 am

Rain AGAIN today but no downed trees or power lines needing to be dodged on the drive over to the ortho. Very blah adjustment <and 30 mins behind as well..nothing like sitting in the chair listening to children scream and cry for no apparent reason>. Things are still quite unclear as to getting the bonding removed from my top incisors. I thought it was squared away and would be done soon, based on the last panoramic xray. Now it seems that the dentist is suppose to do it, and if HE wants the incisors brought down a bit for more length, the ortho is happy to do so. I plan to call the dentist and have him call the ortho for clarification. I asked for a bit more advancement on the top arch as I am still hitting/grinding against the lower incisors now and again. So the kobys got removed, arch wire whipped out, advancing loops tweeked and slipped back in, new kobys placed..zip zap quick. Bottom remains the same...yawn! Went for silver ligs on top and sparkly purple on the bottom, even though it looks like regular dark purple unless light is on it directly. I've read in plenty of stories, that the last months of treatment can get really frustrating as things get their final tweeks. Well..bored now!

#222 Post by **jensceana73** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 5:29 am

Hey there operagal for passing through and leaving me words of encouragement....You've definitely got to have a sense of humor while going through something like this.

It's either that...or I'd be crying.

Only 1 more day left.....guess I'll go eat some rice crispy bars.

#223 Post by **opera^gal** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 11:54 am

This new bag of elastics, even thought they SAY they are the same size as before, are DEFINITELY thicker and smaller...which makes them ouchee!!
I checked the bag against the old bag 3 times to be sure...crazy!
Dropped a note to my dentist about getting the bonding taken off my poor chipped top incisors. Now that I've had all the forward advancement, ortho said it could come off and the teeth brought down IF I have enough bone support and tooth length. Funny, it was HER office who took the latest x-rays, so you'd think she'd know if I did or didn't have blahblahblah! Anyway, I asked the dentist to call the ortho and confirm officially, that we can proceed. Hoping for a quick reply!!!

#224 Post by **opera^gal** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 3:34 pm

So...after checking the bag of elastics a 4th time, I saw that both were 6mm..check...both were 1/4"...check...both were 'medium'...check...and in tiny print not near anything else was a mention of how many ounces...well well well...2.7 -vs- 4.5...ah HA! I called the ortho and asked if that made a difference and sure enough, not only were the new ones from a different manufacturer, but they were the wrong ones!!! I still had some of the others, so they told me to swap back to those and they'd send more of the correct ones in the mail. Ta frikken dah!

#225 Post by **Trish** » Thu Apr 01, 2010 8:19 am

Oh man Opera^gal...you've had some rough times with those elastics! I was promised next time that we would be adding elastics. I don't know whether to be happy about that or not! I guess happy that I am progressing!

Hope you get everything taken care of!

good job on figuring out your elastic problem!

trish