*New Member* Braces at 32!

[vjwilmoth]

Hi everyone! I just wanted to share my story and progress so far. I am 32 and have had minor crowding of my bottom teeth for as long as I can remember. I remember around the age of 12 I'd asked my parents if I could have braces to fix them but they and the dentist said they didn't think I needed them. Well I agree, I didn't NEED them but I could have benefited from them. I've always been self conscious of my bottom teeth and recently my insurance added coverage for adult ortho!

I am having more cosmetic ortho treatment than the traditional years long go round. I don't have bite issues and my crowding is mild. I have one retained baby tooth that we are reshaping and pulling the flanking teeth to it. So far so good! I have had braces on my bottom teeth for 9 weeks now and the progress, to me, is staggering! They are nearly straight already! My original estimate is 4-6 months and I think that's going to be just about right. In 3 weeks I'll have the front 6 teeth bracketed, again for cosmetic fixes. I have 2 teeth that are slightly twisted and the one next to my middle tooth is a bit shorter than the one of the other side.

I will try and post my pictures for others to see.

[vjwilmoth]

Before:



Braced!



4 Weeks



9 Weeks WOW!

[vjwilmoth]

Before

[URL=http://img193.imageshack.us/i/befo ... .jpg[/img]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Braced!



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

4 Weeks



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

9 Weeks, WOW!



Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/url]

[catgyrl]

That is AMAZING!!! Your bottom teeth look a LOT like mine (pics are in my story. Your 4-week photo is about what mine looked like when I started), and I'm astounded at your progress. I've had mine for 7 weeks and they don't look a whole lot different than they did on Day 1. Wow... I still can't get over it. Good for you, and thank you for posting your pics for us.

[vjwilmoth]

Thank you catgyrl for your reply. I also just can't believe how fast they are moving into place. My teeth have been in some form of pain, from mild - the keeping you up at night kind the entire 9 weeks. At one point about 2 weeks ago they were so LOOSE that when I pressed on my gums with my tounge my teeth would wiggle! Talk about freaky! They have just gotten to the point where it doesn't feel like they are going to fall out if I bite even a piece of bread. Lol They are just responding very well to treatment. I just had an archwire change yesterday and the two teeth that are still slightly out of place are KILLING me. But I guess that means things are working!

I'm going to go read your story now!

[vjwilmoth]

So let's see if I can remember much of the last 9 weeks of this roller coaster ride. Here is my before.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

On March 18th I was introduced to spacers....*shiver* My GOSH those things were horrible! I had them on the bottom, put around my baby tooth(still holding firm!) and my crown. The ones around the second to last molar were murder to get in, the dentist nearly got IN my chair and applied major weight to get them in. That side coincidentally hurt like HELL for the next week, I couldn't even eat on that side at all. I lost 6 lbs in the first week of having spacers. lol

March 25th - BRACED! After all that headache with the spacers she didn't even band the crown tooth! And within the 60 seconds the spacers were out on the other side the teeth moved back into place. GRRRR! It again took some major pressure to get that band on. But it's in there now. We decided that since my baby tooth is refusing to move at all we are just going to reshape it and make it smaller to match the permanent tooth size. So far so good with that.

I also had build ups behind my top front teeth because my bite is deep and my top teeth mostly covered my bottom teeth. I also have build ups on one back molar on each side on bottom. It took some adjustments and trips back to the dentist but eventually they got them to feel right. The build ups are put in place to open the bite so my top teeth don't hit the bottom brackets.

I had an extreme amount of pain the first week. I didn't expect them to hurt that bad. I had to go back a week later and have the build ups adjusted and at that appt she decided to bless me with power chains on the left side to pull the teeth back toward that shaved down baby tooth to close the gaps it left. OH MY GOSH! I literally couldn't even sleep that night it hurt so flippin' bad! I wanted to cry. But by about 24 hours all was well and back to just mild pain. The baby tooth and the tooth on each side of it had chains.

My teeth started to get noticeably loose around the end of week two. I could no longer bite things with my front teeth because it felt like my teeth were going to fall OUT. Eating continued to be a tricky endeavor. I wouldn't eat anything I had to take bites of b/c the feeling of food stuck in my braces totally creeped me out. Still does actually. blech!



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

April 22nd:

First archwire change! HOLY CRAP my teeth were sore when they took off the ligs! It felt like she was pulling my teeth out and putting them back on hurt just as bad. She put a slightly heavier wire on and the same 3 teeth were power chained again with the addition of 2 more teeth. Crap those hurt. More shaving down of the baby tooth, some adjustments of other teeth that had begun to hit teeth that they weren't supposed to. All in all pretty good appt.

My teeth went through all kinds of changes in these next 5 weeks. They became so loose around the 7 week mark that I could literally move them by pressing on my gums with my tounge! Then the strangest thing happened...they following week(last week) they became firm again. SOOO WEIRD! Not too many complaints during this 5 week period, just mild tooth pain most of the time.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

May 27th:

2nd archwire change. HOLY CRAP MY TEETH ARE ALMOST STRAIGHT!!!! Utterly amazing that in just 9 weeks my teeth are nearly straight now. This time I got dark blue ligs at the request of my 10 year old son. He wanted me to have some color. I think I kinda like them! We decided that at my next archwire change we are going to bracket the top, front 6 teeth again for cosmetic reasons only. Tooth #6 I believe is twisted out very slightly and tooth #9 is shorter than #6 so we are going to pull it down a little to match. #8 is twisted out a tad bit too so pretty soon those will be perfect as well. I just hope they respond as quickly as the bottoms have.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

My entire treatment is estimated to only be about 6 months.

I hope this information is helpful to someone. Thanks for welcoming me.

Next appointment June 17th: Archwire change and 6 new brackets for the top! They will be metal b/c I won't have them on for very long. And I pray no spacers/bands! I don't think I do though b/c she didn't say anything about it.

[Lewick]

Wow, what great progress! You're really lucky to have only been given an estimated 4-6 months treatment time but I can see why, they're looking fantastic already!

[PrincessPeach]

You're teeth are looking great already! And 6 months is such a good treatment time, it will go so fast!

[loradora]

Wow, that's great. No doubt the crowding would have worsened as you get older. As my dentist said, everything moves down and forward as you get older My lower teeth were crowded to the point where I had to have one removed before braces were put on. Good luck.

[vjwilmoth]

Thank you all for the encouragement! I'm so amazed by this process. It's amazing to me that they can move your teeth around like this. And that just by proper placement of the brackets makes them go into perfect position. Crazy!

Okay I know that nobody else probably noticed but when I was descibing which teeth will be fixed on top I numbered them wrong. I wish I could edit my post. Oh well. In any case, #7 and #9 are twisted. #10 isn't the same length as #7 so we are pulling that one down a little. There. Those are the right teeth. Lol

[vjwilmoth]

Well I'm nearly 6 months into my treatment now and all I can say is, WOW! Holy cow, I can't believe how amazing this process is! I have had my lowers on for about 24 weeks and I added the uppers about 12 weeks ago. I am going to try and post pics again if I remember how.

I just went today for an archwire change and some adjustments. I now have finishing wires in and they really look odd. My total treatment time at the beginning was supposed to be 4-6 months erring on the side of 6 months. I will be at that point in 2 more weeks but I think I'll probably go another 8 weeks-ish. I don't know how long for the tops but I was only having very minor cosmetic stuff changed. I do have two teeth on top that are rotated but they are in the back and you can't see them unless you're looking at me like the pictures show. And really, if someone is looking at me like that then I have bigger issues than a rotated tooth! Lol So I am very, very pleased with everything so far and I can't WAIT to see my new smile in a few months!

Today she removed and repositioned a bracket in order to just tweak one tooth a little. There were two stubborn teeth on the bottom... incidentally I think it's the same tooth on each side...anyway, she wired tied those two instead of having ligs and I will tell you, THEY HURT right now. GEEZE! I'd forgotten that kind of pain. *almost done, almost done* lol

Okay, here's to trying pics...

Before:


Braced!


4 Weeks


9 Weeks


12 Weeks


16 Weeks


20 Weeks


24 Weeks *today*


Top before


Braced!


4 Weeks


8 Weeks


12 Weeks *Today*


View of the tooth that needs to be pulled down to match the other side:


12 Weeks! *Today*

[SonyaM]

What great progress! Thanks for sharing the photos!

[mikesmile]

Hi

Nice Pics! They illustrate your progress nicely. Incidently your teeth look really healthy as well. Now that they're straight it only highlights it more.

Mike



Second Time In Braces - Estimate 12-14 Months

[vjwilmoth]

Thank you Mike.


WOW! I am nearly at the 7 month mark! I'm over my estimated treatment time but I expected that and it's partly my own fault. I had an appt yesterday and when my ortho came in she asked if I was ready to be free. I said yes BUT I was a little concerned with two of my teeth. So she took a look and asked the assistant to take a panoramic x-ray. Sure enough the roots of the two teeth I was wondering about still needed a little adjustment. So I bought myself a couple more months of treatment but I'm thinking it'll be worth it for me to be happy with the results. So here is my x-ray. You an see two teeth's roots are a little off...those are the two teeth I was questioning. Kinda cool!



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Here is a little comparison I put together of my befores and then pictures from yesterday which would be 28 weeks for the bottom and 16 weeks for the top.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I'm so happy when I see how white and clean my teeth still are. Taking care of them SUCKS but I love seeing how nice they still look!

Just a shot of my brackets without wire...sure does feel weird when they are like this.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[vjwilmoth]

I am almost there! I have a de-bracing date for my bottom braces! March 24th at 8:20am these babies are coming off nearly 1 year to the DAY that I had them put on(March 25th)! I had my mold done for my bottom arch last week! Whoo hooo! I think I'll have the tops on for a few more months still.