Is 40 too old for a new grill?

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Yesterday was a big day for me in tooth world! I had my cleaning and my dentist's office called me to ask me to drop by the orthodontist before my cleaning to have them remove my wires. (They did not have me do this for my last cleaning, but since I do love going to the orthodontist I didn't mind much.) So, I go check in with the ortho and have my wires, metal powerchain type thingie and springs removed and OH EM GEE! My teeth looked fantastic! My top teeth are really starting to straighten out and things are taking shape! SO exciting! I kept checking my mirror when I got back to the dentist. I was eager to snap a photo on my phone, but there were other people in the waiting room with me and I didn't want to make a spectacle of myself!
Okay, so the cleaning went very well, all good reports. I'm one of those people who loves to get their teeth cleaned. It's like a little spa trip for my teeth.
THEN the craziness begins. I go back to the ortho and they ask me if I'm okay on time. I said I was. By this time I was off work for the day, so nowhere to be but home for dinner. So they decided to do my 2/22 adjustment right then and there. GREAT! Love that idea! So, we start with updated x-rays. Very cool, very easy and of course, painless. Then I sit down in the chair and they tell me they're going to reposition a couple of the brackets on my upper teeth. Okay. A couple, fine. I have had one or maybe two repositioned before and it was no picnic, but I thought, "What's the big deal? He said a COUPLE!" So the tech gets me all set up, the ortho comes over and asks me to stand up in front of him with my mouth open in a kind of smile. Okay, I'm having trouble NOT smiling at this point because I'm so thrilled with the progress I can now see without all the hardware. So he's staring and holding his little tool in front of me, stare, tool twist, stare... He makes some notes for the technician for the brackets he wants changed and he goes away to check in with another patient. So the tech gets me back onto the chair and says, "So we are going to remove and reposition six brackets today." Uhh...we are? Six? Six does not sound fun. So now we're off to the races. First one: "There will be a bit of pressure and a snap..." OOWWWWW...SNAP! Okay, one down. The first three came off pretty easily, but still that snapping sound, yikes. She then tells me she's going to have the kind Dr. take off the other two. I said, "But you're so much gentler than he is!" She laughed and called him over anyway. Bummer. He prepares me by saying, "There's going to be a lot of pressure. Are you ready?" What else can I say? "Go for it." I was not prepared for the pain of the brackets coming off my two front teeth. MAN that hurts! The pressure and then the snap were horrible and it felt and sounded like my whole tooth cracked. Yowza. But that was nothing. Then came the "polishing". I swear that little polishing device must have been imported directly from HECK (I'm afraid they might edit me if I write the actual name!) The high pitched drilling, piercing whir of that darn thing is freaky! It sounds just like the drill they use to do fillings only you're not numb and this time it's SIX teeth. I know it's silly, but I was terrified it was going to suddenly strike a nerve. I know, I know, the good doc knows what he's doing, but as I mentioned earlier...not the gentlest of men. I swear if this is how the bracket removal goes I'm going to have to have a couple of ocean the day I get my braces off.
All right, somebody call a WAHmbulance. Enough whining!
Then comes the relatively easy part, putting the brackets back on. The technician working on me yesterday was also training another woman so it was kind of cool to listen to her describe what she was doing. It all went on really easily, Doc came to check and make his adjustments and give her the wire/hardware specs. He says, "Chain top six to six." Rut roh. Here comes the pain again. (You can sing that to the tune of "Here Comes The Rain Again" by the Eurythmics for mid-story self-entertainment.) Wires, check. Powerchain, check. Ouch, check.
Then I tell him, "Oh I remembered to bring my night guard so you can take a look at it." I have a nightguard that I wear on my bottom teeth and now that I have the bottom braces it doesn't fit.
He gets a torch (yes, a small blow torch) and heats it up and then sort of molds it into my mouth. "This is only for the time being. We'll need to take a mold and get you a new one made." Okay, I'm thinking, at my next appointment. He tells the tech to make a mold and that the bottom wire will have to come out again. Oh my. I've already been in toothland for almost three hours by this point so I said, "ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Oh yes, he was quite serious. Luckily my crafty technicians were able to work around the bottom wire with a long strand of strategically placed wax. Lovely. So they get the stuff, fix up the mold and shove it on in there. I talked myself out of panicking. "You can breathe out of your nose. Just relax. Almost done now. Count to ten. Okay, just breathe, relax..."
And DONE!!
But WOW am I ever sore. If pain equals movement my top teeth ought to be perfectly straight by this time tomorrow!
I am happy to have gotten my adjustment taken care of earlier than expected. And next time they'll take out that little ugly fake tooth thingie and give me a fake tooth on the wire. Can't wait.

That's my latest. Happy teeth, everyone!

[Under Construction]

I should clarify that the board mysteriously changed one of my sentences. I am not going to have an ocean when I have my brackets removed. I am going to have a drink or maybe two...no, two and a half. That should do it.

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My mouth is driving me crazy! I can now understand why my sweet,kind ortho left the bottom braces off for so long. My mouth hurts, my speech is impaired, eating is a struggle and I feel more self-conscious this weekend because I'm at a work conference and talking to new people all day long. Oh uggghhh! And my top front left tooth is waaaaayyy lower than the top right and looks horrible. (One of the reasons for the bracket repositioning this past week, but somehow it looks more obvious now than it did before!) I'm in a bad tooth mood today!

Good news is that my loving hubby called ahead and ordered me a spa pedicure here at the hotel as an early Valentine's present. That should take my mind off my mouth for an hour!

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Grrrrr! I must be in that middle-of-treatment "over it" stage. I'm looking at my crooked, metal, porcelain and rubber band filled smile and wondering how it could look this bad after TWO YEARS!!!! Come on!!

On a lighter note, the bottom brackets aren't bothering me quite so much this week.

My daughter's braces have been put off another eight months due to remaining baby teeth. I'm hoping to see a LOT of progress by the time she gets her metal mouth.

Anyone else having this kind of day?

[Under Construction]

It's been a while since I've updated. I sort of got to the point where I thought I was close to finishing. Now suddenly I'm wondering if I've got another year to go! I'm wearing elastics (xtra heavy!) from the front of my upper molars to the inside of my lower teeth. Hard to explain, but it's supposed to pull my bite into better alignment. I seem to be biting on my cheek more than anything! Has that happened to anyone else? Also, since I have to wear the elastics 24/7 I can't wear my nightguard so I wake myself up grinding my teeth. Sorry for the negativity, but these past two weeks have been tough. I am staring in the mirror wondering how this has been going on for almost two and a half years and my teeth are still crooked. I'm also experiencing a sharp pain in one of my upper molars occassionally when I rinse my mouth out. Ho hum. I'm ready to see some real progress and I feel really depressed about things right now. At this rate I don't think I will be able to get these things off by my sister's wedding in late October. I know, I know, it's not a big deal to go to a wedding with braces. But I will be seeing my perfectionist father for the first time in about TWENTY years and I was hoping not to have to show him a metal mouth. Blerg.

Any happy words of encouragement are welcomed!

[petal]

I am sorry for the rough time you are having right now. I was reading some of your older posts when things were going swell...remember that this will get easier again. There always seems to be an adjustment period as things are changing. I go through stages where I love my braces then the next week I am ready to remove them myself at home. I am also 40 and when I first got my braces, my dad thought I was wasting my time and money on them and every time he would look at me he would get this look on his face like he was shocked by what I had on my teeth....he did finally get used to them and now that he can see the progress he has become very supportive. Hang in there, I am sending you a hug and a big bracey smile!

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That was really sweet, Petal! Thanks for the boost!

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I've been away from the boards for a while as work has been keeping me busy, but I had an adjustment about two weeks ago and got new elastics to straighten my midline. They are two very heavy bands, both to be worn on my right side 24/7. So on Wednesday of this week I was in the office bathroom doing my whole post-lunch tooth routine, and I noticed that my midline was nearly corrected. When I bite down the line between my top two front teeth and my bottom two front teet was almost perfect! So, knowing that I didn't have another ortho appointment until the end of July I decided to call in to the office to see what I should do about the elastics. I was called in yesterday for a quick appointment and it went VERY well! The doc took a look and almost in a surprised tone said, "You're looking really good actually!". Why, thank you VERY much! We did the strange routine where he sits down and I stand in front of him with my teeth together and my lips slightly open. It's always awkward and I don't know if I should smile, look back at him, look away... Anyway, he cancels my late July appointment and says he wants me to come in next week for some additional tweaking and moving of brackets and such things, and tells me to wear my elastics now only at night. This is very exciting and even the receptionist gave me a big smile when she was making my appointment. Okay, the doc didn't actually SAY this is good, or we're getting closer to the end here...but it seemed from everyone's reaction that that's where we are headed. GREAT!! Until...

Last night. I started obsessing. I'm looking and looking at my midline and I'm all excited about this progress when I notice...



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It seems that my entire midline might be lined up...but it's looking as though my whole mouth is shifted to the right by a couple of millimeters!!!! Am I right? Are you seeing this, People??!! How could that man have stared so long and hard at my mouth yesterday and not noticed this??? So now I don't know if I should continue to wear the elastics as they would seem to be pulling my top teeth further to the right. I sort of don't want to bug the office since I have an appointment with them next Thursday. HELP! Tell me I'm not crazy!

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This is my mouth closed with my teeth together. You can see the midline here looks good, but again, completely off to one side. UGGH!

[catgyrl]

Hi there! So good to see you here again. I was wondering how you were doing.

First off, congrats on getting your midline straightened out. It looks awesome! I believe you and I are going through the exact same thing right now. Elastics FINALLY helped get my top midline lined up with the bottom, but I, too, notice that my upper teeth are WAAAAAAY off to the right. They were off before, but now, no matter how I try to disguise it when I smile, it is still very noticeable. Its like my upper left arch is "smooshed in", while the right side is more rounded. At least your ortho looks at you head-on... Mine pretty much only looks at me upside-down, when I'm lying in the chair. I am definitely going to ask him about this next month.

As for your situation, I would probably just wait until I see him next week. I highly doubt he would let you go a week without elastics. I have a feeling that he may want to work on one thing at a time. There are many, many types of elastics configurations, so hopefully there will be another one to fix this new problem. Remember... It will all get worse before it gets better.

Please keep us/me posted as to what he says about it, though. I'm also concerned that my ortho won't be able to fix both midline and crookedness.

Cathy

[Under Construction]

Hello and Happy Saturday!
Cathy, I can always count on you for a reply. It's comforting to know we are (again!) in the same boat. Sorry to hear you seem to be having the same problem. Now I can't stop looking in the mirror to look at this latest issue. I'm sure someone can tell me if this is true or not...I seem to be in "finishing" wires; the ones the doc can bend and tweak to level teeth and adjust them slightly. How can it be that I'm "finishing" with what seems like so many minor issues to address? Don't get me wrong! I'm happy to think I might be at the end of this journey. Perhaps when I go back in on Thursday I'll be brave enough to ask about my timeline. I would still love to be brace-free by October for my sister's wedding. But first I have to point out that my whole mouth is crooked. UGGH. 30 months and still a wreck. I guess age does play into timing and how hard it is to move your teeth. Also, I lost about nine months when the ortho was trying unsuccessfully to pull down my canine.
Looking for the light at the end of the tunnel...
Have a great day, Everyone! Let's get these teeth on the STRAIGHT and narrow!
K