1. Had consultation with 2nd ortho Tuesday to get his opinion of my current treatment. It went well and I was impressed with him. He went over my ortho's initial treatment plan/photos plus my own photos from Oct. 2010 and Dec. 2011 in addition to examining my teeth. The good news is he said my original treatment plan was sound and that there is nothing awry with the way my brackets were placed etc. He confirmed that my current concerns re: gaps/triangles were justified. His best guess without actually seeing my records is that the archwire being used on my uppers was too strong and causing too much friction to allow the power chains to do their work, and agreed that things should have been changed up long before now. He estimated that I have at least another six months in braces in order to turn things around and get my teeth properly positioned (I'm one month away from my original treatment estimate of 24 months, so this adds another 5 months overall). He understood my concern about not being seen by my ortho at every appointment & confirmed that he sees patients every visit no matter what. He was professional & diplomatic and appreciative of the fact that I had tried communicating my concerns to my ortho multiple times already, but encouraged me to try one more time to see if I could work things out. He said if my ortho did not agree to change things up & address my concerns that I should then ask for a 1/3 refund, but he said he really hoped I could get satisfaction from my current ortho seeing as the original treatment plan was sound.
2. Had private meeting w/ current ortho and one of the technicians this morning. Had my photos and extensive notes & gave him copies of both. I went over my concerns point by point and asked him to wait to respond until I had gone through all of the items on my list. It was pretty intense and I really held his feet to the fire but I must say he ultimately stepped up to the plate. At first he started to go into lecture mode and attempted to defend/justify his position while still marginalizing my concerns like before. I held my ground and eventually he seemed to realize I had done my homework and was ready to walk if he wasn't willing to respond substantively to my concerns.
Long story short I agreed to get in the chair where he examined me & came up with a new plan of action. He removed both upper & lower archwires which I will have off for one week allowing the powerchains to do their work without resistance. (I hadn't shared any specifics about what the other ortho said, so he came up with this plan on his own, which was good.) He also removed my TPA (which he originally said would remain through end of treatment) allowing my molars to move forward slightly to meet up with the front teeth that are being pulled back by the powerchains. I will return to ortho in one week to get the archwires put back in and meanwhile will not wear elastics while the archwires are off. After much back-and-forth my ortho finally agreed to give me an estimate of remaining treatment time (which he had consistently refused to do in the past) and said that it would be at least another 6 months (same as what other ortho said). He also agreed to see me at every appointment from now on.
Although it was incredibly unpleasant and stressful and a lot of work getting to this point, I am quite satisfied with the action my ortho took today, his willingness to hear me out and change up my treatment plan in order to get things back on track.
Incredibly, the gap between my two upper front teeth had already gotten smaller by the time I came home from the appointment this morning, and tonight those teeth are actually touching! The gaps between the upper teeth on either side are getting smaller also. The gap in lower front is also closing up. My teeth hurt like hell but I couldn't be happier to be in pain right now because that means things are happening! Bring it on!
I don't know if I would have had the wherewithal to keep pushing forward on this if I didn't have the support I found here. Thank you! My husband has also been very encouraging & supportive and went with me to all three appointments (dentist, 2nd ortho, current ortho) this week. Poor guy! He was probably hoping I'd get my jaw wired shut.
I will upload progress pics at some point down the road but right now I plan to stop thinking about this for a while and enjoy the holidays. We have two sons coming home from college and I'm excited!
I've been telling him all about it. 
