Catgyrl's (Cathy's) Journey at age 42...

[EbonyQ]

Wow! Can't wait till I get a smile like that!

Looking very good!

[libbylou]

Your smile is looking really beautiful - if your braces were removed tomorrow, then you would have a fantastic smile and a wonderful result. Worth all the pain I bet

[Snowglobe32]

Cathy,

Your teeth are looking marvelous!

[BracedMyself2011]

I have not logged in or posted on the forums in a long time, but I just wanted to say that your progress is amazing. Pretty smile.

[catgyrl]

Aloha all!!

Wow, what a great appointment I had this morning! My ortho decided to be a “Chatty Cathy” (pun intended) today, and was cracking jokes right and left. Great day for questions! It's like he was in my head all this time, and answered all the questions I wanted to ask before I could even ask them. I honestly have nothing more to ask him about.

Good thing #1: He noticed that my upper central incisors overlapped (which I’ve noticed forever, but never had the nerve to ask him about it). So, he decided to do some IPR (FINALLY!!) between them so we could bring them together. He said he’s noticed them all along, but wanted to wait to see if they’d move on their own. IPR didn’t hurt at all, but it smelled horrible! Same odor as when he scraped off the bonding when I got my brackets changed out. He also did IPR between the centrals and laterals. He told me my front teeth were “really big” and the laterals were “small”, so he wanted to try to even them out as much as possible. I told him “I’ve seen WAAAAAY bigger teeth than mine, dude!” He said that he was only doing the minimum right now, and he could always do more shaping around the edges later when we take them off.
Good Thing #2: I also got a reprieve from my zigzag elastics (YAY!) and am now back to Class II (which feel like absolutely nothing, compared to the others). (Sea Lions, in case anyone wants to know which animal I have.) I asked if he was hoping to pull my "buckeys" a bit farther back than they are now, or will I have to be content with a small overjet in the end, and he said that he wanted to pull them back more, and that's why he changed me back to the Class II configuration.

He also looked at the lowers, and I asked him, “Are those pretty much done, except for shaping?” and he said, “Yep.” I told him the arch looked a little “off” to me, but maybe it was an optical illusion because of the misshapen edges. After I got all hooked back up with my chains and wires, he looked at the lowers again, and decided to do a little shaping now, rather than next time, and that he’d keep an eye on them to see how they progress. Hopefully he won't have to move any of the brackets or crimp the wire. They do look quite a bit better after the shaping, but I know they will never look perfect, and I'm fine with that.

Here’s a pic of my “Lauren Hutton” space:


I've come to the conclusion that I naturally have a bit of a crooked, "smirky" smile, so that's why it looks the way it does. I've tried pulling my lip down on the right side, but it's too awkard and takes too much concentration. LOL!

Re: Black triangles – he did mention that I do have some, and that he’d try his best to get rid of them, but because of the shape of some of my teeth, he might not be able to get rid of all of them. Hey, as long as I don’t have one smack-dab in the middle of my two front teeth, I’m fine..

Good Thing #3: Then I popped the BIG QUESTION: I asked him if I should go in next month for my now-due semiannual cleaning, or if I could wait until the braces came off. He said if the braces were coming off in 2 months, he would tell me to wait on the cleaning, but it may be 3 or 4 more months, so he encouraged me to go ahead with the cleaning. I just said, “Okay,” but in reality, I’m going to wait until my debracing to get the cleaning. I’m sure if I call my dentist’s office and relay the information, they will be fine with me waiting. Heck, I’ve completely missed 6-month cleanings in the past, so this is nothing…

3-4 MONTHS MORE!!!! Soooo stoked…

[catgyrl]

Okay, I hate to admit this, but my Ortho was right... again...

My front teeth WERE pretty big/wide! Check out the comparison (last month vs. today):



And the space is still open! Imagine how much better it will look when the gap is closed. Okay, I am now officially excited about my braces, again!

[chocolate1978]

I have the exact same thing although I don't think it's a problem. I love my big teeth. But I still have quite a bit of an overbite about 4-5 mm although my overjet is gone. I thought about IPR on my front two teeth, but then thought, really, who does that? Is it natural? Well I guess it can be done and maybe it will make a difference by bringing my uppers back ever more slightly to help with the overjet? I also have the overlapping where one tooth sticks out more than the other and is not on the same plane.

HMM!! Will bring it up at my next appt in a couple of days. First I will ask ortho what his ideas are at bringing my uppers and lowers closer together though.

[HeyBuckey!]

Hey Cathy!

Wow! Your Ortho was a lot more different than regular! Weird! It kind of catches you off-guard but it's a well embraced change.

Cool! The IPR looks great! I can't wait to see what your teeth look like when it's all done!

[VioletJay]

Hello! I too have an overbite - it's awful. Funnily enough I never ever sucked my thumb so I think I was just blessed with unruly teeth! Getting them whipped into shape soon though - got to get two out on top and then on go the braces... A month from now I will be officially braced!

[elseegee64]

Hi Cathy! Thanks for your story and pictures! I've been reading on this forum for over a month. Everyone's experience is giving me to courage. I'm in my second full day.

[catgyrl]

Hi everyone-

I know it’s been a while since I’ve updated here. That’s simply because there was absolutely NOTHING to update. Aside from my upper central incisors coming together a little, there’s been pretty much no change anywhere else. I still have two lovely gaps from the IPR he did last month. That’s kind of sad for me, considering that according to my ticker below, I’m only supposed to have 24 days left until debracing. Uh… NOT GONNA HAPPEN, PEOPLE! Not even close. I don’t see a debracing before June, at the very earliest. It’s a bit disheartening to see my teeth look so bad, so close to my supposed debrace date.

I think I got a couple more bends in my wire (though I can’t for the life of me find them), and a new elastics configuration: BOXES! The same Rhinocerous elastics I used for the zigzag configuration are now being used to box-in all of my teeth that have hooks on them (so, that would be all 8 on the right and all 7 on the left). They feel fine (nowhere near as painful or uncomfortable as the zigzag) but I know they’re gonna tear the hell outta the inside of my mouth at some point. And they make my lips look all weird when I smile.

Some pics:

(See my gap?!)




(Puffy lower lip… yuck!)

[ashesgap]

How's your bite? One day I swear mine is perfect, then the next its gone. Like you I'm just ready to be done. My upper centrals are going to hold me back though, they seem slightly \ / instead of ll which is making me crazy. When was the last time you asked how much longer you'd have them in? I asked a month ago, she said wait till I'm looking in your mouth, then never said anything...that makes me crazy too.
Just wanted to stop in real quick.
~Ashley

[catgyrl]

Hey Ash!

I asked him last month, and he told me maybe another 3 months, which would put me at a May debracing. That was before he took the power tools and sanded in between my uppers to form the lovely gaps we still see today. I mentioned quickly today that the middle tooth didn't want to play nice with the one next to it, hence the gap, and if I recall correctly, he mumbled something about "bonding", so I wonder if he's unable to get that tooth to move over, he may just bond the gap and be done with it. I sure hope not, because that would still leave me with an overjet.

My bite feels fine one day, and not so fine the next. He seems to be pleased with the bite progress, though. Let's see how these box elastics work. My centrals are like yours in a \ / formation. He's trying to make them as close to l l as possible, though. My next appointment is on April 13th, which will put me at 4 days past my 2-year mark.

[HeyBuckey!]

Hey Cathy!!!

I know the IPR is a huge pain. But you're teeth do look great never-the-less! When my gap wasn't closing my Orthodontist mentioned bonding as well because of a size discrepancy (small canine on the upper left. Keep hope alive! I think I've slid out of the possibility of having to have bonding done but I still have more adjustments to go so I won't get all gung-ho on not having it done. Maybe he'll give you a double-chain! But just to let you know...they hurt. But pain is progress!

It looks like we may possibly be debanded around the same time!

[Snowglobe32]

Hi Cathy,

I know how you feel...here I am, almost 2 1/2 years into a 22-24 original estimate what a joke but we had some idle time where nothing was done. So about two weeks ago, I went in for new SureSmile wires and I kid you not, my teeth look awful right now, to me at least. My bite is way off and I have a huge space between my upper and lower right side.

My co-worker, who had braces, said she can tell the new wires are getting things settled and lining everything up. I asked if she was crazy because my teeth look horrible, I can't even bite properly.

On this new SS plan, I have two wires. So I go back in about 4 weeks to hopefully get the last wire. I don't know how long the last wire will be on but I am hoping to have them off by the end of September, the 3 yr mark!

My lower wire was out for a little over 7 weeks while I waited for my new wires. I had 4 new brackets put on the lower front teeth and my old wire wouldn't fit...so out the wire went for almost 8 weeks. I couldn't tell with the naked eye that they shifted but the assistant could tell there was movement. So wearing retainers is necessary!

I do not think I would recommend my ortho to anyone. Appointments take too long, the last 6 months we were basically idle, nothing happened. I was waiting for scans, xrays, wires to be made...but I am still happy to have braces and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Your teeth look great! I would be very pleased if those were mine!

P.S. I have a new gap also...one of the lower front teeth...so annoying!