Kitsune's Amazing Adventure with Braces

[Bracedforbraces]

Wow what amazing braces! I never in a million years would have thought about coloured bands ( is that the right term?) on my clear braces, but I have to say I'm now really tempted. The shades are so pretty. I guess I will see what the first set look like and go from there

[kitsune]

Wow what amazing braces! I never in a million years would have thought about coloured bands ( is that the right term?) on my clear braces, but I have to say I'm now really tempted. The shades are so pretty. I guess I will see what the first set look like and go from there

Bracedforbraces - Thank you very much! At first I wasn't sure if I would enjoy deviating from the clear ligs/bands, but I ended up loving the effect! I think the ceramic brackets make the ligs look kinda glowy...definitely different than they appear on metal brackets.

Please keep me updated on whether you end up with any colors, and good luck with your bracing!

[sunnylocks]

Just wanted to peek in and say hello and it's nice to hear you're having a positive braces journey. The pink ligs look great. That's awesome you won't have to wear elastics...I'm curious to find out if your ortho mentions why...keep us posted!

[kitsune]

Just wanted to peek in and say hello and it's nice to hear you're having a positive braces journey. The pink ligs look great. That's awesome you won't have to wear elastics...I'm curious to find out if your ortho mentions why...keep us posted!

Hi sunnylocks, thanks for stopping by!

I'm pretty curious too, but my ortho isn't really of the chatty persuasion, so I am not entirely sure! Based on my most recent appointment, I think he believes he can get sufficient movement by putting kinks into the archwire. I hope to get an update on whether the wire kinks are working at my adjustment next week, but I could very well end up in elastics in the future. After all, I wasn't initially told I needed IPR or a spring either...hehe.

[kitsune]

I’ve been pretty negligent about updating my story lately…oops! I have three reasons though:

(1) During my March adjustment, I went for what APPEARED to be darkish aqua ligs (and by now you have probably noticed my fondness for ligatures falling in the realm of blue colors). However, once the ligatures stretched out over my brackets, they turned out to be very, very GREEN. Apologies to anyone who rocks them, but I was aghast. I did not like them at all, but I also didn’t want to be “that person” who goes back simply to have them changed. Thus, I was a true martyr (ha!!!) and stuck with them for three long weeks.

(2) My husband left for a business trip to England, so even though I had my April adjustment last week, I rearranged my priorities and didn’t write or think too much about teeth/braces.

(3) I was starting to wonder whether my story has been helpful at all to anyone, or if I’m just being a weirdo taking lots of photos of my teeth and/or babbling incoherently to myself.

Since I hated the aqua liars/green in disguise ligatures, I will not post a picture of my teeth from that time period. Seriously, it looked like I had weird green stuff all over my teeth. Do. Not. Want. I will, however, share a photo that I took after my most recent adjustment. Any guess to the color?

Surprise! I went with clear on top and depressing grey on the bottom. I’m not 100% sure why I went back to clear. I think it is a combination of factors including the fact that I was so repulsed by the green ligs it put me off colorful ones, my teeth are starting to look OK and I want to showcase them a bit, and the pretty spring lipsticks I’ve been wanting to sport look odd with other colors going on in the mouth region. My ortho pretended to fall over in disbelief when he saw what I had selected. I wish that my office carried a sparkly grey or a smoky grey instead of standard issue, concrete-colored grey (because I don’t get enough of this in NYC... ), but I will deal.



During this most recent adjustment, my ortho confirmed that I will not require elastics. This is good news to me! He says that he will be able to get my bottom front teeth (our biggest concern) into place by manipulating the position of the brackets. He removed and replaced two of them on my most recent trip (not fun…I squealed like a little piggy), and I noticed some movement the next day. Anyway, I’m pretty happy! I am also supposedly halfway through my sentence, but I am taking that time with a grain of salt because I have no idea when some issues will be resolved (e.g., my continuously migrating front teeth).

[braceface74]

looking v.v good kit x

[maeby]

Your progress is looking great, Kitsune! And you definitely aren't posting updates and photos for nothing. I'm definitely keeping up, even if I don't always comment, so thank you for sharing!

[kitsune]

My latest adjustment occurred last Friday on May 11th. My ortho switched out some of my lower ligatures for wire wraps (is this what they are called?) and put a mini power-chain (again, is this called something??) across my two front teeth. Seems pretty simple, right?

Wrong!!

I hadn't experienced this much tooth pain since I first got my braces on!! My teeth were so achy and throbby...I couldn't bite into anything using the front of my mouth. Luckily the pain passed after the weekend concluded, but it was a rough time! Here's the latest progress picture:



My Lauren Hutton-esque front tooth gap has definitely closed up, but now the top row almost looks more unaligned? One of my front teeth is longer than the other, so at the conclusion of my treatment, I will have them evened out. My bottom teeth have become more aligned since I got braces (duh, I would hope so), but they are sooooo slow! I wish they would move a bit faster...I'm starting to get tired of having these things on my teeth! And I'm sure nobody here has EVER felt like that before, right?

[GillyWeed]

Kitsune, just wanted to stop by and say your teeth are look beautiful. Looks like you are just about done! Best of luck with what little time you have left:)

[GillyWeed]

Oopsie:s *looking*

[TMJJill]

Hi Kitsune,

I read more than I post on this board, but I wanted to share I've loved how well you have documented your story. Your teeth are looking very nice and I can really tell a difference in the progress you have made.

I understand your frustration on the slow movement too.

I got my braces on around the same time you did, 8 1/2 months ago, but my progress has been much slower. I'm still in upper braces only and impatiently waiting for my upper arch to come into place and my back molars to "erupt" enouch to touch before the lowers can go on. I should have gotten them by now so it is frustrating. I've been in 5 elastics nightly for those darn molars for 8 months and they just don't seem to want to move into place.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your story.

TMJJill

[kitsune]

Gilly Weed - Thank you! I am just about half-way through my projected wear time. However, I have a feeling that I will be in braces for longer than 16 months...

TMJJill - Hah...I too am guilty of reading more than I post. I really should comment more since it is so nice to talk to other people with braces!

I also didn't realize that we got our braces on only a few days apart from each other! How far along are your molars? My upper molars are so weird...my ortho says they are really "short" and I've previously had parts of them filed down due to cavities. This is one of the reasons why I had to remove so many of my molar bands...even when the metal was crunched down on the sides to accommodate the molar shortness, there was still too much sticking out and it was painful just having my tongue in my mouth (if that makes sense). Anyway, the molars on my upper arch are not going to be perfect once I conclude treatment, but I am OK with that.

Elastics sound very uncomfortable. Will you have to wear them throughout your treatment?

[Jerseygirl]

Hi Kitsune -

I stopped by to see your braces story, since you were so nice to comment on mine. You are the girl who has posted in the 'ligature color' thread that has such awesome colors! Well they look unbelievable on you! I agree with an earlier poster - you've got beautiful teeth. You look like some of the people who model in the brochures of the various braces with the perfect teeth!

Anyway - you must be thrilled with how your teeth are turning out and you did have nice and very white teeth to begin with!

Some of your colors you have chosen inspire me to want to try myself in the future.

Have a great weekend!

[Domino]

Hi Kitsune! Sorry for the delay in posting!

Your updates look great! I know I was one for really loving your coloured ligs, but I must admit that even clear look great on you

I have power-chains to look forward to in the future too! To close up my huuuuge gaps, hehe.

[kitsune]

It’s embarrassing how long I’ve neglected my poor story. I truly feel sheepish! In between craaaazy things going down at work, my husband taking multiple business trips (with my camera!), and my own vacation/requisite trip back home, I have found it difficult to focus on my braces. I mean except for keeping them clean, obviously. I still do that!

Also, pretty much nothing has changed. I’m still in my clear on top/grey on the bottom lig configuration, still getting regular IPR, etc. Things on the bottom are slooooowwwwlllyyyy twisting around the way they should be, but I looked at a recent photo and could barely tell that anything changed since the last time I posted here! And honestly, that made me mopey! I will update with a new photo later on, even though I don’t have fresh, sparkling ligs. You all will just have to deal.

My front teeth are migrating again and I’m getting the dreaded black triangle effect…does anyone know why I would get a baby powerchain put on and then not wear it for the remainder of my treatment? Taking it off just made my teeth separate again, so I don’t get the point of putting it on, taking it off, putting it back on, etc. I’ll try to remember to bring this up at my next adjustment in August.