Jem's belated story

[jem]

Hello all. My name is Jem and I am an over 50 from the UK. I had removable braces in my early teens but my front teeth have gradually become slightly crowded again over the years. I had considered further orthodontic treatment after discovering this site but done nothing about it until about a year ago when my dentist noticed that my teeth were wearing down excessively. Part of the problem was bruxism and I now wear a splint on my lower teeth at night. The other problem was that one of my upper central incisors bit down on top of my lower teeth instead of in front of them and this was causing damage.The adjoining undersized and protruding left lateral and left canine were also quite badly twisted.

In December I consulted an orthodontist. I was hoping for a removable brace such as an Inman Aligner, but the ortho advised that would not be suitable in my case. She advised that the most suitable treatment would be with an upper sectional brace. This would consist of Damon clear brackets on just my upper 6 front teeth and an archwire spanning only those teeth.My rear teeth and bite, whilst not perfect, were reasonably OK. Treatment time was estimated at 6-9 months. I was offered the alternative of invisalign " lite" but that cost four times as much, so I opted for the sectional brace which the orthodontist also thought would do a better job.

I was keen to get started soon ( but not before Christmas for obvious reasons) and had my sectional brace fitted on January 3. The installation of the brace was surprisingly quick and easy and I was delighted to find I had been given a white coloured wire which together with the clear brackets made the whole brace quite discreet.

At my first adjustment, I had a thicker ( size 18 ) wire installed. By the time of my second adjustment, the offending left central incisor had moved forward and my bite at the front became OK. But the twisted canine had not moved at all, so my ortho placed additional brackets on my premolars and I had to go back to a smaller wire because of the crazy angle it would have to take between the brackets on my left canine and premolar. My ortho also did some IPR at these appointments, leaving quite a large gap between my central incisors after the second adjustment.

Fast forward to last Monday and my 3rd adjustment. The gap between my centrals had not closed at all but there was some small progress in untwisting my canine. My ortho told me that she would now place a Damon size 18 wire and put a powerchain on just my central incisors to close the gap. The gap closed overnight and I think that my canine is now untwisting more quickly. However, my left lateral is still protruding and seems to be competing for space with the untwisting canine.The closing of the gap between my centrals has unfortunately opened up a gap an my right hand side when I need space on the left.

The Damon wire is silver coloured so somewhat more obvious than the ( presumably generic) white coated ones, although the white coating wore off those anyway after about 4 weeks. The new wire feels to be doing more than the previous wires and since I am now an established braceface, I am a little less worried about the appearance of my brace than I was at first.

At 4 1/2 months I do not feel I am making very fast progress and expect to be at least at the top end of my estimated time. However, that is still not very long and my main aim is to achieve a good and stable result. I don't think I will bother my ortho about a likely debracing date until my next adjustment but one.

I will attach some starting pictures and some pictures from after my most recent adjustment.

Jem

[smilehope]

Hey Jem - good to hear your story, I was wondering when you'd get round to it! For what it's worth, I think your teeth are looking great.
You write such lovely supportive comments for everyone here - I'll miss you if you get finished too soon!

[lau]

Hey Jem! great to see you posted your story
here's hoping progress comes soon for you- hang in there.

[jem]

Thank you Smilehope and Lau for your very kind comments. How are you getting on with your treatment?

Jem

[kellyb]

great story jem . it was a pleasure to finally read it
you are so lucky in that you only have a 6 - 9 mos sentence. i wish mine was that short. your teeth look awesome. in fact i thought they looked great to begin with.

i know what you mean about the white wire. mine usually loses about half it's coating by about 2 - 2 and a half weeks and by 4 weeks it is completely gone. i remember my ortho saying he only uses white wire but honestly if he was to start using metal, i wouldn't have a problem with it at all. the white wire only looks great when it is new

all the best with your journey and please do keep us updated.

[jem]

Thank you Kellyb,

Yes, the appearance of my teeth was already fairly good at the beginning of my treatment.

But I had always had a bit of a niggle about my protruding left lateral incisor which had gradually relapsed again after wearing a removable brace twice in my early and mid teens. However, I would not even have considered getting a brace again if I had not discovered this site and found that adults can and do get braces.

It was only the problem with my left central which triggered me into actually doing something about it. The crowded left canine and incisor had gradually pushed my left central backwards a little so that it was starting to bite down on the top of my bottom teeth rather than in front of them. This is not particularly obvious from my photos as the malocclusion was quite slight but it was starting to cause wear and threaten damage and I had to do something about it.

I discussed with my dentist having the central incisor crowned so that it stood a little further forward, but felt that getting my teeth straightened might be a less invasive and more complete solution, so I consulted my orthodontist who was highly recommended by someone I know through business. The rest, as they say, is history.

My brace moved my left central forward virtually unnoticed until I realised just after my second adjustment that my bite was suddenly now OK. There was little apparent action with any of my other teeth and I was a bit disappointed with my progress. However, the new wire I got last week seems to be making good progress with untwisting my canine which I expect will be close to its correct position by the time of my next adjustment. The next job will presumably be to find enough space to move my left lateral back into line. At the moment it is competing for space with the canine. I think it will be necessary to find space for it by doing some more IPR on my right side and sliding teeth across to the right. At the moment, my midline is a couple of mm off to the left hand side, so that would seem to be the way to go. We shall see. I just am happy to be seeing progress and remind myself that my ortho very obviously knows what she is doing.

I will most certainly be wearing my retainer diligently when I have finished, and will continue to look out for friends on this board.

Jem

[jem]

I am attaching 2 photos taken today which I hope are a little clearer than my previous efforts. I think I can see some movement in the week since my last adjustment. You can see the powerchain between my centrals in the second picture. Apologies for not shaving and also for the general pinkness of my mouth-I used a disclosing tablet this morning and it has slightly stained my brackets.
Jem

[kellyb]

looking very nice

[EbonyQ]

Glad to see that you have gotten a journal, Jem. Your teeth look great!

And thank you for all the support you give us on this forum. You deserve a big hug for it!
Please keep us updated on how things are going!

[jem]

Thank you Kelly and Eb,

I feel as if I am making progress now with this new wire. I can already see a difference in my stubborn left canine, although it is probably too subtle for anyone but me and my ortho to see at the moment. I think you can sometimes see movement more in the straightening out of the wire than in the actual teeth themselves. I will post some more pics around the time of my next adjustment on June 27.

Ebony, thank you for the hug! I think mutual support is what this board is all about-it has certainly been a great help to me. My thanks to all the longer-standing regulars like Klobird, Kitsune Lau and Catygirl and others whose stories and good humour are inspiring.

And Ebony, your story of working with the dentists has been really interesting. Are you going to graduate from dental phobic to dental professional?

Jem

[jem]

Hi all!

The elastic spanning my central incisors is so effective that they have now started to cross. I contacted my ortho and she says that over- correction by elastic chains is common and easily sorted, so not to worry and it can await my next appointment on 27 June.

The self ligating "door" on the bracket on my left lateral has got into the habit of part opening on its own and I will probably have the bracket replaced at my next adjustment. I guess that will be an interesting mini rehearsal for getting them all removed in due course.

Otherwise all good; my left canine is untwisting nicely and my left lateral has moved slightly more into the arch but is now competing for space with the incisor. I think I will be ready for a rectangular profile wire next time and I will be interested to see what my ortho does to find space to move the left lateral into the arch.

Jem

[smilehope]

Glad they're coming along nicely, Jem. Your wire looks pretty chunky - it means business! Good luck when you go rectangular, mine hurt like blazes for the first 2 days - paracetamol & ibuprofen combo didn't touch it - but all settled down now!

[jem]

Thanks Smilehope.

I have only really felt to be making progress since I had this wire. Being my first silver coloured wire, I ought to be less happy with it as it is evidently much more visible. People who had not previously noticed my brace are now mentioning it ( not in any bad way). But seeing some progress at last makes it more than worthwhile. And as everyone here has said a million times, no-one else cares whether we are wearing braces.

I think it is a .018 wire. I had a white coated one which I think was that size for my second wire, but it didn't seem to achieve much. That may have been because I had no brackets on my premolars and perhaps my ortho should have put them on initially. But not a big issue- I try to do my best in my work but there is always something I could have done better or more efficiently in hindsight.

Presumably the rectangular wire will be chunkier still, but bring it on!

Thanks for the tip on pain relief-hope I don't need it.Glad to hear your pain has settled.

Jem

[jem]

On Tuesday of next week I will have had my brace for 6 months. My estimate was 6-9 months and I think I still have a way to go.

I had my fourth adjustment yesterday. I had had concerns about the "door" on the bracket on my left lateral part opening on its own but my ortho said it was ok and did not replace it. I hope she was right as I do not want any unnecessary delay.

I had a new rectangular profile wire fitted. I am not sure whether it is .014 X .025 or .018 X 0.25. The 0.025 dimension is obviously that which can be seen from my " below" photo. I am hoping that I will see real progress with this wire over the next 6 weeks so that can ask my ortho about her estimate for de-bracing at my next appointment.

I also have a new powerchain spanning my centrals plus my right lateral. I hope this plus the new wire will sort out the over-correction caused by my previous powerchain. For some reason, the new powerchain is twisted between the central incisors.

The only pain I have so far is tenderness in my right central when I bite. This is the only tooth in which I have had tenderness at any point, which is ironic, since it is the only one of my 6 front teeth which I would have said was perfectly positioned at the outset.

Jem

[kellyb]

Hi Jem,

Your teeth are looking pretty good to me

Happy 6 mos anniversary for next week. How much longer do you reckon you will be braced for? Perhaps you should have asked your ortho for a revised estimate at your recent adjustment. When will your next adjustment be?