BraceFace2o1o's Story

[BraceFace2o1o]

Pic of where my wire has been cut. All my teeth on the upper right side now ache so something is happening EEK! It's been a long time since I have felt that sensation.

[BraceFace2o1o]

Oops have no idea what happened there. That's quite a mahoosive photo up there

[BraceFace2o1o]

I found out that my ortho makes the essix retainers in his office. Normally they would take your braces off, fit the lower bonded retainer then take the impressions and get the clear retainers made within 4 days after that, but the lovely assistant said if I want to they can book me an extra long appointment and I can wait there while they are made and go home with my retainers the same day my braces come off. That sounds good to me!
If I have the hawley retainer then there will be a wait of about 10 days as they have to send them to a lab to be made... So yep, seems like I'll most probably decide to go for the essix retainers now even if it will be a pain to keep them clean and all the brushing/flossing every time I eat or drink something other than water.

Went to see my ortho and had something tightened at the back (literally..I know braces aren't 'tightened anymore... that was in the old days lol) so hopefully that space will close up again.

Since my appointment where 1/4 of my upper wire was removed my bite has been all over the place. Sometimes it feels the same, then horrid, then better and so on. I know it should even out in the end hopefully.

[BraceFace2o1o]

I need a clean because I have some small bits of plaque around my lingual buttons. I phoned my dentists office up and asked if I could book an appointment with a hygienist to have my teeth cleaned but they said I could only do that with a referral from the dentist... which is different to what my dentist told me at my last appointment . I asked if I could speak to him over the phone to discuss it but they said I can only get the referral from him at a check up appointment, my next check up appointment isn't until April! They also told me there is no way to get my check up any earlier either so April it will stay. They also said that once the referral is made there is a 6 month waiting list to see a hygienist, so that means I would be looking at having a cleaning appointment in 14 months time! WTH that is absolutely damn ridiculous! . I wanted to have my teeth cleaned before the braces are removed not 1 year afterwards.

[BraceFace2o1o]

Ok, here is another episode of me freaking out! lol

I have just had a moment where I think I have finally discovered why my bite on the right side is screwed, not only that, if I am correct then I've been wrong all along as to why my bite on that side's been messed up (I thought it was because upper arch was wider than lower arch).

My lower midline was off to the right prior to braces. Since being in braces I think it has improved a little although it's not something that's ever been mentioned or discussed, so I never expected it would be fixed and to be honest never really thought about it. Basically the lower midline is still off to my right by about 2-3mm (a rough estimate) and although it has only recently started bothering me for cosmetic reasons I never bothered to mention it to my ortho and decided not to as no one can really see my lower teeth anyway. If I knew it could cause me bite issues I would have mentioned it longggggggggg ago.

So I was looking at my teeth earlier with a small dental mirror (the type your dentist uses) to check my bite on either side and to try and see what was going on with my molars because they just aren't meeting well. While doing so I noticed that on my left side (where my bite feels fine) the upper and lower 1st molars meet in the correct way, like in the pic below:



But on my right side this is not the case. On my right side my upper 1st molar sits directly on top of the lower unlike in the picture above. It's not easy to explain, but in the above picture the lower 1st molar is slightly more forward than the upper 1st molar so that the 1st point of the upper molar sits in the groove of the lower molar (that's what the blue lines are indicating)... But on my right side my upper 1st and lower 1st molar are pretty much directly in line/on top of each other... a bit like in this photo:



These are not pictures of my own teeth they are just the closest I could find online to show what my teeth sit like.

Because of the position of the teeth on my lower right side it makes all the other lower teeth on that side, like the 1st & 2nd premolars and the canine, sit about 2-3mm further back (like in photo 2) than they should be, which explains why they clash wrong on my upper premolars! something that's been bothering me for over a year.

I am assuming the problem with my teeth on the lower right side can be corrected by moving the lower midline to the left. I don't even know if this is possible, but I am assuming if it is then it will involve IPR on the left side then elastics to move the teeth from the right side round to the left

As I have explained previously, currently 1/4 of my upper wire on the right side has been removed to try and let the upper 1st & 2nd premolars and 1st molar 'settle' so the bite on my right side improves but after what I have discovered tonight I don't think it's going to happen while my lower teeth are shifted to the right. In the process of having 1/4 of my upper wire removed it's messed up some of the alignment of my upper teeth, first it created a gap between my upper right central and lateral incisor which my ortho corrected but something else I noticed tonight is now the upper right central incisor and canine have gone up higher into the gum... So now my smile looks slanted! (the left central incisor and canine are now lower/longer than the teeth on my right side). I am so frustrated with my braces just lately. It feels like I'm going round in circles and my deband date is just getting further and further away.

[Nathaniel]

Hi there!! I noticed way back, I mean wayyy back on your posts from the beginning that you were in question as whether to get gum grafts before or after your orthodontics. Would you mind letting me know how that ended up going? Did you get it before or after your braces, and, if you got it after, did your gums receded further or were there any complications? Thanks so much!!! Big congratulations on what you've went though so far!

Edit: just saw the above post!!! I really hope that gets worked out for you! Wishing you all the best!

[jem]

Hi BF,

So it would seem that one side of your upper arch is tending towards a class 2 relationship? If so it is disappointing that neither your ortho nor the person who gave you the second opinion appears to have picked this up.

My upper arch is like that on the left hand side and my ortho noted this in her initial letter to my general dentist. My general dentist had noticed a couple of years ago that I had excessive wear on that side but thought it was due to grinding and gave me a night guard to wear. I now wonder whether it was due to my teeth not meeting correctly and that being compounded by my left central incisor biting down on top off my bottom incisors rather than in front. I decided at my age (50s) that I would only straighten my front teeth and leave my bite at the back alone as it works reasonably well and doesn't cause me any problems. But if I were your age I would think seriously about getting your molars into the right position to avoid the sort of excessive wear which I have had.

Good luck!

Jem

[BraceFace2o1o]

Would you mind letting me know how that ended up going? Did you get it before or after your braces, and, if you got it after, did your gums receded further or were there any complications?

Hi Nathaniel

Although I was totally freaking out way back, I have not had any gum grafts and currently do not have any plans to do so. Both my ortho and dentist do not think my gum recession is bad enough to go through getting gum grafts

Big congratulations on what you've went though so far!

Edit: just saw the above post!!! I really hope that gets worked out for you! Wishing you all the best!

Thank you

Hi BF,

So it would seem that one side of your upper arch is tending towards a class 2 relationship? If so it is disappointing that neither your ortho nor the person who gave you the second opinion appears to have picked this up.

Hi Jem

Yes my right side molars seem to be class 2 and my left side seems pretty much 'perfect'. I do find it odd and frustrating that neither have picked up on this. I need to find out my original consult paperwork to see if my ortho put it in there... I am sure I remember seeing someone about class 2 but not sure.

My upper arch is like that on the left hand side and my ortho noted this in her initial letter to my general dentist. My general dentist had noticed a couple of years ago that I had excessive wear on that side but thought it was due to grinding and gave me a night guard to wear. I now wonder whether it was due to my teeth not meeting correctly and that being compounded by my left central incisor biting down on top off my bottom incisors rather than in front. I decided at my age (50s) that I would only straighten my front teeth and leave my bite at the back alone as it works reasonably well and doesn't cause me any problems. But if I were your age I would think seriously about getting your molars into the right position to avoid the sort of excessive wear which I have had.

Good luck!

Jem

This is the thing I am worrying about. Because the teeth are not aligned correctly on that side I could end up with uneven tooth wear and problems later down the line. Right now it's only causing me one problem and that is not being able to chew properly which is very frustrating.

Thank you for the advice and I agree I would like to get this corrected if I can. I plan to bring it up with my ortho at my next appointment, just got to figure out how I'm going to explain it. If he agrees to try and fix it I know it will add more time to my treatment which is a little annoying being so close to the end but I can handle it as it is important

[BraceFace2o1o]

Had another adjustment recently. Upper and lower wires changed and wire ties switched for ligatures. I've noticed most of my teeth seem to be mobile again as I can feel a slight clicking sensation when I push on them with my tongue, I do not like this feeling! I haven't had it for a long time now. I am in elastics again and the teeth they are connected to have been very tender and sore, but are starting to ease a bit now.

I took a new photo of my teeth today and compared to one of my befores and I am totally amazed by how much my deep bite has opened up. There's been a major improvement and it's not even something I initially had a problem with, my main concern was straightening my crooked teeth. It's nice to be able to see my lower teeth when I close my bite... before braces they were almost 100% covered by my upper teeth.

I'm kinda near the end, not much longer to go hopefully. Just a few tweaks here and there and closing of small spaces that appear every now and then. I have a small space on the lower arch that opened up a few weeks ago but forgot to mention it at my previous appointment, it's so small that my ortho wouldn't have seen it.

I do not want to jinx things because that's all I seem to do in life but I think these elastics have already improved my bite in the short time I've been wearing them. Maybe it's a case of it feels better when the elastics are in but not so good when they are out, I will have to see. I'ma be a good patient and wear them as prescribed like I always do!

[BraceFace2o1o]

Well it seems these elastics are making my jaw ache bad and it's clicking quite badly too. Shame because during my braces journey my clicky/painful jaw improved to the point where it went away completely. It feels really stiff right now and my ear sometimes aches. Hopefully when I stop wearing the elastics it will ease up again.

[Noni]

I had elastics couple of months ago , and it was really painful , my ears were aching , but by the third week it got better.

[BraceFace2o1o]

I had elastics couple of months ago , and it was really painful , my ears were aching , but by the third week it got better.

I'm hoping mine will ease up next week as I have only been wearing mine 1 week. It's been a longggggggg time since I last had to wear elastics so couldn't remember if they caused me this jaw pain. All part of the fun of braces huh? . I'm happy to keep wearing them though as my bite *touches wood* has definitely improved and my back teeth are touching on both sides now which is what I needed

[BraceFace2o1o]

My deep overbite before:


My bite now:


No more deep overbite yay

And something else I've just noticed comparing those 2 pics, my midline is pretty good! I don't remember it ever being this good during braces, it seem to have improved more since wearing these elastics

[Noni]

Wow your teeth are greeting closer to the end , you have no gaps either , your bite looks good .

How is your molars rest ? Are they greeting any better ?

[BraceFace2o1o]

Wow your teeth are greeting closer to the end , you have no gaps either , your bite looks good .

Hey Noni, thank you

I have a few small gaps along my lower right side which aren't visible from the front (I got these since wearing the elastics) but should be closed before the braces come off

How is your molars rest ? Are they greeting any better ?

My molars are meeting so much better since wearing the latest elastics and I've been able to chew sooo much better which is great. I do find my bite doesn't feel so good if I leave the elastics out for too long so even though I've now been told to stop wearing them I might just wear them at night or something to keep my bite feeling better and my molars touching