From June 18 to September 13 I wore the elastics from my upper first premolars to the lower second molars, to bring the lower molars forward. I was told they would make my bite better. After a few weeks wearing them my bite changed so much that I couldn't close my mouth fully. It was like the very last back teeth had come too far out of the gums. Like they'd come up instead of forward. My front teeth met edge to edge while my back teeth were together and my jaw liked to sit with my lower teeth slightly in front of the uppers. My premolars were so far apart that I could stick my tongue out between them with my mouth closed as much as it could be. I had trouble swallowing because my front teeth didn't overlap and my tongue pushed out between them. That really freaked me out.
From May to August my teeth went from this to this (biting down hard as I could):
Two months ago my ortho said to stop wearing the elastics because they'd done more than he expected.
Right now my teeth look like this:
At my adjustment yesterday he told me to put them back on. I don't know if that's a good idea. Since taking them off, in the last month my teeth have come back together enough that I've been able to swallow normally and chew things like soft pasta again. I thought that was a good thing! I told him that my front teeth won't overlap any more and he says that he'll just make them come down more. If he does that won't I look like a horse? And how will my jaw get more comfortable?
Also since the extraction gaps have been closing my face has changed. Friends and even doctors have commented that my face looks sick and thin even though I've gained back the weight I lost when I first got braces. My cheeks look sucked in and my face is longer. I get sad when I see my "before" picture at the ortho's office cos I miss my cheeks and my face and even how my teeth used to be
I like my orthodontist but with everything that's happened I have difficulty trusting him, and this process. As it is I'm at the point of taking strangers on the internet's advice on whether my teeth are doing the right thing.
So, is this what elastics are supposed to do? Is this just one of the steps I have to go through? Were my teeth overlapping too much before? Will my jaw just get used to this new position? What are other people going through? Everything I read about elastics says they make the bite come together. Has any one else had elastics make their bite worse, and then got it fixed later?
I just can't bring myself to put them back on. I've got some links pulling the lower molars forward so they'll still be moving even without the elastics. But then I feel awful not wearing them too. I don't want to be a bad patient but this treatment has been a nightmare for so many reasons and I'm at the end of my rope. It's been a year, when does this get better?
