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Not too eventful an appointment:
* Upper arch-wire increased from .014 to .018 and extended onto the 7s.
* Lower arch-wire increased from .013 to .016.
* Noticed the gate on LL2 had opened on the way home, but coaxed it shut again. Fingers-crossed it will stay shut and no extra visits needed.
So I've now all the brackets engaged, and a double-step on both wires. Doing the meet and greet at a youth-club tomorrow night and very glad there's no additional ironmongery to negotiate.
A month since my last missive so thought it was time for an update:
No dramas to report. Things are moving along slowly but surely, I've noticed more space between the lower incisors while flossing (every night, good little boy that I am) and the wire between LL3 and 5 (canine and second bicuspid) that was bent into an S and tight against the tooth now has a good millimetre clearance. And the molars are heading towards one another; I can actually feel pressure on my tongue if I put it between my molars and bite down. The upper arch has levelled a little more too, though the overlapping of the front two incisors is unchanged. My next adjustment is in a week, so maybe that will be on the agenda.
Hoping my cold will have gone by then; our office could be used as a scene in Resident Evil so many people are walking around groaning and coughing.
Hi Duncan,
Just wanted to comment on your latest post. Your teeth do indeed look like they are moving along nicely. I'm sure that is making you happy! Sorry to hear that everyone is sick where you are. I've been very lucky because I have not been sick (not even a cold, touch wood!) in more than five years.
I had my braces put on at the end of October so it's been almost 4 weeks now. I've seen a teensy bit of closure of the space between my two front teeth. Not anything to get too terribly excited about though. I have noticed a space has opened up in my lower arch between the two front incisors and the one immediately to the right of them. So, not really too sure what's going on with that. I have an adjustment scheduled for December 17th soI guess I'll find out what's going on at that time.
That's great about your increase in wire size. I really don't understand anything about how those wire changes are decided so it's all going to be a huge mystery to me, I think! Anyway, keep us posted on your progress as things unfold!
Dee
Thought the pan X-ray from my consultation might be interesting for people:
Shows the cause of my deep bite quite well, with molars of both jaws being low compared with the incisors - particularly the lower incisors. Gaps from first premolars have been filled on the lower, and not quite on the upper.
Another adjustment completed, again fairly uneventful, with just a change of the bottom wire from .016 to .018 and shaving a mm off the turbos so I have slightly more chewing ability. The ortho said he was happy with the movement so far and planned changing to rectangular wires for my New Year present. A gratuitous "WooHoo!" and "How much is that going to hurt?" went through my mind.
Here's a very quick photo of the new wire:
I'll try and post some "changes" photos over the weekend.
Looking good, Dunc. Those front teeth will be un-overlapped in no time, you can see it getting better each time. I found it really odd when my overlap suddenly went - such a big change.
1st Feb 2012 - extraction both upper 2nd premolars
Braced 9th March 2012 - lower metal fixed and upper removable plate
5th September 2012 - bite plate gone, upper ceramic fixed fitted
Estimated treatment time 18-24 months
Hey Dunc!!
So how have you adjusted to your turbos. You are lucky they filed them down a bit to chew better. When mine wore down, they built them back up... your teeth are looking great
Elizabeth Getting top and bottom traditional metal braces and bite turbos
correcting crowding, overbite, and TMJ on 3/6/2012
Turbos Removed 8/14/2012
Hi Betsy,
Good luck with your adjustment tomorrow.
I'm getting used to the turbos; the first two weeks were the worst. Going into school the following day was interesting. (I volunteer one day a week and slipped up on the appointments as I'd intended to book the day after, not the day before. "Stupid boy!" as Captain Mainwaring would say.) One advantage of having braces as an adult is that we don't have to put up with playground bullies, or at least have thick enough skins to ignore the whispers. My last adjustment was delayed a few minutes last week as the girl before me came out in floods of tears and just stood in the corridor sobbing. She'd had elastics fitted and was dreading going to school with them in - ortho spent a while finding this out and negotiating that she didn't have to wear them during the day. Children can be unbelievably nasty to one another when they start bullying; if it wasn't braces it would be because she had the wrong number of eyelashes, or some other trivial thing, that made her 'different'.
Here's a montage of tooth movement over the last few months:
Wow, your teeth progressing really well especially on the lower. The archwire look almost straight now.
You are right about bullying in school. Kids sometimes can be a little devil. Hahaha. Sometimes they just doesn't know how their action will impact/ effect others life. Well~~
Hi all,
Had a couple of adjustments since my last post, not anything exciting really, but got elastics this time. (No exciting names, just "The green ones." And only the bag is green.):
As you can see, very simple ones - a single loop from the bottom first molar to the top canine. My bottom teeth were no longer hitting the ( evil turbo) platform behind the front teeth; instead closing behind the platform so my molars were able to actually chew for a few weeks. That will of course be stopped all too soon otherwise the deep bite would continue. From the ortho's contemplative "Hmmm", have a feeling he hadn't expected it.
Had wires changed too, and am onto rectangular ones, so there's some progress.
P.S. Apologies for yellow gunk in the brackets, I'd managed to get a banana down for lunch and it looks like I would've been able to snack on it all afternoon. Note to self, use electric toothbrush before taking extreme close-ups!
Hi, Duncan - looking much straighter. You've even got the same black triangle as me! Can you feel the extra torque from the rectangular wires? I find different teeth ache on different days. I hope the elastics work their magic quickly for you.
1st Feb 2012 - extraction both upper 2nd premolars
Braced 9th March 2012 - lower metal fixed and upper removable plate
5th September 2012 - bite plate gone, upper ceramic fixed fitted
Estimated treatment time 18-24 months
your teeth are looking great 
evil turbo) platform behind the front teeth; instead closing behind the platform so my molars were able to actually chew for a few weeks. That will of course be stopped all too soon otherwise the deep bite would continue. From the ortho's contemplative "Hmmm", have a feeling he hadn't expected it.