Jana's Journey

[twentyseven]

Jana, your results are so motivating! I'm not yet braced, but I'm so curious how it feels not to be embarassed about one's teeth. Make sure to post the pics after debracing!:)

[lainii]

nice!

[purplestar]

Hi Jana, thank you so much for sharing your braced story here. I am glad I found your story. I am braced since Feb 2014. I have very similar left and right lateral incisor like yours. My left lateral incisor was totally hidden behind my front lateral and canine, but my ortho managed to put the bracket and archwire 2 months ago, and the tooth came almost inline last week. It was still slightly behind my front lateral last week but the tooth managed to squeeze over and left a 1mm gap between the front lateral, and lengthen by almost 2mm (the tooth was shorter then my front lateral but same length now) overnight. I have mixed feeling when i first saw the movement, I am glad that the hidden tooth finally progress, but also worried that the overnight movement might damaged my root, or there is no bone to hold the tooth. How did your ortho find out / diagnosed your incisor and canine roots problem and what was done to fix it?

[JMSmith]

Hi Purplestar! My issue was discovered quite by accident. I had gone in for an adjustment and when my ortho was looking at my bite she saw that the tooth moved outward when I bit down. She actually freaked me out with a "WHOA!!!"... not what you want to hear when you're sitting in that chair. Anyway, she did some x-rays on that area and discovered the issues with the bone after evaluating my pre-braced x-rays. To fix it she basically put bends in the archwire to place the tooth at a bit of an angle where there was sufficient bone and told me to hope for the best. It extended my treatment by about 6 months. I've had power chains on the entire time for stability. I was instructed to avoid anything that might cause trauma to the tooth, including biting into sandwiches and stuff like that. My appointments have gone well since and the tooth isn't moving like it was, but I do understand there's no guarantee. My "retainer" will be Invisalign and I'll have to wear it all day everyday for about 2 years. She's going that route because that tooth will need to be stabilized for a long time while the bone heals and what not. As long as I can keep the tooth, I'm okay with it.

Good luck! Pay attention to the tooth and if it feels abnormally wiggly, say something to your ortho. Right now all of your teeth probably feel really loose, but that feeling does go away. If you notice that the feeling doesn't go away in that tooth, say something. They should be able to stabilize it enough for the bone to strengthen with time if needed.

[purplestar]

Thank you so much Jana. I shall ask my ortho to have a look on that tooth at my next adjustment.
I am so happy for you that you have a de-bands date, and looking forward to see your naked teeth. This is a long and tough journey, but you all sharing your story and pictures here make our journey easier and smoother <3.