"What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been" - Robert Hunter, Grateful Dead

[Twangsnap]

Oh my gosh, I just realized that I'm staring at him with my mouth hanging open in astonished appreciation.

It wouldn't be my reaction to watching someone eat an eyelash/insect but that could be just me! So I'll go with that, that's totally how it went from her perspective

btw, your FIRST elastic down the hatch? Ever? Really?

Well now you are making me feel inadequate and right at the end of my treatment too when I have no chance to catch up with everyone else in the elastic ingesting business. If I'd known it was a rite of passage I would have been less careful. Sheesh.

[SinkFullOfDinner]

Well now you are making me feel inadequate and right at the end of my treatment too when I have no chance to catch up with everyone else in the elastic ingesting business.

I always heard "where there's a will, there's a way." I take it you've declined the challenge of revving up your intake by eating a whole pack during one meal? If that's a bit much, then perhaps you'll get really lucky tomorrow and find out your ortho is gifting you a couple extra months' opportunity to catch up. *hopefully not* Seriously, though, here's to hoping you can start the new job with a little less glare on the employee photo.

As a lover of the Dead, I "smile, smile, smile" at your title each time I see it

That's great! I have my next visit tomorrow, and all I keep thinking of "trouble ahead, trouble behind."

[BlondeCam]

Love it when lyrics to suit any all occasions run through my mind. It's like having your own inside joke with The universe.

[SinkFullOfDinner]

Today's visit was a big step forward! We moved up to .019 x .025 TMA wires on both arches. Even better, when I ventured to ask if this was the last wire, he said "should be." So I'll cross my fingers and take that as a "yes." If so, we're officially in the home stretch! Maybe that Aug/Sept target will hold?!?! btw, we need a fingers-crossed emoji. I mean, come on, I see a frog with red eyes as an option over there, but not the international symbol for desperate hope?

Thumbs up for him starting to address the gaps by cranking on powerchains. I never thought I'd put powerchains in the "thumbs up" category, but the gaps were starting to get a little silly. Besides, closing up the space means that the space is no longer needed for anything else. Again, progress and the start of final steps I hope. Thumbs down: I guess I need to join a lot of you in being extra careful with what I eat and drink with the clear powerchains. I obviously never worried about it when powerchains were on the lingual braces, and I don't worry about the clear ligatures on the lower brackets (they're not self-ligating like the top), but a big, long, yellow elastic chain would not be a good look up top.

Also thumbs down, but whatever: heavier elastics. Now at 6.5oz tortoise. That seems like an appropriate name, given how slowly everything is moving. Boy, I hope there's nothing bigger planned. Besides the extra pull, the thicker rubber band means flashing even more of that gorgeous, dingy, straw-colored material. Why can't they make these out of the same clear material that's available for ligs and powerchains? I think I'll go humorless the rest of the way. Can a guy have RBF? They can now.

[SinkFullOfDinner]

Still stoked that we're likely on the final wires. However, I don't know why I didn't think to ask how much longer he thought it would take. Complete brain cramp. Then again, why ask the board certified expert who knows the case when I can search on ArchWired or the interwebs to figure out how long it usually takes to go from final wire to debonding?

So I did a search. It seems that "final" doesn't necessarily mean "fast."

I found a few people on here who mentioned when they got an .025 final wire and then posted when they finished. Ugg! The fastest one I saw was 4.5 mo, and someone else was 6 mo, but it seemed most clustered between 7-9 months, or even a lot longer. For my psychic well-being, I ignored those really long ones. They must be special cases, right?

Then I found some info on wire progressions from a couple of the ortho companies, and they indicated typical timing of 30-40 weeks with .019x.025 which equates to...about 7-9 mo. A third company had a sample sequence with a wider range of time that included both a little shorter to a lot longer.

I'm hoping that I beat the averages (don't we all?). Actually, I'm hoping I beat the fastest 4.5 month person. I mean, the expectation was 7-8 months to go back in Jan, and it seems like we're really close now! I just wish I'd asked at the appointment. It would have taken 20 seconds. Now I'm going to be wondering until the next visit. Patience is not really my thing these days.

[SinkFullOfDinner]

We were just at a friend's wedding, and it was an awesome event. I loved everything about the day, except when I heard a voice say, "hey, let's get you four together." It was the professional photographer. At that moment, I decided that I hate real photographers and their high-quality gear.

While there were plenty of "nice to meet you" minor moments of self-consciousness and plenty of phone pics throughout the day, I figure that enough wine will make memories fuzzy for the new intros, and if I meet them later (sans braces) they will have forgotten the look. Also, I've realized that you don't notice ceramic braces on a lot of the phone camera pics that you and your friends take. So no worries there.

But I doubted that the big, expensive lens that was on that photographer's camera would have the same pocket lint and fingerprints on it that my friends' phone lenses seem to have. These pics would definitely be hi def. I know, who cares? But suddenly, I did. What if there's a little bit of something stuck in there that I couldn't feel? That humongo lens would probably make it look like something that they'd feature in a close-up on the Discovery Channel. Why hadn't I done a mirror check earlier? Did I mention that I was suddenly hyper self-conscious? That can just happen out of nowhere. At least to me.

So we gather together for the photos. Click/flash. Damn, I'm doing that stupid, weird-looking, lip-pressing-on-the-top-braces, half smile that makes it look like I've either had a stroke, or I'm trying to hide something, because....I'm trying to hide something. Smile naturally, you idiot! C'mon, force it! Click/flash. Better. Shoot, he's not done. Keeeeep forcing it! Click/flash/click/flash. Ok, Mr. Photog, you're done now because I say so, and I turn to start the conversation back up.

Ah, the amazing ability of braces to interrupt great moments and just ruin it!

[SinkFullOfDinner]

Random observation: Is it just me, or does anyone else hate that when you hop into the ortho chair and it begins to recline, it always pulls the back of your shirt up? It's like the shirt version of a wedgie. Not a fan.

Anyway, no earth shattering news from last week's check up. I was hoping to maybe hear an educated guess on when we might be wrapped up. He said he'd have a better idea at the next appointment. Orthos are great at seeming to be responsive to questions until you realize they haven't actually said anything.

However, it sounds like one side is pretty much done , so he switched that side to a triangle elastic to just hold things together. A couple gaps are still being a bit stubborn but they're getting there. I was more focused on his comment that the other side is "still a bit class 2." That doesn't sound like one of those quickie fixes unless it's almost there. At what point is it close enough for government work? I may be getting to the point that I'm willing to entertain a little compromise. Other than that, a couple more bends, a couple bags of elastics, and visions of another summer avoiding corn on the cob.

[LisainTX]

Whenever I feel down about my braces I come here to read SinkFullofDInner"s posts. I have laughed so hard at some of your stories then find myself giggling like an idiot when the same things end up happening to me.
I think one of your first posts I read was a visit to someone's house and dropped elastics on the floor in their bathroom and your frustration at the seemingly disappearance into thin air.
Loved the advice to the lady recently on downing a bag of elastics and a drink to catch up with the rest of us! Priceless.
You really ought to write a book, I swear that I'd buy it. Hilarious stuff!!
Thanks for keeping me sane through this journey.

[SinkFullOfDinner]

A LisainTX sighting!! Welcome back. I guess we can take your photo off the "Have you seen me?" milk cartons.

While I'm glad to hear you find yourself "giggling like an idiot" when the same things happen to you, I'm sorry to hear that you're repeating my knucklehead missteps. You're supposed to read and avoid, not read and repeat. Sheesh.

I don't know about that whole book thing, but good to know I'd get at least one royalty check for $1, so I've got that going for me. Closing in on J.K. Rowling status.

I just saw your update post. Glad to hear things have been going well. Sounds like you're in the home stretch, so good luck with the last bit!

[SinkFullOfDinner]

Have you ever been driving to a restaurant or a meeting, and just to make sure you don't forget to pop off your elastics before walking in you decide to pop them off on the way while you're thinking of it and blow them out the car window before you get there? Except you overestimate your accuracy (channeling your inner Amazonian tribesman with a blowgun dart) and bounce that little sucker off the inside of your half-opened window? And now it's somewhere in your car, on your lap, on your shoulder?

No? Never? Uhhh....me neither. That would be really dumb, right? I was just asking, you know, hypothetically.

[Twangsnap]

Glad you see you haven't lost your sense of humour! And great news on the one side at least - is your orthodontist still being noncommittal about a debonding date? What else has been moving in there?

I'm LOVING life post-train-tracks but having very off bite issues which will hopefully sort themselves out - my ortho doesn't seem worried about it but when I bite, my lower canines hit my upper canines to the point that I can actually see the uppers moving out. And that's with the retainer in place

[SinkFullOfDinner]

So glad to hear that you're happy with your results! It sounds like you're still getting a "wow, I can't believe it" feeling. Ride that as long as you can. I just saw your update post (figured I'd just reply all at once) and the before/after results are awesome! I can see why you were happy and ready to wrap up when you did. They look great!

We'll see what my guy's crystal ball says later this week. I'd been hoping to hear a firm off date at this next visit, but my expectations are a little lower now since the last couple gaps are being stubborn and still haven't closed all the way. Frustrating since everything else seems so close. Right now, I'd settle for a really good estimate that's only a couple more visits away. I don't get it with the gaps. It only took about 3-4mo for this last group to get to their max gappiness, so I assumed it would take no more than that for them to close, and probably less. I mean, same ones moving thru the same bone in the opposite direction, but with an actual effort (powerchains) to get rid of them. They should close faster than they opened up, right? It just goes to show what I know. Other than that, just little finishing tweaks and bends and trying to get rid of whatever remaining class 2 he's seeing on one side. I can't for the life of me see it. Again, what do I know other than what the calendar says?

...but when I bite, my lower canines hit my upper canines to the point that I can actually see the uppers moving out.

Same thing was pointed out by my ortho back in April. I bite, upper canine brackets visibly shift out. But after all the wacky bite transitions that have happened, I didn't even notice it until he pointed it out, and then I just thought "great, something else for him to tinker with." At the time he said he planned to do a bit more IPR on a few lowers to bring the lower canines in just a little to keep them from hitting, but he hasn't yet. I don't know if that means that's still to come, or he's decided not to for some reason. I'd kind of forgotten about it. Does it bother you? If it's no big deal and he's not worried about it, then that's fine. But I don't want him to remember at the last minute and then tack on another month when it could have been addressed now.

[SinkFullOfDinner]

Well, I guess his crystal ball was a little cloudy at this last appointment. Or, if he has an update in mind on how much longer we have, he wasn't sharing. Probably the result of being an only-child.

Also, we're officially in a conversational rut. He tells me how impressed he is with how much progress the elastics have made. I ask if that means we're done with them. He then replies "Well... haha, chuckle, chuckle...no." Then I get two more packs of the tortoise. Like clockwork.

Oh, and in a coincidence of good timing, he did some IPR to start addressing the clash of the canines.

After inspecting the stubborn gaps, he said he was going to use another technique to close them.

I discovered that this new technique kinda hurts.

Then I'm on my way with another appointment five weeks out. Oh joy.

[atrixa]

I discovered that this new technique kinda hurts.

Then I'm on my way with another appointment five weeks out. Oh joy.

I do enjoy your updates How long have you been in braces now?

[SinkFullOfDinner]

32 mo, which requires all of my fingers and all of my toes, plus all of your fingers and some of your toes to add it all up. Original estimate 22-24, though at about the one yr mark they hinted that it would probably wind up being longer. Not cool, but hopefully really close to wrapping up. Good luck to you! I really hope your plan stays on track or even beats your ortho's initial estimate.