Second time in braces since 2014

[robynmadison]

So i'll start this off by saying i'm 20 years old, i had braces from April 2014 to April 2015. It was a traditional braces treatment plan, just stick em on and wear your elastics blah blah.
After treatment ended and my ortho was happy with my teeth, he just removed them and said there ya go you're done. No retainer, no permanent wire behind my teeth. That't it. So obviously my teeth went back to normal within literally, months, and it was bad. Before treatment i had an over jet, and overbite lots of crowding on the lowers, pretty buck toothed some would say. With that said i went from super happy to extremely unhappy quick, i made appointments at many, many orthodontic places and a lot of ortho's told me that they wouldn't do treatment on me because i had "extremely short roots" in my teeth and did not want to be responsible for any of my teeth to fall out. Looking for a quick fix my dentist took some filling and placed it on my second front tooth to mimic the look of it being less "bucky" i was happy for a bit until my teeth just started to go back even more. So in October of 2017 i took it upon myself to visit a place out of town, his words were "wow, and you had braces before?" imagine how i felt. It was a two part free consultation which was nice actually, the first one was to look at my teeth and take photos, x-rays and impressions. Second was to actually discuss pricing, what the treatment would involve and such. Arriving at my second consultation my service coordinator began to explain how one side of my mouth was aligned and the other side was not, and that her and the orthodontist thought the Carriere Motion Appliance would be the best option. She said the time in the appliance varies and shes seen patients only wear it for 6 weeks (i rolled my eyes). She said treatment time would be roughly 15 months, and it would cost me 6,900$. EEEEKKK. After already paying roughly that same amount i was a little shocked, but she also let me know she took 600$ off the treatment and waived a initial start up fee, so really, it wasnt horrible. She let me know i could start my treatment immediately and they stuck these elastic spacers in my back molars to make room for the appliance and to re visit in 2 weeks.

I'll be posting each appointment in its own post so it doesnt get confusing!

[robynmadison]

Its been 2 weeks and i am under the impression i am getting my appliance put on, nope! The lady removed the spacers from my mouth and um, ew it was disgusting, the smell, horrid. But i got to quickly rinse my mouth out and she took impressions of my lower teeth for the bottom half of the Carriere Motion to fit and then took these metal spacers and tried to fit them into my mouth where the elastic spacers were. She kept pushing and poking and honestly i was really uncomfortable, mainly because she was using XL gloves on her XS hands and was transferring all my own saliva all over my face, ya it's exactly as disgusting as it sounds. I wanted to ask for someone else to do it but i didn't want to seem like a brat so i just dealt with it. Finally a male assistant noticed i was uncomfortable he stepped in and in one shot, got them to fit in my teeth. He then removed them and stuck new elastic spacers in my mouth and said see ya in another 2 weeks! Ugh. I just wanted my appliance on already. December 8th 2017 was my day for the appliance!!

[robynmadison]

After two weeks of researching how dumb i would look with this things on, it was finally time to get it on.
Mind you every appointment i go to, i have to take time off work so it really sucks.
Unfortunately i got the same lady with the XL gloves so i was just praying that this would go by quick, painless and easy and mind you it wasn't very quick, but it was painless and easy. Some people say the appliance isn't very noticeable but when you smile it's pretty out there haha. I was given 3/16" 6.5oz elastics to wear and were to be seen again in 6 weeks. The first night wasn't bad, the next day i had a pretty bad headache, probably cause my teeth were like wtf is going on? Lol, but it subsided and i really haven't had any issues, I wake up in the morning with little imprints of the elastics on the inside of my cheeks mostly because i have a small mouth and chubby cheeks. It defintely takes you a bit to get used to them but over all its really not a horrible experience yet.....

[robynmadison]

4/1/2018
This morning i was eating an apple (i know your're not supposed to) but i cut it up really small and into bite sized pieces which should've been fine to eat..But my right back part of the bar broke off my tooth, and honestly i started freaking out. It looked like it had literally broken my tooth, there was this white sharp part that was attached to the inner flat part of the bar and i didn't know what to think! I immediately called the office and the lady booked me in for the next available appointment, the following Tuesday. I was pretty upset considering i would have to get the bar taken off my two teeth on the right side, go to my normal dentist to fix it and then return to the ortho to get the back put back on! But to my relief when i went into the office on Tuesday my tooth wasn't broken, the assistant kept saying "wow this lady used a lot of glue.....like a lot" yeah no kidding...she probably couldn't control it with her XL gloves.....he shaved off the extra glue and re-glued my bar back on. i was ready to go ! He gave me stronger elastics, 3/6" so same size, but 8oz this time, and i could tell they were stronger. I feel like i honestly cant even open my mouth! He let me know that he would see me again in 6 weeks and when i went to the front i asked the receptionist if in 6 weeks im getting my braces on...she said it doesn't look like it
3 months in this appliance and not seeing a light yet, sign. Also i have yet to see the actual orthodontist. Ive only been seeing assistants lol.

12/1/2018
Here's a week update on my teeth since stronger elastics and repairs,
They re definitely not sore, but if i push on my teeth with my other ones there's some discomfort. I can see some spacing going on but nothing crazy. I was a little worried about the spacing but honestly, i want it! Bring on the spaces hahah. It means this things doing its job! My next appointment is Feb 20th 2018 and I hope my teeth do some magical crazy movement and im like the one case that gets her appliance off before expected (probably not though)
I really don't think i can wear this thing for 6 months like others i've read. I don't even know why my coordinator told me this girl had hers on for 6 weeks. Just made me feel like mine could be that quick too!!!
Also wearing your elastics with this appliance is super easy and you can't necessarily forget to wear them since the whole appliance is a whole with the elastics lol.
Ill update again if anything crazy happens but this has been my experience so far!
Doesn't suck, but it definitely isn't amazing. Why couldn't i have been blessed with perfectly straight teeth!! WHY!!

Robyn .

[robynmadison]

Over the weekend i had a 2 day headache, not sure if it had to do with my carriere motion but it seemed when i took my elastics out it would subside..my teeth are definitely sensitive now that i have the stronger elastics and i can notice some movement so hopefully things are on the right track here. This morning i was brushing my teeth and i never have bleeding (i floss daily and brush 3 times a day) i was spitting out blood with my tooth paste..so i stopped and looked to see if it was just my gums but i noticed on my left side at the bottom where the metal band is around my tooth that there is some swelling and it was bleeding pretty bad.. I ignored it but now sitting at work eating some strawberries i noticed that its pretty swollen and i can definitely feel it with my tooth.. My ortho closes at 530 and I'm done work at 4 so i may pop in at the end of the day for them to quickly take a look to make sure theres nothing serious going on. I have no idea what would've caused this..I hope it goes away and is nothing major.

[robynmadison]

I went to go see my orthodontist yesterday after work and ummm they were closed. Guess they're at their other location.
This morning i didn't have any bleeding but my gum is still swollen, I think I'm just going to leave it and try to not bother with it.
I've definitely noticed my teeth move. My two teeth that were slightly hidden behind my two fronts are almost completely out from behind.
Lets please pray that my freaking CD comes off February 20th!!! I hate this thing. It makes me look so dumb, I'm so glad I'm getting ceramic clear braces.

This has pretty much become a blog about my braces journey. I never took photos or recorded any info on the first time i had braces so being able to look back at this will probably make me laugh and question why i even did it, regardless, it gives me something to do since i literally don't do anything at work.

[robynmadison]

Alright, so I’m getting pretty annoyed over here.

It’s only been what like two weeks since I got my CD fixed from the bar coming off the right side...Now the left side bar came off. They’re obviously not open on sundays, so I’m going to have to wait until tomorrow morning to see if they have a quick opening but it most likely won’t be until later in the week. I’m so annoyed right now because I read that if they break off they’re prone to breaking off again so...well see.

Ugh this is just so irritating. Maybe they’ll said my bite has improved and I can just get my braces on lol.

[41Braced]

Robyn,
I'm so surprised that your previous Ortho didn't make you wear a retainer?! I'm getting braces on Friday and both my Dentist, Ortho, and Periodontist said the best thing you can do is wear your retainer full time for a year and then at night forever. Not exactly looking forward to any of this but know I'll be happy when I'm done. I have a treatment time of 2.5 years and my Ortho will be using elastics as part of my treatment to correct my bite. In reading through yours and others posts, it seems like this is what causes the most pain. Ah well, we will get through it!

[robynmadison]

Yup he didn't! Then when i went back to him to do treatment cause i figured, why not go back to the same ortho i dealt with to begin with...He refused treatment!! "My roots are too short" Yet my new ortho looked at my roots from the first time i had braces till now and said i would be fine. Truthfully i think he just didn't want to be responsible if anything happened or he knew something went wrong with the treatment OR he's a scammer cause i called him out on not giving me a permanent retainer. IDK. Either way I'm going tomorrow to get my bar fixed on my Carriere Distalizer, or find a different option. They said they may put a bracket on my tooth instead of the bar since it keeps breaking, or hopefully they just put my braces on and use the elastic method like you're probably getting to fix my bite.
Good luck in treatment! Im a big complainer so I'm probably making it out to be way worse then it actually is lol.
I know that my headaches are linked with the movement of my teeth so i got a massage on friday and last night and my headaches have subsided.

Thanks for reading guys!!! I wouldn't think people would be actually interested in reading what i have to say lol.

[robynmadison]

Today was rough.

Not only did i have a crappy day at work, but i also had to leave at 3:30 to go to my Ortho appointment.

So, I left work, got to my appointment and check in at 3:50pm....Now my Ortho is notorious for appointments being severely pushed back, but I've never had to really wait to see him. 4:30 rolls around and a lot of people are in the waiting room, assuming because parents have picked up their kids who have appointments and such...4:50 comes...I was honestly being really patient, and I'm extremely impatient. I got up to go to the bathroom and when i came back the secretary told me it shouldn't be much longer... Im not joking, at 5:20 they call me back, they close at 5:30!!!!!!!! i was the last person there. The secretary had marked me down as i came in at 4:16pm LOL. What a joke, so she put me at the bottom of the list. LIKE WTF ? I even had text proof to show that i was there on time like cmon.

Anyways to what matter, we discussed that since this is the second time that my bar has fallen off, were going to put my braces on.
BUT he wanted to go another round still, so February 20th ill get my Carriere Distalizer off, then impressions will be taken for my braces, then ill have a retainer to wear until i get my braces, honestly this is the weirdest thing ever because I've never heard of having to wear a retainer before getting braces on? Either way i don't really care, so hopefully one more month of this BS, and well be in braces. My Ortho said that i won't be able to wear elastics until i get a stronger wire put on, and said that could take up to 6 months? IDK. This is just all so different then my last treatment and its really weird.

Regardless, since December 8th, my over bite has gone from a 6mm, to a 4mm which he said is really good! He wants it to move more, hence the second round of CD. But that puts me around the 3 month mark! So at least I'm at the lower end of the time spectrum lol.

The whole hour and a half wait really threw me off. Like I'm paying these people thousands of dollars, not to mention I'm also losing money from work to come in because their stupid appliance keeps coming off my teeth, just seems like he also crams too many appointments in one day.

[Jester321]

My Ortho said that i won't be able to wear elastics until i get a stronger wire put on, and said that could take up to 6 months? IDK. This is just all so different then my last treatment and its really weird.

I wonder why that is. My ortho started me on elastics on the very first day I got my braces on with a starter wire (doesn't even go back to my last molars to prevent the wire from snapping while chewing it's so flimsy).

[robynmadison]

It really confused me, i meant to ask but i felt so rushed through since i had to wait until they pretty well closed to see the Ortho lol.
When i had braces, I honestly only recall having my wires changed 3 times. All the other times were just minor check ups and colour changes lol. Its just confusing since my treatment is only supposed to be 15 months long and I'm 2 months down, and he's talking about being in the starter wire for 6 months? I guess well see....

[robynmadison]

Tuesday February 20th i get my distalizer off and ommmmggg im so excited lol.
Ive gotten used to the appliance but it irritates me just as much as it did in the beginning. Its not attractive at all and its noticeable lol. Tuesday they're supposed to take this thing off and get impressions for a retainer, that ill wear for two weeks and then ill get my ceramic braces on...im curious to see how much my teeth have moved since December. Ive noticed much more room for my teeth to kinda "self straighten" as in i don't have that bad of buck teeth anymore. Im not sure if im just repeating myself here but jeez i don't think ive ever said im excited for a long weekend to be over with so i can get to this appointment. Its at 2:45 so hopefully im not there for an hour and half this time around lol.

[robynmadison]

Tuesday i got my Carrier Appliance off even though my Ortho said he wanted to go another round. I was a little frustrated and he saw that and said "ok what is it" and i explained that last time he said was the last round and so i had been excited to get it off, he re measured my teeth movement and agreed and said okay well take it off today. So that was removed and impressions were taken for my braces. I finally found out why they give you a temp clear retainer for 2 weeks until you get your braces. The braces come on a mould already attached to the wire and all put together, so instead of individually placing each braces onto a tooth at a time - taking roughly 2 hours to do with tops and lowers, it takes 1 hour because all he has to do is put glue on each bracket and then put the whole thing on my mouth and bond it at the same time, and with that each bracket is on the correct tooth and where it needs to be for proper movement. I thought it was pretty neat actually. My clear retainer is supposed to be worn 24 hours a day but with my job i talk a lot so ive left it at home and will wear it from 5pm-5am.

[robynmadison]

March 9th/18

I wanted to wait a full day before actually coming on here and talking about my first day with braces.
I got them put on at about 9:30am march 9th, the brackets came inside the trays that are like your temporary clear retainers but instead of your bracket being individually put on the tray is just inserted into your mouth and they brackets go on your teeth all at once. He then put the wire on and asked me if i wanted a colour, i just chose clear even though they said they stain easily but i don't really eat much with spices or anything that'll stain. except i did give up my coffee today, opted for tea which didn't really give me that energy boost i needed to get through my day but oh well lol. i got the ceramic clear braces but still have a metal wire, i was pretty shocked at how they're not so noticeable in pictures but obviously you can see them in person (duh). about 5 hours after i got them put on i started to feel the pressure, ahh it takes me back to 3 years ago when i had my braces the first time. its not unbearable but it definitely sucks, i have a super flimsy wire and my next appointment is in 8 weeks so may 9th which kinda sucks, i wish appointments were sooner and your teeth moved faster hahaha