Laynie's Braces Story - Updated 11/11/2008 (pics)ALMOST DONE

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#1 Post by **landela** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:43 am

So...I posted this already in another forum, but I thought that I would move them over here, and continue the rest of my story in this thread.

Posted 04/24/2008
So, tomorrow I get braces and will have them for approx. 8 months! I'm actually rather excited and a tiny bit nervous too. Mainly just nervous about how I'll look, the pain, and adjusting to braces.
I've been trying to get braces since I was 10 or so, but at that point they wouldn't do braces because all of my baby teeth hadn't fallen out yet. Then in high school I attempt to get braces, but my mom refused to pay for them. So now that I'm 23 and my insurance will pay all but $1500 of the cost of braces I am finally getting them! After much debate, I decided to go with ceramic ones just so they'll be less noticable.

Here is a picture of my teeth currently. They're really not too bad, I just sucked my thumb till I was 12 years old so I have an overbite, my teeth are slightly too far to the right, and I have gaps between my teeth. My bottom teeth are also kinda crowded...

Posted: 04/27/2008
So, I got my braces on Thursday. Once I got there, they talked me into going with metal brackets due to being less bulky, and less painful to get taken off.
Also, I didn't have to get the bands that go around the back teeth, so the spacers they gave me were entriely unnecessary.
Luckily, my teeth aren't too sore. Can't really bite into anything with my front teeth, but I can chew with my back, so thats a plus.
My bottom lip is really swollen though, so thats the only thing that really sucks. And I have a customer facing job where I have to talk all day, so it keeps getting more irritated and swollen.

So anyways, one thing that has been bothering me lately is one of my teeth on top - the one immeadiately to my left of my two middle teeth (I dunno what that one is called, obviously), but the bracket is more towards the back side of my tooth instead of in the middle. This is causing the tooth to move further towards the back of my mouth and slowly its creeping behind the tooth its next to it so its not flush with my other teeth when I run my tooth along the back. Its really bothering me, and I'm pretty sure that I'm overreacting, and that the ortho can fix it. So, I don't know if its something to be concerned with and if I should contact my ortho (probably not) or if I should just wait until my first adjustment on June 3?

#2 Post by **landela** » Mon May 19, 2008 2:19 pm

So, I had my first misadventure with braces on Friday.
My husband and I went out to dinner and I ate a crouton (which I know I shouldn't have, but I couldn't resist) and it pushed the bottom wire between the last bracket and the one right next to it out into a V shape so that it was poking into my cheek. My husband called my ortho and they told him he should just be able to push the wire back through the tube, and if he couldn't then he would just need to pull it out and set it on top of my bracket and leave it like that till my adjustment on June 3. Luckily he was wable to push it back through the tube, but I suppose I've learned my lesson about super crunchy foods.

#3 Post by **landela** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:35 pm

My first ortho adjustment went pretty well. They put a thicker wire on the bottom and then my top four front teeth they put a zing string on. The zing string crisscrosses before going around the next brackets so it looks like little x's between each of my teeth. The second it was pulled tight I could feel the pressure and then she put wire ties where the string starts and ends so that the teeth don't rotate and just move closer and the gaps close. When she put the wire ties on she was pushing on the teeth and it hurt so bad that my eyes started watering. Next visit they're going to reposition a few of the back brackets.

Here is another picture of my teeth before braces:

And here they are after my first adjustment:

#4 Post by **Flaka** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:01 pm

Hi landela,

Glad to hear your adjustment went well. Your teeth are looking good, the gap on the front ones is gone

What part of Arizona do you live in?

#5 Post by **angel84** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:39 pm

wowzers!!!

Look at that progress!!!

WAY TO GO!!!! Man I hope I am that lucky when ever I get mine put on. My 2 front teeth are similar to how yours where. I am sooo inspired by your progress.

#6 Post by **landela** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:11 pm

angel84 wrote:wowzers!!! Look at that progress!!! WAY TO GO!!!! Man I hope I am that lucky when ever I get mine put on. My 2 front teeth are similar to how yours where. I am sooo inspired by your progress.

Aww...I'm glad that I was able to inspire you.
I am pleasently surprised at how quickly my teeth have moved.
Good luck on your braces journey.

#7 Post by **landela** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:11 pm

double post...

#8 Post by **landela** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:13 pm

Flaka wrote: What part of Arizona do you live in?

Tempe/Chandler/Ahwatukee...right on the border of all three, but my address is a Tempe one.

#9 Post by **browneyedgrl** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:15 am

Laynie,

Great progress after your first adjustment! Your braces will be off in no time!

B

#10 Post by **landela** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 10:47 pm

So, I went for my second adjustment July 15 (the day before I went to the dentist to get a cavity filled, so ugh)! My last two bracketed teeth on the bottom left side were not wired because I was grinding one of them so the ortho wanted to let them move of their own. Then two brackets were repositioned on the bottom right (the second and thrid to the last bracketed teeth), and one on the top left (next to the last tooth with a bracket). That wasn't too bad. Getting the glue scraped off was definetly the worst part.
Then they replaced the zing string around my first four teeth with a thicker, clear string to hold the teeth in place. And a thinker wire was put in top and bottom. I think the bottom is .089 (I could be totally wrong).
This adjustment definetly left me in the most pain.
Well, shortly after I noticed the teeth without wire moving into a more comfortable position, but the teeth on the right where the brackets were repositioned started doing the same thing as their mates on the other side. I decided to deal with it for a few days, but finally gave in and called the ortho to make an emergency appointment for next week.
At the emergency appointment the ortho repositioned both of the second to last brackets and everything seems okay for the most part. I decided to go with colored ligs just on the bottom just to see how I liked it. There is one tooth that I doesn't seem to fit together very comfortable now though (next to the repositioned bracket on the left side, so third to last tooth - man, it'd really help if I learned the names of my teeth), but its not unbearable. However, the assistant didn't clip the wire close to the bracket on the left side, so I've been dealing with that poking me in the cheek. I don't really feel like going back to the ortho till my next adjustment, so I'll see how long I can deal with this. Also, the teeth with the zing string around them (the two next to my front two on top) seem to be moving behind my front teeth ever so slightly. I'm not sure if it just feels this way because of the fact that my two front teeth are still kind of V-ed in slightly and need to round out a little bit. I sure hope this is the case though.
Also, I've noticed how bad my bite is. There are huge spaces between my top and bottom teeth when I bit down.
Really, I'm just ready to get them off. I'm having an "I hate braces" week, and am tempted to take pliers and pull them off myself. Also, the clear zing string is more yellow than clear now, so thats irritating. Perhaps I will schedule another emergency appointment and have the wire clipped and the zing string changed out or taken off. I don't know why they don't just use a powerchain to keep the teeth together, as well as close the spaces between the other teeth. To me that would seem a lot more effective, but what do I know? At my next adjustment I plan on talking to them about what the rest of my treatment plan is so I have an idea of whats going to happen and why, when, and how.

Here are a couple of pictures that I took tonight of my teeth. In all of them I am biting down...

Front view

Right view

Left view

#11 Post by **real2** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 6:12 am

Wow, your teeth are amazing already, and only 3 months in?

I wonder what the remaining 15-20 months are for

#12 Post by **landela** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 6:37 am

real2 wrote:
I wonder what the remaining 15-20 months are for

You mean remaining 5 months (or so)?! LoL...don't give me a longer sentence!!!

#13 Post by **landela** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 12:43 am

Tomorrow I have an ortho adjustment. I have a few concerns that I need to address if they're planning on taking my braces off in December. First, my front top four teeth aren't smooth - like the teeth on either side of my front teeth rotated behind them so when I run my tongue over them, there is a step back almost, kind of like _--_ and I don't think there should really be that difference (maybe there should be...I dunno...). I think it should be more of a smooth type of feel - if that makes any sense. Then there are still spaces between some of my top teeth. And also, my front 6 teeth on the bottom are all different lengths, so those need to be evened out (without filing them down - with the exception of one that has been worn down oddly). The issue that is bothering me the most is the first issue. I keep pushing the teeth with my tongue and my fingers trying to move them into a position that I view as suitable. Lets hope they get what I'm talking about, and devise a way to rotate them back the way they were before they put the second zing string on.

#14 Post by **Clo** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:01 am

Hi,

your teeth and bite look awesome already. An excellent occlusion you have.
Don't worry about your laterals. Do mention it and they'll probably make 2
little bends in the archwire between the centrals and laterals. Within some
days they will be much better. It is only some minor tweaking really.

#15 Post by **landela** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:10 am

Clo - thank you for your response, and your advice. For the most part, I am very happy with my teeth - and I know within the next couple of months a few tweaks can be done so that I am 100% happy with the final results.
Is that what those teeth on either side of front two teeth are called - laterals? Good to know. I always hate being like, "the tooth four teeth in from this tooth." LoL. I keep telling myself to learn the names of all the teeth, but I'm just too lazy to.