I had my orthodontist appointment. I have had a wire pushing my upper front teeth forward so they are out over the lowers. The wire has only been attached to the front four teeth and the rear molars. The front teeth are now forward enough. So I thought he would start closing all the gaps between the teeth this time. But some of the side teeth had moved a little in. So he decided to attach the wire to all al the teeth again, but not work on closing the gaps yet. He said that having the teeth all lined up and pushing them along the wire is pretty easy. So the plan is on my next visit in 5 weeks, that they will using rubber bands to bring the teeth together. Not sure if it will be a powerchain or what.
The dental assistant commented on my prosthetic tooth. It is a small nub now. It was part of a 3 tooth bridge which they cut appart. It is just attached to the wire. The bracket has come off several times. And when they have remounted the bracket, it didn’t fit right, so they ground the tooth down so it would fit. So after being ground down two or three times, it is small, and doen’t look right. The dental assistant said she is going to make me another prosthetic tooth on my next visit.
I have had my braces on now for over 2 years. I asked about how long it was still going to take. I am pretty patient. But people keep asking me how long I will have them on. He guessed about 6-9 months.
I visited the orthodontist today for the first time since November. He was very happy with how my teeth are moving. Last time he changed the wire on the uppers. There was small bends in the wires towards the back to keep them from sliding through the brackets on the very back. The wire was then attached only to the front four upper teeth. There were a little bit of bow in the wire to push the teeth forward.
So on this visit, he removed the wire, and stretched out the small bends in the back by about a millimeter each.This will add 2mm to the length of the wire, and help advance the front teeth forward a little more. My prosthetic tooth is pushed out farther and is kind of floating now. The assistant asked if I would like them to remove it. But the thought of a big gap in my front teeth wasn’t appealing. I told her to leave it in. I am used to it floating some anyway.
One of the bottom molars seemed to have moved in a little bit. She had to push the wire over into the bracket. She put a ligature on it, but that wasn’t enough. So she attached the wire to the bracket using a small twisted wire thing. It was a little uncomfortable at first, but I don’t even notice it now.
He said to schedule my next appointment in 3 to 4 weeks. So they scheduled my next appointment for the last Tuesday of January.
I had my orthodontic appointment this morning. My teeth are making progress. The gaps in my lower teeth are gone, so they removed the power chain. I now have just the regular little ligatures installed on the bottom.
The teeth on my upper-left are seeming to stay out over the bottom teeth, so I don’t have to where the rubber bands anymore…at least for now. They removed the button that was attached to the inside of the one upper tooth.
He wants to get the upper teeth to move out and forward now. So he replaced the wire that was on my upper teeth. He took a longer wire and made sharp little bends in it that will be positioned just in front of the brackets on my back molars. This will extend the front of the wire out forward. I now have ligatures on the top teeth only on the front four teeth. So the wire is unattached on the sides, and wire is slightly pressing the upper front teeth forward. It feels weird while eat and brushing to have the wire loose on the sides.
My next appointment is in the first week of Janurary.
My next appointment was scheduled for November 5th. But today after lunch, the ceramic bracket on my prosthetic tooth broke. The prosthetic tooth gets pushed all over the place when I eat, and that puts strain on the bracket which eventually breaks. I called my orthodontist, and they were able to get me in today. I just expected to have the bracket fixed. But with my next appointment so close, he decided to go ahead and do the adjustment today. He checked my teeth and was happy with the movement of the top teeth out over the bottom teeth on the left side. He said I only need to wear the rubber band at night when I am sleeping. He had the assistant install a powerchain on my bottom teeth. A powerchain is like a whole set of the little ligatures all linked together. It kind of looks like “0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0″. The power chain was installed instead of the ligatures.
Apparently the powerchain is used to close any gaps between the teeth (not that I have any major gaps). I think it may help pull the lower teeth back so that the upper teeth will come out over them.
I am a little concerned about staining. The ligatures get stained easily, but they are somewhat obscured being wrapped around the bracket. But the powerchain will be much more visible.
I visited the orthodontist last week, and my appointment went great. At my last appointment he was a little discouraged because the two teeth on the upper left hadn’t moved enough to make it over the bottom teeth. He bent the wire almost straight, and put it back in. I asked about stronger rubber bands, but he said I was using the strongest they had. I asked about doubling up the rubber bands, and he said if I could do it, go for it.
Well it was tough getting the second rubber band to stay on. First I had to work at even getting it on. It kept slipping off the button mounted on the inside of the upper tooth. But I would put one rubber band on, then hook a second rubberband on the top button, and carefully hook it on the hook on the bottom. Often the second rubberband would pop off later in the day, usually if I ate anything.
Then I discover that some of the rubber bands in the bag were stuck together. I had been pulling them apart. But then I tried installing one of these double rubberbands, and found they stay in much better.
I noticed that the teeth were moving. And at my appointment, the doctor was pleased with the progress! He asked what had changed, and I told him about doubling up the rubberbands. He was thrilled. The top teeth or finally out past the lower teeth. I though I might be down with the rubber bands of that, but he wanted me to keep them in for another month. I am still doubling them up. Now instead of installing one, then the second one, I either use the double rubber bands, or with some effort installed two single rubber bands at the same time. This is tough trying to hold two rubber bands by my finger tip, and hook them on. But with practice it has been doable. My teeth are looking straighter!!!!! 