Here I am with braces in March, 2002, two months after treatment began:

...and in January, 2003 after one year of treatment. I'm wearing elastics, but you can barely see them because they're near  the corners of my mouth:

A close-up of my teeth, the morning before I got my braces:

Sure, they don't look too bad, but look closely. Some teeth on the bottom overlap each other, and several aren't very straight. They also aren't even vertically (some seem "shorter" than others, especially on top):

And, after one full year of treatment, this is how my teeth look in January, 2003:

Wow! What an improvement! Although I still technically have an open bite, the front teeth no longer appear to have all those gaps -- the upper front teeth slightly overlap the lowers. (To eliminate the open bite entirely would have required ridiculously extensive jaw surgery, and was never an option). The teeth have all straightened out nicely, and appear more even. The gaps from the bicuspid extractions are about 70 percent closed. Has it been worth all the pain and inconvenience this past year to see these changes?! Take a look at the difference in my teeth! A resounding HELL YES from me!

This was after six months of treatment:

Here are my teeth after 6 months of treatment. My top teeth are almost all aligned, and my bottom teeth do not overlap anymore! Note that the archwire on the bottom front teeth has been removed because my gums were suffering. Soon after this photo was taken, I had my four second bicuspids extracted. The extractions were unfortunately necessary because my gums were in danger of receding. Extracting some teeth gave us more leeway to straighten my smile without harming my gums.

Elastic Power Chains To Close  the Gaps

On July 2, 2002, I had the arch wires put back on after having my four second bicuspids extracted. These photos show the white elastic chains (extreme right and left), on top of the arch wire) that will help close  the gaps. It's kind of hard to see, since they are white. The elastic chain is attached to the brackets the same way as the  regular little rubber bands (ligating modules), except that the rubber bands are chained together, thus pulling on the teeth. The front two bottom teeth are not banded in yet. Dr. Vogt wanted to give the gums more time to adjust before pushing them. Yes, so far, it HURTS! (p.s. the pain lasted about 2 weeks and then dissipated).

9 Months of Treatment - Light Blue Bands and Chains

I love to eat Indian and Thai curry, but was tired of how they stained my clear bands and elastic chains. So, I switched to light blue. You can barely see the difference between light blue and white. Now, after 9 months of treatment and extractions, my smile is looking better than ever. My bite is beginning to be less open. The gaps from the extractions are closing up. The chains do not hurt anymore (they go back on the bottom next month after one specific tooth is made a little straighter).

1 Year of Treatment - Chains and Elastics

I'm still wearing light blue power chains, and have begun wearing elastics to help close the gaps from the bicuspid extractions (the gaps should be completely closed in about 4 more months). The elastics hook once on top and twice on the bottom, forming a triangle. 

My bite has changed significantly in the past 3 months and my teeth look straighter than ever. The top front teeth now slightly overlap the bottoms. This is to help correct my open bite. Notice the space that is closing between my upper and lower teeth on the right side of my mouth! 

I wear the elastics at night, and during the day when I can. I take them off to eat and to brush my teeth. At first they made my teeth ache, but now I barely notice them. Sometimes I forget that I have them on -- until I try to yawn and they snap my mouth closed! I do wear the elastics in public. They are barely noticeable. They impede my speech ever so slightly, making me slur certain words a bit. Overall, they're not too bad to deal with.

1 Year 4 months of Treatment 

One year, 4 months into treatment. I'm wearing "smoke" colored power chains, and you can barely see them! The gaps are almost closed and the bite is looking more even than ever. Dr. Vogt said that my gaps are closing slower than average. My bottom teeth are beginning to rotate inward too much, so a stronger arch wire was used this time. I am still wearing elastics at night and during the day when I can.

A Year and a Half of Treatment - The Gaps are Almost Closed

Eighteen months into treatment. We're taking a break from the elastics for a while, but I will continue to wear the smoke-colored power chains (smoke color has proved to be my favorite) until the end of my treatment. The four extraction gaps are almost closed (especially the top ones), but the lower gaps continue to stubbornly remain, as show in the following photo. 

Dr, Vogt says that my gaps are closing much slower than average. Oh lucky me. At this point, my teeth are fairly straight and my bite is pretty much where Dr. Vogt wants it to be. Now at each adjustment, he's tweaking things to straighten a few teeth which are still a speck crooked in one way or another. Also, my total treatment time will probably be more than 24 months. I expect to be in treatment an additional six months and get the braces off in Spring or Summer 2004.

You can see the gaps between my frontward molars (which are banded) and the teeth next to them. Aren't my fillings lovely? That's the result of lazy oral hygiene as a child and lack of sealants in the '60s. Thankfully, so far, my kids don't have one cavity in either of their mouths! 

21 Months of Treatment

21 months into treatment, and now after taking a break from elastics for a while, I'm wearing new ones that go from the first upper hook down to the last lower hook. This will help to better align my bite. My extraction gaps are FINALLY beginning to close. I'll have a progress photo of that soon.

22 Months -- The Gaps are Almost Gone!

The photo on the left was taken in June, and the photo on the right was taken in late September. FINALLY those stubborn bottom gaps are closing. A few more months and they'll be gone!

More photos to come as my treatment continues!