Sid82's Braces Journey *5 month update*

[sid82]

Hey everyone! I just got braces 2 weeks ago and found this awesome forum. Reading everyone's stories and seeing the progress pics is so cool so I thought I'd start my own.

My name is Sid and I'm 24 years old. I got braced on 4/27/07 and my estimated time is 28 months. Honestly, I felt absolutely no pain after my bracing until I tried to eat; that was impossible! I could feel slight pressure, but no aching. Maybe that'll change with my first adjustment! After 2 weeks I can chew pretty normally with my molars. Still can't bite down with my laterals though. It's so funny. I have to eat a sandwich with a knife and fork! Anyway, I've taken weekly pics so here they are...


The day I got braced


After 1 week


Week 2

Here are my arch pics. I didn't think to take these until I found this site so I only have pics from today...


Needs the most work


Not too bad but a little crowded

Most movement is happening with my bottom laterals. I'll be thrilled when I can see noticeable change with my upper laterals! My ortho said I have a class III bite, but it's not too severe. He's gonna try to push my bottom teeth back and upper teeth forward to correct it. He seems to know what he's talking about, but I was a little concerned with the placement of some brackets. The brackets on my lower laterals seem to be placed unevenly from the top of the tooth.
You can see it in this pic...

Won't this cause one tooth to shift higher than the other? I definately plan on pointing this out at my first adjustment, but I'd like to get some opinions from the board.

Well, that's all for now. I'll try my best to update as regularly as possible. I've read some great stories with amazing progress pics. Hopefully, I can provide the same. I really look forward to sharing my journey with you guys!

[sid82]

Thanks for the welcome KK! Seems we do have similar bites. I wonder how weird it's gonna feel when our upper teeth actually overlap our lowers!

Thanks for the info Meryaten! I try not to let it worry me too much considering I'm only 2 weeks into treatment. I figured that if my ortho was to correct it he would replace the brackets, but I didn't know about bends in the archwire. Let's see what he says at my first adjustment!

[sid82]

Hi jt2lang and bracedagain! Thanks for the welcome!

Today is 3 weeks since I got braced so I thought I'd update with some new pics for comparison.


The first pic is from day 1


Not much change from last week, although it seems like my midline has shifted.


Looks like my right lateral is more inline now. Yay! It looks like my centrals are flared out more, but I think that's due to the different angles.


Pretty much the same after one week

My ortho said that after about 10 months my centrals will be straight, but they'll be flared out a fair amount. From looking at the arch pics I can't see how they'll fit! At that time he said that if I didn't like how flared out they were then we would discuss extraction. He originally gave me 2 treatment options: non-extraction and extraction of 4 teeth! I think he said he would pull the 1st premolars on top and bottom. I hope I won't have to lose any teeth, but there's just not much space in my upper arch which leads me to wonder how my centrals will shift at all. Will the pressure of my centrals trying to fit in the small space cause all the other teeth to shift back? I can't wait for my first adjustment which is in 2 weeks! I have so many questions to ask!

[sid82]

Thanks for the diagram Meryaten! It was really helpful. Sorry, I don't know what IPR is though.

Hey everyone! It's been 1 month since my b-day so I thought I'd post some progress pics.


The archwire is definately straighter! But my lowers look more crooked than before. In the first pic, I wasn't able to close my bite because my upper premolars were hitting the brackets on my lowers. Now I can only touch my centrals together.


I wish there was some movement here.


My right lateral is more inline and my left central is a little straighter too. I'm thrilled at any slight movement here.

I have my first adjustment next Friday and I'm really excited! I wonder if my ortho is going to use metal ties throughout my entire treatment or if he'll switch to ligatures at some point. Are there benefits in using one type over the other? I guess that's another question I'll have to ask him. It would be fun to have some color!

P.S. Can anyone tell me how I can edit the original subject title to indicate an update?

[Laurie]

Hi Sid!

I due to have IPR also. In fact I think it's today they are doing it. My doctor spoke at length to me about it and reassured me that it wouldn't be messing with the health of my teeth to slenderize them. He said he did the same thing to his wife years back and she's had no problems.

[sid82]

Meryaten, you are a river of knowledge! Thank you!

Hi Laurie! Nice to see a fellow Texan on the board!

Hey everyone! I had my 1st adjustment today and WOW what an adjustment!!! It started with the usual; my ortho looked at my teeth and examined my bite. Then he said he wanted to reseat my lower 1st molar bands! That was a shock. I asked him why and he said they were too high and that would cause my molars to rise which he didn't want. So he removed the lower wire and proceeded to remove the bands. I anticipated some pain with the removal of the old bands, but it literally took 3 seconds for each tooth. There was no jerking; just a slight tug with the pliers and no pain. Then he had the assistant mix up cement while he prepared the new bands. He seated the new bands and I got a lovely taste of cement once again!

After that he told me I would be getting a new lower wire. I asked what kind and he said it would be a 16x16 rectangular wire! I was really happy to get a rectangular wire. Makes me feel like I'm progressing! So he put some loops in the wire and of course I had to ask why. He said it was to prevent my molars from moving forward. Then he positioned the wire and to my surprise, presented me with a box full of colored ligatures! I was really excited about this seeing as how before I only had metal wire ties. I chose red ligatures though looking at them now, they look more like purple. Kinda bummed about that. Call me weird, but I wanted really bright ligatures so that people would notice. Guess I should have gotten neon orange! Maybe next time.

So then the ortho fastened the ligatures and went to work on the upper wire. He told me I would get a new round wire but of the same size - .016. He said I wasn't ready for a rectangular wire on top because the crowding of my upper centrals wouldn't allow a rectangular wire to fit. My laterals need to shift more. So he proceeded to fasten the new wire with wire ties once again and this was quite painful. He spent a lot of time at my centrals which I thought was weird. He had the assistant push against my teeth with a tool while he was doing something - more on that later. So finally he was done with my centrals. He then went to check on some other patients. He returned and fastened the remaining uppers. After some snipping of excess wire, he gave me a mirror and talked to me about what he wanted to happen.

I was shocked when I saw my teeth in the mirror! I now had two springs on both sides of my centrals! That was why he spent longer than usual on my centrals. The whole time I had no idea he was putting springs in! I laughed at myself a little and he proceeded to explain to me how he hoped the springs would shift my laterals. And then I was done. It was a great 1st adjustment - so much work done to my teeth! My next adjustment is in 6 weeks. As I'm typing this I'm anticipating the pain later on tonight. Better get some food in me now! Of course I wouldn't leave everyone without pics so here they are:


Check out those springs!!! And the not so red ligatures.

And here's a comparison from day 1 to today

[chillin-in-grilz]

Amazing changes!

[Laurie]

I was thinking the same thing about how much straighter the arch wires look!

[sid82]

Hey guys! I just hit the 5 month mark so I thought I'd update with some pics, but first some details.

I've had 4 adjustments now, but I didn't see any significant changes until my last one. That's part of the reason why I haven't updated in a while. The other part is laziness. From my previous posts you can see where springs were put in during my 1st adjustment to expand my upper laterals and create space for my centrals. It worked and a gap formed inbetween my left lateral and central. Sorry I don't have any pics.

So for my 2nd adjustment the springs were removed and power chains were utilized to keep the gap open. The chains went from my second premolar to my laterals on both sides. Also, I got a bigger round wire on top. My bottom wire was not changed. Having the gap, I expected my centrals to swing out and straighten which they did slightly, but not as much as I would have liked seeing as how there was sufficient space. It did seem to me though that my centrals were more vertical than at an angle, but I was still somewhat discouraged.

By the time my 3rd adjustment came around I still had a significant gap so I thought my ortho would do something different to get my centrals to move. To my dismay he just put a new wire on top. He told me it was a larger wire, but I'm positive it was the same size as the one from my 2nd adjustment. To make things worse, my bottom wire was not changed again. I thought to myself, "At least give me a new bottom wire so that I can see some movement even if it wasn't in my upper centrals." He told me he would change the wire after he made some progress on my uppers. And again power chains were used to maintain my gap. So 6 weeks go by and still no movement. Well, barely any movement. Not what I wanted at least. My right central was a little straighter, but there was still a gap inbetween my left lateral and central. So I was even more discouraged. I told myself that I was only on month 4 out of 28 and not to expect so much. Then the day for my 4th adjustment came and finally my ortho used a different strategy for moving my centrals. He extended the power chain to my centrals and I am thrilled to say that it worked! Check out the pics.





This a comparison from my 4th adjustment. Just a week and one day between the pics.



I didn't include lower arch pics because there has been no movement. And here's a comparison from the beginning to now.


You can see how my upper laterals have expanded. I'm kinda concerned about how much they stick out. I don't like the space it has created between the bottom section of my laterals and centrals. I hope that once my centrals are straight and the powerchains are removed that they will settle into a more natural looking position.

[Cleobabe]

OH wow!! Your progress is so awesome Sid!

It's an inspiration to me and i can't wait til i get my braces on and start seeing some great movement like yours.

Keep up with the progress posts!! YAY for orthodontics and teeth movement!

[Miss Smiley]

All your teeth wanted was a little extra convincing. Looks great!