Braces-are-go on 31st of July!

[teeebeee]

Hi, V...yep, they are off. I have a temporary retainer at the mo which is very odd. I forget I've got it in (note to self - do not forget it's in and eat a large spoonful of egg mayo!) then I forget it's out!! But, it's in almost all the time and is, mostly, fine. It's tricky to get out on one side but it's only for a couple of weeks til I get the real McCoy.

Then, they will also be putting a permanent one round my top teeth on the inside. I'm most worried about that, tbh. I've heard that they are very delicate and dainty I aint! However, there is still a little gap in the front middle and I think they will knock that on the head. Overall, they look amazing from when I started and I'm happy.

However, the responsibility is all mine now and that is a bit of a worry! Up til now, I've just been the willing victim..

Keep on keeping on...it IS all worth it!

T xx

[Viconia]

I haven't posted for ages, mainly because there hadn't been much going on, until my adjustment last Tuesday that is!

So - I now have square, rigid wires in both upper lingual and lower jaws. Those were less painful than I thought to fit. I normally get quite a bit of pain when the ortho is slotting the wire into the brackets but I guess my teeth have been in braces long enough now that they are more stable. The rest of the appointment went well, until my ortho started talking to me about commencing on the work to fix my crossbite. He gave me elastics to wear, which run over the top two molars upper lingual, to the outside of the two back molars on the labial side of my lower jaw. What he is trying to achieve is to bring my rear molars on my bottom jaw inside my upper molars as they are currently leaning outwards.

Fitting the elastics I'm finding easy, but they were so sore for the first 4-5 days. Today is the first day I'm feeling comfortable. Ortho told me to keep them in at least at night, more if I can. I have been wearing them for 18-19 hours a day so I feel like I'm doing well there.

I'm pretty happy with the progress I'm making. I will see if I can find some decent lighting on a dull winter's day to take some photos. I feel I look a bit vampirish, my canines are a fair bit lower than the adjacent teeth which enhances this effect. Not sure what will happen with these, perhaps they will settle during treatment. I'm 5.5 months in now. Which means 12.5 months to go still.

[NeilH]

Hi Viconia,

It sounds like you have been moving forward with great big strides and have now moved on the next stage of aligning your bite. The rectangular arch wires should have slotted in easily as the previous wires would have done all the work levelling the teeth, the shape of the new wires produces a different force that does a lot of almost imperceptible movement but although you may not see much change, will certainly feel it as your bite comes together. And you are onto elastics too! Its good that you are wearing them as much as you can, it makes all the difference and you will soon get used to them. Are you wearing them on both sides? It might seem like a way to go but the time will really fly by and you will be finished before you know it. I look forward to seeing the photo's and thank you for your kind comments.