Higgy's Story--Awesome Appt--February 12, 2008

Message

#31 Post by **Jillianleab** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 4:43 pm

Wow, Higgy, sounds like quite an adjustment! I hope you aren't in too much pain, but if it pays off in that tooth moving, it's worth it!

Looking forward to seeing the pics!

#32 Post by **Higgy** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 8:43 am

Wayward tooth HAS a bracket as of yesterday...the next step will be to get it rotated. Having probs getting pics that actually show the powerchain...any idea?

#33 Post by **Higgy** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:49 am

Well....tomorrow is the adjustment....and I'm disappointed to say that even with the extra measures to rotate that wayward tooth....I've not seen any movement......wonder what the next step will be?

#34 Post by **Higgy** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 2:30 pm

Disappointment! The tooth hasn't moved....they took off the pwerchains and the metal lig around the tooth....now I'm back to having the spring again:( Go back in two more weeks.

#35 Post by **Higgy** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 9:00 pm

OUCH

The wayward tooth and its neighbor are really sore tonight! I'm hoping that means its moving....and I think it is becuase I have wire poking at me now that I didn't have before...I've gotten quite used to not having my second molars wired in...sure makes flossing easier...but I know that won't stay that way forever. Am hoping this discomfort goes away before the adjustment on wednesday...to think....at the begining I was disappointed that I had 8 weeks between adjustments...now I've been braced for 3 months and am going in for my 4th adjustment

#36 Post by **Higgy** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 2:13 pm

And...I'm home....pretty uneventful adjustment...no new wires or anything....except for the front tooth...they left the spring there to facilitate moving the tooth to the left of wayward tooth....and added a "closed powerchain", which is wrapped figure 8ish again around wayward tooth which will derotate it...that one is connected to the tooth to the right of it...which is already feeling a bit sore....next adjustment is in 4 weeks.

#37 Post by **Higgy** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:01 pm

ya know....right about now it feels like it's been tackled...by a 300lb man! haha.....just a tad...okay more than a tad....sore tonight....but by golly we're gonna get that tooth into the wire! The assistant said that the tooth next to it had move about 1.5mm in the past two weeks...I'm assuming that's quite a move ther

#38 Post by **Higgy** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:02 pm

Oh...and for the continuity of the braces story...I go in on Monday for cleaning and xrays...back home! I'm flying home on saturday to washington state...for the holidays! Get to see my real dentist...not the one who I go to here in case of emergencies...can't wait for him to see how much it's all changed!

#39 Post by **Higgy** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 3:17 pm

I made it home fairly uneventfully...however....the NW has been hit by a horrible storm this past week and the damage here is incredible...the power was out here from thursday till early this morning...in freezing weather....but now we have power back:) On to the teeth:

I had my cleaning today....she was a bit rough, but did a good job...also had my xrays done....woohoo....NO decay at all....NO plaque build up...NO tartar build up...where I had previously had the RCT and Apicoectomy is healing great....the one tooth we were worried about becuase the dentist exposed a nerve a year ago...has healed just fine, so it won't need RCT!

I'm going in tomorrow since I have some decalcification (have had that for years) and my dentist is going to put a layer of bonding over it to protect it from decay...am hoping that makes things a little more asthetically pleasing!

#40 Post by **Higgy** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:37 am

Gee I had meant to update this a bit further after the appointment. I went back in to the dentist the day after the cleaning and he applied a thin layer of composite on my front teeth where the decalcification had been...and we had a great talk about orthodontics and all. So...he believes in communication among providers and had some concerns with my treatment and wrote my ortho a letter...here's what he said...

Dear Dr. Nelson

Sherry (yes that's me) was in today for a recall exam with enclosed radiographs (pretty cool eh, he actually made a copy for my ortho). I am repairing some minor decay on maxillary anteriors. They were decalcified before, but not to the point of needing fillings. Everything looks very good now. I would agree with maxillary anterior porcelain veneers after ortho is completed.

(Here's where it gets dicey)

#19 is encroaching on the distal of #20. We will want to crown #20 after ortho. I would like #18 and #19 distalized to make a little more space for crown on #20.

(and dicier)

I don't see how you can improve on the arrangeement in the maxillary anterior. #7 coronally is great, but the root "dog legs" into the root of #8. Probably nothing can be done about that. What you have done to this point looks great!

End of letter

So I really don't know whether to be worried or not about that. It seems like at least with the 18,19,20 situation that somehow we have to move those teeth BACK a bit for the crown...but how to hold those teeth back...I have no clue. The front...I have no clue either....I've looked at the xrays and I can see what he means...and he said that if the roots were to be straightene out...then the crowns would be horrible...and vice versa. I also don't know about the veneers....I personally don't want my teeth shaved down (even if it is only a tiny bit) and covered up....if cosmetic bonding can do it...then I'm much happier with that.

It's a little under 12 hours before I go to my 5th ortho adjustment. I've seen a TON of movement in my wayward tooth over the last two weeks...probably about 35-40 degrees of derotation that have gone on there, but I don't think enough room has been made with the springs just yet to actually get it the rest of the way into the arch. We'll see!

#41 Post by **Higgy** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 10:13 am

Figured here would be a good place to put this...especially since I guess you can't put in a new post at the beginning...this is my treatment plan as outlined by my ortho...

The Clinical Exam

--Facial profile is well balanced in all planes of evaluation
--Upper to lower facial height is proportional
--Smile line is normal.
--The face is balance and symetric.

TMD (TMJ) Evaluation

There are clear indications of jaw joint disfunction. This refers to the discomfort and popping that you mentioned at the initial exam.

Peridontal and Soft Tissue Evaluation

--No irregularities noted during the initial soft tissue exam.
--The oral hygiene is good.
--The upper frenum is large and affecting the pathway of reuption and final position of the upper teeth. This refers to the space between your upper front teeth.

Dental Evaluation

--The upper and lower front teeth are properly related in the horizontal plane.
--Space available for the lower teeth is insufficient, resulting in crowding.
--Space available for the upper teeth is excessive, resulting in spaces.
--Vertical overlap of the upper and lower front teeth is normal.
--Lower front teeth are left of center when biting together.
--The upper and lower teeth are appropriately matched in size.

Occlusion Functional Analysis

--The jaw joints do not function correctly when the majority of teeth meet uniformly. This condition will be discussed, addressed and corrected as much as possible.

Goals and Treatment Plan

--Develop a normal front to back relationship of the upper to lower teeth.
--Eliminate all crowding and misalignment of both the upper and lower teeth.
--Develop a bite that allows the teeth and jaw joints to finction in a coordinated manner.
--Establish a stable, comfortable and healthy bite and jaw joing relationship, allowing coordinated and pain free function.

Treatment Plan

--Full upper and lower braces
--Treatment time 24-30 months
--The frenum between the upper front teeth needs to be reduced.

#42 Post by **Brunoise** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 10:25 am

Sorry Higgy, I am an eedgit.

What is a frenum exactly, can you point it out in a pic?

Your tx plan looks very comprehensive and sounds like you are getting excellent care.

Thanks for sharing.

#43 Post by **Higgy** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 10:39 am

I don't know much about the pictures side of things...so I'll go verbal...maybe someone more tech savvy than I could help on the picture part...in your mouth you have a couple of frenum...the one they're referring to in my case is in the upper. If you run your tounge under your upper lip...you'll feel a bit of tissue that connects your upper lip to up above your front teeth..that's the frenum and in my case...that frenum has too much tissue...so the excess goes in between my front teeth.....which caused a gap...unless they remove some of that tissue, then after the braces...it'll just push them apart again. Does that help?

#44 Post by **Brunoise** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:27 pm

Oh, I get it!!! That isn't what I was thinking at all. I was thinking the gum space above the teeth and I was wondering how they were going to shorten that?!?

Well, how's that for something you can't even see getting in the way!

Does it hurt when it is between your teeth?

thanks for the explanation.

#45 Post by **Higgy** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:32 pm

It never bothered me in the least until those teeth came together...now there is only slight discomfort with flossing becuase of that tissue.