Thank you, catfish and grneydfairy!

About the Damons, since I haven't had any other kind of braces I cannot compare but I am happy since they are actually moving my teeth quite quickly, I haven't had a lot of pain, no extractions, no palatal appliances so far...

Before starting I went to another ortho who wanted to remove two premolars on top and two lower teeth, place a nance button on the palate and a lingual arch, plus braces for two/two and a half years. With the Damon, no extractions, no appliances and 18 months estimate instead of 30. The deal was obvious, though at the time I preferred ceramic braces and the Damons are all metal. Now I really don't care at all, so yes, I'm happy.

With this last adjustment I've had quite a lot of pain, though, but in five days it almost disappeared so not a big deal.

jxds!! Wow...I think your progress is great so far!!

I just got damons on 11/4! I'm so glad I did too! I have semi clear damons on top and full metal on the bottom. I did have to have extractions though..........I really wanted them out......my two upper canines looked like fang teeth. I have crowding so I had teeth sort of below behind which now look like they are the canine's. My first adjustment won't be until January. My ortho sentenced me for 12-18 months.......so we'll see!

Good luck!

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Hey, thanks a lot suzeeq22!

I'm glad you're happy with your braces! you'll see how the move your teeth in no time! I'd like to have the semi clear damons on top as well, but my ortho does not use them... whatever, now I'm not at all concerned about that, I am completely used to them so I don't care about a full metal smile

*gasp!* your lower arch is gorgeous! it looks SO perfect! it's like... the Missouri arch or something... or better yet the Arc de Triomphe! That is... amazing. Every one of your lower teeth has moved into place! I am in awe!

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Thanks shinRiver! you're awesome!

I'm really happy about how my lowers have moved! I guess I now have to expect a long time of little visible movement so I'll have to be patient (which is not my speciality...)

Good luck with your adjustment!

thanks, i'm going to need it! i'm supposed to go to a concert friday night, but i've got a feeling that this adjustment's going to be just as bad as the last... and a sore jaw makes anything un-fun!

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yes, these appointments really suck. Whatever. just take some ibuprofen or something and go to that concert!

jxds! hello. I have Damons also. I've been braced since 11/40/08 and really haven't seen any changes yet. Am I being too impatient? How long before you saw something??

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He suzeeq22, in a month or so I started noticing changes so don't worry your teeth will soon start moving towards their right place!

So today I went for my fourth adjustment so far. Nothing exceptional or exciting did happen: the Dr took out my wires and put them back in place. So, no pain, no tension, anything. On one hand I am happy to not go through the discomfort, on the other I am kind of frustrated because I guess that means slower progress. Or maybe not. Who knows.

On the positive side, my 110% deep bite is starting to be corrected, and my lowers already show up -well, to be sure they only show like 2mm or so, but when I started the uppers covered them completely! I have moved from 110% to, say, 90 or 80% or so.



On the negative side, the ortho said something about getting elastics in January, depending on the progress. I'm not really looking forward to that, but I already knew that they were on my future. And, once you are in this whole thing, I guess you just have to assume that new stuff is coming in...

Well, your teeth have straightened out a lot. They maybe have a little further to go, but other than that all that I can see is that your bite needs to be corrected. So maybe you won't see as much change in the coming months, but it will happen!

Any idea when your blue buddies will be coming off, or do you have to have them on until your bite improves?

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Good to hear that you are making progress on that deep bite.

Pain/discomfort doesn't mean progress so, just enjoy a painless adjustment and enjoy eating pain free

I got a mini adjustment the day before thanks giving and I got powerchain around my lower arch and that did put a lot of pressure so I couldn't enjoy my thanks giving meal... I sure sucked the juice out of that turkey but its not fun swallowing without chewing

Don't worry about the elastics, you will feel some discomfort at the begining but you will get used to them. Besides, they are very powerful and move things quickly and wil help with correcting your bite.

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Thank you guys!

River, I still have like one more year to go with the buddies in. Now they have already aligned my front teeth, now it's time to correct the deep bite and the crossbite -and that means widening the upper arch, plus the midline that is waay off (although that does not really bother me). So, I guess things are gonna move slowly (or at least not so noticeably)

Flaka, I'm sorry about our pre-thanksgiving adjustment... often the ortho calendar is so insensitive to the real world's needs...

So I had my adjustment. After a few adjustments with no changes at all, today I got a thicker wire (18x25, whatever that means...) on top, and now I'm starting to feel the usual pressure and soreness. I really hope it won't last for long this time!!

A part from that nothing exciting seems to be going on. I don't really see much movement, I guess it is just normal after the initial alignment, but it is hard not to wonder why the damn teeth are not moving faster. It seems that the doc is now working on my deep bite, and I can recall that it is SLOWLY getting better: I hope with this new wire things will start to move faster again!

Despite some threats, I didn't get elastics yet. I'm not sure if I should be happy about that, bc it probably means slower progress, but I must admit I was relieved when I left the ortho office with "only" a new wire on.

Does anybody know what a 18x25 wire means? Is it a good thing or not to be in that wire size after 6 months of braces?

And that's pretty much it... Oh, yes, I also got my teeth cleaned before my last adjustment, wich was great because I had ugly stains on my front lowers. I had never got them before braces, though I try really hard to clean my teeth (much more than pre-braces) I still get them now. Who knows why?

So I just keep waiting and waiting until my bite gets sorted out... this is not a short journey!

By the way: the blue buildups are still there, but they're so worn down now that I hardly notice them anymore! I can pretty much chew normally right now!