Power Chains, are they always so fast?
Moderator: bbsadmin
Re: Power Chains, are they always so fast?
I think it depends on the size of the gap, the size of the teeth & the size of the power chain. Im currently 3 months in with traditionals & had a power chain 6-6 (count, 6 teeth on the left side of your mouth, to 6 teeth on the right side of your mouth; it's first molar to first molar) on my bottom teeth for the first two months of treatment, in attempt to close a midline gap. In that two months, the gap closed very little, if at all. My 4 front lower teeth are very small & gap was maybe 2mm wide, so maybe it was difficult for the power chain to "sense" there was even a gap there, if you know what I mean. However, at my last adjustment, they gave me a thicker wire and changed the power chain from 6-6 to 3-3(count 3 teeth on left side to 3 teeth on right side; it's canine to canine) on the lower, probably to put force in that particular area/to make the power chain focus in that particular area. Within hours, the gap instantly began to close, and within 2 days, it was almost completely closed. 3 weeks later, it still isn't completely closed (but so small that no one would notice unless they were looking for it), but I have an adjustment next week, so we'll see what happens. Once again, I feel like the reason the power chain is struggling is because those teeth are really small, so the brackets are already really close together, if you know what I mean. I have a large gap between my two maxillary central incisors (you can fit an iPhone 5 in between it, with room for it to move around!) i would say a power chain 3-3 could close that in minutes (a 1-1 probably in seconds). I even feel like a 6-6 or 7-7 could close it in hours. I'm still yet to get a power chain on my maxillary teeth, maybe(hopefully) at my next adjustment.. The thing to know is that the smaller the power chain (like the 3-3 I told you about) the faster the gap in that particular area will close, because the power chain can focus more on those teeth, if you know what I mean. It actually really makes sense.