saying hi, and question about springs on the wire?

[twigi]

Joining in here - my 9.5yo twins are several months into phase 1 treatment and so far, so good. They both had palate and bi-helix expanders placed this past spring. They had upper brackets added at the end of summer and so far the difference has been amazing. Twin A no longer hides her mouth with her hands when she talks or smiles. Twin B can close her mouth without using her fingers to hold her lips out of the way of her teeth. I can floss their teeth without the floss getting stuck, yay!

My question is about springs on the wire. The girls went in this past week and he replaced their wires, but one of the girls had springs put onto her wire first. The assistant said that they aren't attached to anything, they're just on the wire? The orthodontist said something about it making room as her baby teeth fall out. He was really rushed and it didn't make sense to me. I would have asked him more questions, but the office was really busy and they were running really behind (very unusual for them), so I figured I could just look it up. Unfortunately that has not been too successful.

Has anyone had this type of spring used for their dc before and can perhaps explain it better? I'm sure I can get her to pose for a mouth-only picture if my description is not clear. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

[ashesgap]

I have a spring. Its to make the space between two teeth bigger. Its on the wire between two brackets to push those teeth apart. They leave the archwire a little long in the back on that side for the movement. I figure for a kid he's trying to make room for the adult tooth that'll come in after the baby tooth falls out.
I hope i explained that right.