Finishing up: adjusting bite, fixing front

[Jaassa]

I've been absent from this board for the past 20 months or so, while I went through the boring "waiting" phase of my braces and felt I had nothing much to say. I'm coming up on 2 years in braces next month, and am getting them off!!!!! I was 55 when I started and now am 57, so it's been quite a trial. I'm quite sure I have more gray hair and wrinkles now than when I started. ;-) I can't believe I'm one of those people writing about getting the braces off -- I worried that I'd be forced to wear them for five years (which I can't even imagine doing). So if you're in the boring phase, take heart: the teeth ARE moving! :-)

I just wanted to post something about the finishing phase, as I searched high and low the past few months looking for information on this and found very little. For me, once my ortho got my teeth straightened (which took about 20 months -- my bottom teeth were very stubborn), she corrected the bite, which entailed some kind of spring, plus elastics on the molars, and some "sanding" of high points. This phase took 2 or 3 months, and during that time I started to notice that my jaw wasn't going "out of joint" anymore: I could yawn and just go on my way, without readjusting my jaw! I hadn't known until then that it had been part of my yawning routine all my life -- yawn, adjust jaw. LOL! No more of that. I can also take a big bite out of a sandwich without worry. It's lovely having no more jaw problems.

Once the bite was correct to my ortho's satisfaction, she started working on the front teeth -- to me, the "pretty 'em up" phase that I've been waiting for all along. It seems this phase will be a relatively quick one. I have elastics on my *front* teeth now, so I look like Hannibal Lechter in his mask. Awful! But even after just a few days, my front teeth have moved downward and inward. The goal is to have the bottoms of my upper central incisors touch the tops my bottom incisors, and at that point, it will be time for the braces to come off, get a few teeth shaped, and get them cleaned and set to go! I asked my ortho, "If the incisors touch next week, can I call you?" and she said yes, to come on in and we'll get them off!!!!! If I could do handsprings I would have done it at that moment! :-)

The front elastics are a total pain -- they look scary, I can't eat in them, they hurt -- but knowing that this is the last phase makes me want to wear them every waking moment so I can get these darn braces off. I have grand plans for debracing day and it involves both steak and black licorice.

I know I'm going to be thrilled with my pretty new smile -- I really believe it's a life-changing thing, petty as it may sound. I've endured snide comments -- all from older men, oddly enough -- about how I'm just getting braces so I'll be prettier. Well -- duh -- yeah! :-D LOL! That, and the jaw thing -- both are major improvements.

Anyway -- that's all I wanted to say -- I never did figure out how to get that little counter thing on here so I don't have one so I'll make my own:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 -- and the braces are coming off in a few weeks!!!! :-D

Tra la!

[Glandyover]

I bet a lot of people get really active here at first when getting braces is a new thing and uncomfortable but once you get used to them it really is kind of boring, isn't it? And it's funny that we think of it as boring because it really just means they're part of your new normal. Before you had braces it wasn't boring; it was just life. So after a few months braces just become another facet of yourself that's not terribly important or annoying anymore.

If that makes any sense...

[fosterp]

Oh how I wish I was in your position....My estimated time was 24-30 months and we are just about up to month 30 and sadly a definitive debanding estimation is not on the horizon..."soon" is the best I can get. Midline is still off, a slight cant in my jaw remains, and each adjustment seems to make little difference for correcting these things.... Kudos to you though.

[Jaassa]

Thanks, Fosterp -- you are a very generous person, offering kudos when you're feeling not so good. :-( I was feeling the same as you just a couple of months ago, thinking I'll NEVER get these darn things off, hearing the "soon" word too but never getting a definitive answer. It's such a depressing position to be in, and there were moments when I wondered if I could stand them one more second. I hope you find yourself soon being surprised, like I was, when things started moving along at a quicker pace all of a sudden. Once the bite was corrected, things started moving fast.

[Jaassa]

[quote="Glandyover"]I bet a lot of people get really active here at first when getting braces is a new thing and uncomfortable but once you get used to them it really is kind of boring, isn't it? And it's funny that we think of it as boring because it really just means they're part of your new normal. Before you had braces it wasn't boring; it was just life. So after a few months braces just become another facet of yourself that's not terribly important or annoying anymore.

If that makes any sense...[/quote]

It makes sense, Glandyover! :-) I never did feel normal in them, although when I was around people I usually forgot I had them, true.