elastics

Message

#1 Post by **flygirl** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:23 am

this all might have been discussed before but I could not find them anywhere.

I have to wear these dreaded light weight elastics from one hook/brackt at the top to go over two of the bottom teeth at the bottom. ( i dont know the names of teeth just yet). it crosses over in your mouth basically.

such an awful experience. I haev to wear these at night cos in the day, there is no way in hell I could manage asyou cant talk clearly and it looks silly.

the other elastics I wear are fine, as you dont see it and its workable. this one is just top to bottom.

but I hate them... anyone had any experiences with these.

My ortho said I need them to pull back the bottom teeth so that the top teeth and fall over it properly. but its the worse experience I can imagine right now.

initially when I first started my treatment I had a expander thingy put in, at the top, but I could not live with that as it was cutting up and damaging my tongue, and I could not eat. so have to do the elastics thing for the top and then more elastics for the bottom.

what a awful experience this brace thing is... i wish I didnt have the elastics to be honest.

but would like to know others experiences of them.

#2 Post by **fins** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 11:49 am

I had elastics for quite some time....I really didn't enjoy wearing them but they work fast so keep wearing yours the way your ortho instructed and you should make good progress. The time really does pass quickly. Good luck.

#3 Post by **Chris** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 8:25 pm

Don't you just wish you could get into a time machine and fast forward to a bracefree existence?

#4 Post by **candygrrrl** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 6:22 am

I hear ya on fast forwarding. I spent six months in an expander that finally came out three weeks ago, only to be replaced by a mouth bow (!) and elastics. Yeah, buddy, this whole process is so much FUN!

Hang in there, flygirl, and remember: it's the destination, not the journey

#5 Post by **Sweet L** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 5:23 pm

I've heard you were looking for the Rainbow Passage... I didn't know where to post it, so I put it here.

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act like a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colours. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

I took it from a post of KK

Good Luck

#6 Post by **jcdamon3** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 7:43 pm

Does it cross over your tongue? That really sounds hideous! I just got elastics. If they were normal class 2 or class 3 I might be okay. Class 2 basically go from your upper eye tooth to your lower molar. Mine go in an upside down triangle from my eye tooth on top to my lowers. Pretty much in front. I don't like it very much because you can see it when I smile (as if the braces aren't enugh) and I can't eat with them in (although I am sucking on some chocolate right not) Also the new hooks seem to get caught on lip. Quite aggravating!

I have to say though that these things are very effective! My teeth hurt for just one day and the difference in my bite is phenomenal! Just when I think my bite can't get any better it does.

#7 Post by **Kat** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 6:30 pm

Now after being around this forum why my ortho kept telling me I'd be wearing elatics a few times.
NOW I know why!
When she kept telling me I'd schrug and not think anything about it. Ortho didn't tell me more.

#8 Post by **liz bid** » Mon May 26, 2008 10:02 pm

I am confused myself, my ortho had given me elastics last month and bracket broke twice. At this point I was really frustrated with everything. They put on a new bracket the third time and everything was fine. My concern is at my last visit I went in and they took all my power chain off and just put regular ligatures on my tops and bottoms. They also took me off the elastics. I feel like I took two steps back within this month that I have not had power chains or elastics on. The top teeth that had moved on the top just moved right back to where they were. Has anyone ever had this happen. Not the teeth moving back but only being on elastics for one month and the ortho tells you not to wear them?

#9 Post by **overseasmel** » Mon May 26, 2008 11:27 pm

I've been wearing elastics for something like 9 months now. It feels like an eternity. At present I have to wear five elastics at once, day and night. I have had to wear up to six. The configurations and numbers have changed because I've had extractions in the meantime and that has changed my arch. I've always had to wear at least one "box" configuration - like a square /rectangle linking top and bottom teeth - each time. For a short while I had to wear a box across my front four teeth, which was indeed annoying. But since then I've moved on to two boxes, around the canine (pointy) teeth and their next door and underneath neighbours.

I haven't actually had brackets break because of elastics. But nonetheless I totally get the frustration of wearing them. They have to be one of the absolute worst bits of having braces.

That said, I can see the difference they are making and one day I will be elastics free and INCREDIBLY happy. And I'll know that my lovely straight smile is in large part due to the pesky things.

#10 Post by **reckoner** » Tue May 27, 2008 9:33 am

I'm lucky enough to not have had elastics yet, but my ortho says that he's gonna have me in a TON of them soon.

Isn't it hard to remember where to put them, especially if you have quite a few?

#11 Post by **overseasmel** » Wed May 28, 2008 12:56 am

Nah, super easy to remember after the first couple of times.

#12 Post by **YRhino** » Wed May 28, 2008 10:14 am

I may be a total freak but I can't wait until I start to wear elastics. In my mind, the sooner the elastics go on, the sooner my teeth will be straight and I will have a beautiful smile! I don't care if the elastics are in the shape of a chinese checker board, bring it on!! Ha ha!

#13 Post by **ssfw** » Wed May 28, 2008 5:35 pm

I have been wearing elastics for 18 months and at first, like with anything, it took a couple days to get use to, but after that I was fine. My orthodontist is trying to reduce my overjet with the elastics. I think 18 months is a long time compared to others, but, as long as it helps reduce my overjet, I'll wear them as long as I have to.

ssfw

#14 Post by **spookytooth** » Wed May 28, 2008 6:47 pm

Today is my first day in elastics and... wow! My bite feels as if it has changed within a few hours. The configuration is from the upper molars to the lower canines. Definitely effective for getting things moving! Maybe now those little hooks on the brackets will stop poking my lip.

#15 Post by **tortor** » Thu May 29, 2008 11:49 am

Today is my first day in elastics! I have what my orthodontist called "crossbite elastics". I have no idea what that exactly means but on either side I have one elastic that goes from my top molar to a bottom molar.

Can I eat with these things in? or do I have to take them out every time I want to eat something?