Metal Mouth Message Board

Hey everyone, I had an adjustment today. He removed the lower powerchain and put in a new top archwire which is a lot more heavy duty than the last, and he made some bends in it near my canines. He also gave me the GREAT news that at my next adjustment on March 9th, I'll be getting my debanding date! Yippee

I know I still have some bite issues to correct bc it doesn't feel right, and my midline is definitely off. I'm guessing debanding will be set for some time in April, but I'm wondering if it's normal that I didn't get any elastics. I keep hearing everyone say that elastics are the final stage and that you usually wear them for a few months, especially to fix bite and midline issues. Do some orthodontists leave your midline off if your bite is good? I don't know how much it is off in mm but looking at my bottom middle tooth, the midline is off by about a quarter of that tooth at this point. I guess he might give me elastics next time but then I'd probably only have like a month left.

What is the general process for fixing the midline anyway? Looking at it, it seems to me the lower arch is the one that would need to shift, but he just took off my lower powerchain and like I said, no elastics or anything...

I never had elastics the first time I have braces, but I've always had bite problems and my old ortho was retiring; for those and other reasons I'm certain my treatment was cut super short - more info in my Braces story in the other forum.

If your bite is off, you may want to ask your ortho why you're not getting elastics As far as midline, mine is off by quite a bit, as my lower jaw is too small and I had one of my frontals extracted before braces the first time, but my ortho said that he'll do as much as he can with it (seeing that I've got an odd number of teeth) after everything is straight.

Switchblades, yea I could understand why a midline might not be perfect if you had a front tooth extracted, but that is not my case. I have all the same teeth on both sides of my mouth. Sorry to hear about your fiasco with that ortho who was retiring; what a mess... I really hope this time around goes great for you

Are there any health issues dealing with the midline or is it just aesthetics? I don't really mind if it's just aesthetics but if it's going to cause my jaw to hurt or something like that then I'd definitely want to get it right.

I think having the midline properly aligned top and bottom is primarily an aesthetic issue. My ortho told me from the start that my midline won't line up at the end of treatment and I'm fine with it. My teeth will otherwise be straight and truly I think I'll be the only one to notice.

I actually got my elastics mid way through treatment, and now again, a month before they are coming off.

hey Andromeda,

Congratulations with the debanding date to be announced at your next adjustment.

As to midlines mine is also off center a bit after midline correction. I assume that a 100% perfectly aligned midline is just not always possible and if everything else (your bite most importantly) looks good many orthos aren't going to bother with making the midline perfectly aligned.

It's just a guess but could it be that your ortho wants to see what the new wire with bends is going to accomplish possibly reducing the need for elastics? Could also be that he just forgot about elastics. I would contact him in order to have it clarified.

Danish

Congrats, Andromeda, you're almost there!

I don't know where in the scheme of things elastics come into play. I had an adjustment today and was told I'd get them at my next one. (oh, my teeth ache tonight...that's why I'm still up!)

i got elastics and powerchains on the day i got my braces! i got whacked with the same lot at the same time, im hoping im not suck with them for the entire treatment

Wow it seems from all of your comments that it really does just depend on the case when elastics are concerned. Maybe my teeth are already pretty well aligned for a good bite except where he put the bends in the wire. Maybe once the bends do their work on the canines, the bite will fit? I'll definitely make a note to ask next time.

Good to hear that the midline is more of an aesthetic thing. I really don't mind it as long as my bite's good and my arches are straight. Like socksy said, I think I'd be the only one to notice, and I'm really just ready to get them off.

Jewles I got slammed with elastics from day 1 as well and had to wear them up until 16-17 months into braces! But haven't had them since. Mine were used solely to fix a crossbite. I was certain I'd be in them the whole time but thankfully I got a break! I never had midline issues probably cause I didn't have extractions. But I say if you don't need elastics consider yourself L-U-C-K-Y