In the final stretch...stupid tiny space won't close!!!

[sablequeenie]

I'll have reached the two year mark by the end of the summer and the end of my projected treatment time. I got braced to bring down an impacted canine, and while that's come down and in alignment just fine (thank God), ever since I got elastics two months ago my ortho has been trying to close this teeny tiny (but admittedly noticeable) space between the canine and the lateral incisor.

The problem is the stupid thing won't close! I wear my elastics all the time - first they had me do a triangle formation with the canine, a top back molar and the bottom canine, now they have me doing a V formation with the canine, bottom canine and neighboring bottom premolar - and they gave me a stronger power chain at my last adjustment, but in two month's I'm seeing very little change.

What gives? I'm so anxious to be done with braces I don't know what to do, but my ortho is adamant he doesn't want to take them off until this tiny space closes, but the braces and elastics don't seem to be working at all!

Has anyone else had this problem?

[MrsCharisma]

I am right there with you.

Well...not exactly...but I have a tiny MAYBE 1/2 mm space that won't close. It's between the lateral incisor and canine. We've been working on closing this space for at least a few months now. I'm ready to be done!!!!

[alicia94]

I know the frustration, I was scheduled for deband today but decided to extend the date because of a tiny black triangle between my central and lingual incisor, here's to closing these annoying gaps!

[survenant]

I had the same problem, it turns out that the culprit was small "debris" that got stuck in the brackets. It had been 6 months since they changed my wires and some food and debris got stuck in the bracket blocking the teeth movement no matter how many elastics there were.

So maybe you should ask your ortho to clean the brackets and install new wires and not just focus on the elastics?

[sablequeenie]

Update:

I just had another adjustment this past Thursday, wires changed out and a new powerchain. It's now a few days later, I've still been wearing my elastics everyday and I'm still not seeing or feeling any changes

What elastic formations do your orthos have you guys wearing? Right now I have triangles around my upper and lower canines and back molars, but I'm willing to try just about anything new to see this space close up at this point. This month marks my official two year mark, and my estimated treatment time wasn't supposed to last any longer than this. I told my ortho that the power chain and elastics haven't done much but they didn't seem to believe me when I said I am a faithful elastics wearer and think another month will clear it up.

I'm sooooooo desperate to be done with braces, and think it's ridiculous that a tiny mm of a space is standing in my way of debracing!

Any advice?!

[TreadLightly]

Perhaps there are just other methods to be tried. I had a similar issue and my ortho chose to wrap the wire in my braces in some external wiring and wound it around each spot. I'm not entirely sure why but it seemed to work well.

[MrsCharisma]

I've managed to go all of treatment without elastics. I won't need them, thankfully.

I know for me, he really believes it's a tooth-shape issue. My roots are perfect. He's trying to just slightly tip the tooth, but this may be "as good as it gets" for me. I go back next Wednesday.

Every time I am ready to tell him let's just take them off...I remind myself that after all this time and my $5400, one more month won't kill me. I want them to be as perfect as possible and keep reminding myself to be patient

Good luck!