Elastics - have you ever put them on sideways?

[KayKay]

I'm supposed to be wearing an elastic - one side only - pulling a molar from the back,top towards the front to fill in the gap from broken/pulled upper biscupid. The elastic hooks to the back of the molar and attaches to the lower canine.

After wearing my elastics for 8-12 hours per day, the molar seems to have moved sideways little but has extruded enough to worry me. That and sometimes - besides feeling sore (a good sign) I taste blood (not a good sign I think?)

So, tonight I experimented - instead of putting the elastic on at the diagonal, I put it on the back hook, and brought it around to the canine on top, hooking it over the bracket. No way to extrude this way - but after wearing it a short time, I took it off, worrying that it would mess up the arch wire or something.

Tomorrow I'll call the ortho office and ask about my extruding molar and hoping they tell me not to worry.

Has anyone every put on the elastics as I've described? Instead of diagonal?

[djspeece]

I haven't, but if you check out the thread "Confess your orthodontic sins" started by Oldfart, you'll see some confessions of elastics experimenters. While I have been known to break a few rules, I adhered to the ortho's plan with elastics. OK, well sometimes I doubled up on them but my regular dentist suggested (after furtively glancing about to see if anyone could overhear since the ortho shares the same large office space) that doubling up was an OK thing.

[oldfart]

My guess is that they would want it on the hook attached to the molar. not behind it. Is this your very last molar? Could the elastic be digging into the gum a bit? Not sure what you mean by the diagonal. Most molar bands only have one hook on them to attach stuff too. If in doubt, call, I pester mine a lot. Almost every couple of weeks.


(yes I've been too lazy to update my old blog on here.. but still around..

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[KayKay]

Oh - I'm attaching the elastics to the molar we are trying to move. Its the last molar with a bracket on it that needs to move forward. However, instead of hooking to the molar and diagonally to the bottom canine, I've wondered about attaching it to the canine on the top - horizontally. If that makes sense.

[oldfart]

I would say definitely don't do it. Remember teeth on both end of the elastics will move. What you have (bottom canine to top Molar) is called a class III. This means it will both pull that molar forward and up, but will also pull your bottom jaw back (canine to canine). Normally Class III elastics are for an underbite to also pull the bottom teeth in, is that your situation? You don't want to pull the wrong jaw in, that could add months to your treatment. Basically it sounds like you want to do completely opposite of what your ortho is recomending. You attach that elastic to your top canines it will pull them back more likely than your molar forward due to the strength of the roots.

I have a similar situation but with an extracted molar on top. For me they did the canine to molar elastics (class II) to bring my front in to a proper position to close the gap that way. Then when that was in the correct spot, they worked on bringing the molar forward.

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[KayKay]

Just got back from the orthodontics. A fresh chain attached to the molar (the one we are trying to move forward) and a change in elastics pattern.

To answer a question - no, I don't have an underbite - the goal of the elastics is to pull the back molar forward to fill in a gap.

Thanks for your input!

[EWUgal15]

I have Class I elastics to close extraction gaps (lower second molar to lower canine)..that sounds like the configuration you were experimenting with. If it wasn't prescribed to you, I wouldn't try it because you don't want to extend your treatment time...

[KayKay]

That's exactly what I was thinking of. But the reason why it wasn't the right thing - and I didn't realize - I have a section in my mouth where the teeth are lower than they should be. And getting them taller is what he's after in addition to moving them.

My new elastics pattern is a box on one side 24/7 and a triangle on the other side for 12 hours. For a few weeks. Then he will go back to pulling the back molar forward...