worried about spaces between molars after braces.

[mary oregon]

After your braces come off you would think there would not be any worries but honestly I'm getting a little worried. I am worried about the spaces around my molars. On the uppers I had only the first molars banded and then brackets on the far back ones. The far back contacts are tight again, however, there are pretty big spaces in front of the first molars and also between all the lowers, where I had all the molars banded. I truly hope these spaces close up eventually. I went to my dentist for xrays a few days after and she told me she going to call the ortho and ask about the gaps closing on their own or not. A few days later I had to go in and have my retainer adjusted so I asked the ortho about the gaps and told her my dentist was concerned about them closing up. My ortho assured me they would close. Hmmmmm... that was about a week ago and I haven't noticed them closing up much if at all. After eating I have to floss because it seems like you can fit a whole loaf of bread in each gap. Has anyone else had this experience and did the gaps close on their own. I know Lynn had bonding done but this wouldn't be an option for me as my molars have fillings where the contacts are. I'm really crossing my fingers these will close.

What worries me most is that I had headgear and that attached to my first molar bands and while wearing the headgear, I noticed these gaps opening up. They stopped the headgear and did not put me into powerchains. I really am wondering if these gaps will close or if I should have been in powerchains before removing my braces.

After having braces for almost three years, I sure hope these gaps do close up on their own. My dentist didn't seem very pleased about not having tight contacts between molars. I go back to the ortho in three weeks to have final records, xrays and impressions done. I am definitely going to ask again about these gaps. I get a bad feeling about this.

SIGH! ........... still loving my smile despite this teeny tiny detail. I won't even think about having to do something to fix these gaps. I just want to enjoy my beautiful smile. worried but still smiling.

[fins]

I have the gaps also, which were made intentionally and as soon as I got the right amount of space, my ortho promptly put on the powerchains to close the gaps. The powerchains work very quickly, I think I have lost at least 2 mm within a short time. It will probably take 6 months or more to totally close the gaps though. I think molars tend to relapse, maybe your ortho was thinking they should move back a bit to the original spot, although I don't know why you would want this since presumably you bring all the other teeth back to close the gaps. Hmmm..... I would definitely ask the ortho about this one.

I should mention I have a holding device, so these molars would no doubt move back to the old spot if I didn't have this in. So it's quite likely your molars will move on their own (memory?)

[Chris]

Whatever happens, Just make sure you floss with those small interdental brushes between those molars. I'd use the spongy floss too. Its too easy to get cavities between molars. Hope the ortho can close those gaps.