Betsy's getting braces

[staceyraver]

Its really strange to me, that day one pic of me is smiling as straight as I could... and obviously it wasn't very straight. I didn't notice until compairing the pictures how asymmetrical my smile was and how much more symmetrical it is now...its awesome Anyone else notice things they didn't notice before now that you have your braces?

Yes!!

I know i'm not very far into treatment, but i had a look at some of my progress pictures yesterday. Some of the teeth that I didnt think I had a problem with have moved and now look oh so much better.

It's quite encouraging really

Anyway yeah your teeth look awesome!!

[BetsyBug]

Thanks Stacey!!! you will be surprised how quickly you will start seeing real big changes.

I wish I had not been lazy and gotten my camera out to take progress pictures from the very beginning. Its hard to tell in the early pictures just how crooked everything was. I think I can see some progress closing up my bite on my right side with the elastics. I think my upper right lateral is finally overlapping my lower right lateral instead of hitting edge on edge. My gaps on the top have gotten bigger, but the gap on the right is bigger then the left and that has shifted my midline on my upper arch a little bit, hopefully the other side decides to catch up pretty soon.

I will post a progress picture pretty soon, I'm interested to do a comparison of pre elastic to now.

Hope everyone has a happy halloween

[Noni]

Your teeth has changed a lot Elizabeth they are much straighter , even your bite looks very different ,

[BetsyBug]

Yes I agree there has been lots of changes. My bite gets worse some days and better some days. Last night a molar on my left side started touching for the very first time since getting my braces - which is good. Hopefully that is a good sign things are working their way together. I have a feeling that more elastics are in my future though

[GillyWeed]

I'm just like you. Some days my teeth line up and feel great and other days it's like they don't even feel like they fit in my mouth! Thankfully the last week has been made up of mostly good days. Exciting that your molars are touching! That is so awesome!

[BetsyBug]

Thanks Gilly chewing is always exciting lol

In other news. I had a nasty pokey wire this weekend. It really wasn't a big deal just figured I drop into the ortho and have it clipped.... Well, it didn't quite go that way. I get in the chair and the assistant notices my right lateral incisors were hitting each other in traumatic occlusion. So here we go again. I they cut my springs again to make them shorter. Apparently instead of pushing my laterals out and forward they collapsed backwards. He tied in my laterals super tight and put some more bends in my wire to hold my canines back. Next he got to looking at my lowers and decided I needed some ipr to close some of the gaps in my lowers. He went between my centrals and laterals and the outside of my laterals. He put the wires back in and now I'm sporting a power chain on my lowers and more chains from my canines back on my uppers. My bite looks pretty good now but I feel like I have been kicked in the teeth.. hopefully the tightness and pain clears up pretty quick.
I took some updated pics ill upload them later

[NICURN85]

Wow Betsy!! I know you were not expecting to have all that done when you went to just have a wire clipped. I would have been thinking I was dreaming when they decided to to all of that. It's good they noticed the changes and went ahead to fix the problem because it may have been worse when you went for your scheduled appointment. I hope your teeth feel better soon. I have an appointment tomorrow so we will see if I get any new gear.

[BetsyBug]

This has to be the most painful adjustment that I have had to date. I'm blaming it mostly on the powerchain on my lowers. I have had sections of powerchains on them before but never molar to molar and now I do. Most of the gaps opened up by the ipr have closed there still is one stubborn crack between my left lower incisor and my left lateral. Its still getting smaller so I'm sure it will be gone soon. My bite feels weirdo but better then it has been in a long time. It actually looks pretty good too. I'm still in anterior vertical elastics. I was having problems with them breaking about every two hours so the girl gave me some new packages, didn't look at them until I was home, yep they are neon colored...LOL. Oh well the purple looks good with my pink and aqua combo I'm supposed to keep my next appointment which is in 4 weeks. So I guess this was just a bonus adjustment. My elastics have become much less annoying. The biggest annoyance is not being able to lick the corner of my mouth so I'm always looking in a mirror and reapplying lip gloss. Oh well worse things have happened to people

hope everyone else is having a good day. For all you US folks out there don't forget to vote today

[GillyWeed]

Sooo funny that you had such an intense appointment all because of a teeny weeny pokey wire. IPR with no warning?! NUTS!

Hope the pain is beginning to subside *pictures when you can*

[BetsyBug]

Yes Gilly I wasn't really expecting all that excitement.

Today my teeth are still really sore but not as bad as yesterday. Hopefully they are settling now. I still have a gap on the bottom from the ipr that is being stubborn but the rest of the gaps have closed most of the way so they have moved alot. I'm not sure if this last gap is going to close with this chain or if we will have to wait until december adjustment for a new chain. Seems like most of the changes that will happen in a month happen in the first week or so after an adjustment.

I am so glad they did the ipr. You can't see it in the pictures because of my lower puffy lip but I had terrible black triangles between all my lower incisors. It was really beginning to bother me. so now they are not so bad.

So I was a little disappointed apparently my ortho only carries the gray powerchains. He said they are stronger then the colored ones so I don't get to pick any awesome chain colors

I have taken pictures I just have to edit them and upload them. I will try to do it tonight.

[BetsyBug]

So I haven't fallen off the planet just succumbed to too much homework/exams/work/basketball and not enough sleep. Nothing really new right now. The elastics have done their job and closed up the open parts in my bite. Now my upper incisors are fully infront of my lowers no more clashing together. My arches aren't lined up though. Its hard to explain but I will take a picture and show you all. My molars touch on both sides now but something still isn't right with my bite. It definitely needs much more work to get it all right. I had a small gap from the IPR from my last visit and it finally closed this week. I'm ready to get into the ortho and see if I can get rid of these vertical elastics soon. (I'm sure I will have some other configuration though) My elastics keep breaking on me every couple of hours and they are driving me crazy. I'll be talking or sitting minding my own business and snap it pops me in the gums...its awesome.

[BetsyBug]

Before Elastics and after Elastics


My overjet - can you tell how my arches are lopsided? I'm not sure how they fix this but I doubt its going to be a quick-fix


if you look at my individual arches they look straight but when you put them together they aren't quite jiving.

[concorde]

Hi!
Today, with more calm, I read all your braces' diary. It's really really interesting, also because the situation is similar to mine. I hope to have my bite turbos removed after 6 months, like you, and I hope to do so many progresses in so few months, like you!
But I read about elastics and now I'm worried that I need them...((

[BetsyBug]

The elastics are not that bad. Many many ortho's use them to get upper and lowers to meet correctly. Don't dread, they work fast so hopefully when and if you need them you won't need them that long.

[Kipepeo]

This is interesting betsybug, because I need mine brought together like yours. I'm pretty sure I will get elastics at next visit, but I heard him say horizontal, and maybe vertical too. Should be interesting for me.