chichi is braced!

[mapleleafman888]

Hey, as always I hope your adjustment goes great!

[chichi]

Hey, as always I hope your adjustment goes great!

Thanks! It went well, as always.

This was a 75-minute appointment. We took pictures, x-rays, and repositioned a whopping 4 brackets (turns out it's a very unpleasant feeling when the ortho is removing brackets). I still have the 0.018x0.025 on bottom with the powerchain across the front 6 and I'm back down to the 0.014x0.025 on top because of the moving of the brackets. I'm still wearing Rabbit elastics (3/16" 3.5oz) in a triangle configuration on both sides, although they told me not to put them in until tomorrow because they moved the bracket on my top left canine and they said we don't want extra torque until the bonding is completely set.

Next adjustment is in 3 weeks. That one will just be a normal adjustment... hopefully getting a new top archwire so we can get back into the thick ones. I also have a black triangle at the top/center that he said he doesn't like and he'll take care of it at the next appointment.

And, of course, a picture...

[parsleysage]

Chichi, for some reason when reading your story last night I thought today was your 6th adjustment! I was gonna pester you for pictures today. Now I see that it's in 10 days according to your ticker. Can't wait to see your continued progress!

[chichi]

Chichi, for some reason when reading your story last night I thought today was your 6th adjustment! I was gonna pester you for pictures today. Now I see that it's in 10 days according to your ticker. Can't wait to see your continued progress!

You're not crazy! I had to reschedule my appointment, but they couldn't get me in until next week because all the kiddies are on spring break this week.

[chichi]

I had an adjustment this past Thursday. It was probably the quickest appointment so far. I'm back in 0.018x0.025 on top and still in the same 0.018x0.025 on bottom. Still wearing the elastics in triangle configuration and next adjustment will probably involve some IPR to get rid of black triangles. Not much else to report, other than today's my 10-month braceversary!

[chichi]

One of my molar buildups came off last night. I was eating a piece of chocolate and I bit down on something hard. I pulled it out of my mouth and I thought it was a little piece of pink plastic, which upset me because it's never pleasant finding something in food that shouldn't be there. Later on, I realized the buildup wasn't there anymore, so the pink piece of "plastic" must have actually been my pink buildup.

I have an adjustment next Tuesday, so I'm hoping we'll just be getting rid of the other one then.

[mapleleafman888]

Hopefully you do get those blasted things off! One of my turbos came off in January, they never replaced it but last week I asked the ortho to take the remaining turbo off and he did (probably wouldn't have if I hadn't said anything haha)

This site seemed really quiet over the last couple months!

Good luck with your appointment!

[chichi]

Just got back from my 7th adjustment (which also falls on my 11-month braceaversary!). I still have the 0.018x0.025 Copper NiTi wire on bottom, with a gross powerchain across the front 6. I didn't realize how yellow it had gotten until they put the new powerchain on top. I now have an 0.019x0.025 TMA wire on top, with a powerchain across the whole arch. The ortho did some IPR between my top front teeth to get rid of a black triangle, so now I have a beautiful gap that I hope will close up very soon. I also mentioned having lost the molar buildup and he said it doesn't matter as long as it's not bothering me, so I still have one buildup. Anddd I'm still in Rabbit elastics, triangle configuration, both sides.

And, of course, picture time!

[Anna5]

Your teeth are beautiful, chichi! I think you may be almost done?

[chichi]

Your teeth are beautiful, chichi! I think you may be almost done?

Thanks, Anna! There are still a few things I'd like to see fixed, but we're not quite at that point yet. I'm assuming I still have a good 6-10 (or more) months left, since I'm not in final wires yet and people tend to be in those for a while. He did tell me a few appointments ago that I was doing well and would be ahead of schedule, but I'm not keeping my hopes up because it's already the end of May.

My gap from the IPR has closed nicely and it looks much nicer now that the black triangle is gone. My midline has improved with the closing of the space. I'm seeing a few areas where I believe I'll either need more repositioning or some bends in the wires, but I'm still at the stage where the ortho is letting the wires do their job.

[parsleysage]

Awesome progress chichi! I'm glad your gap has closed.

Question for you. It was my understanding that folks with Damons go much longer between adjustments - six or even eight weeks. You seem to be going once a month or so. Any idea about why your visits are so frequent?

[chichi]

Awesome progress chichi! I'm glad your gap has closed.

Question for you. It was my understanding that folks with Damons go much longer between adjustments - six or even eight weeks. You seem to be going once a month or so. Any idea about why your visits are so frequent?

Thanks parsleysage!

I was initially going every 8 weeks, but then I had some brackets repositioned in March. After they repositioned the brackets, they had to put me in thinner wires again, but my teeth were on the move anyway so I didn't need as much time between adjustments to work my way back up to thicker wires. Now I've got some thick wires, so we'll see what happens from here

[chichi]

I want to rip these things out of my mouth. Every time I'm chewing anything, the inside of my lip gets caught between my top front teeth and the bottom braces. Literally EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Nothing in this whole process has hurt as much as constantly biting the same spot over and over and over.

[parsleysage]

So sorry Maybe something's moving and needs to get settled in? Can you go to soft foods for awhile?

[SpottedPickle]

I am guessing something shifted differently I hope your mouth adjusts to the shift soon, Ouch!