From Skeptic to Convert...

[gabriella36]

Nitros gives me the giggles then I pass out. Hopefully it'll be that easy for you too. I hope all goes well with the ex reaction!

Nitrous worked LIKE A CHARM. Love it. The tech told me, "It's just like a shot of tequila!" and it was. It was like a crazy party for about 30 minutes. Helps that my oral surgeon is quite funny, even off nitrous.

[gabriella36]

Went in for my 6-week adjustment, and not much happened. While my extraction gap is closing quickly enough that my ortho commented on it being an "active" wire and really loving the In-Ovation brackets, the rest of my teeth don't seem to be doing much at all. My ortho did some IPR (about .2 mm per contact point) on my uppers. The IPR felt and sounded like a weed whacker in my mouth, but there was no pain during or after. Some sensitivity tonight, but nothing bad. I can definitely see a difference in my teeth after the IPR. There was an incorrectly placed crimp on my lower wire that had to be removed, something about the difference between mesial and distal placement. It might have something to do with why my lower teeth weren't moving. I'm not sure.

They left me in the original wire size. I won't move up to a thicker wire until my next adjustment in 6 weeks.

I'm generally frustrated at the moment. My upper teeth feel crowded and look terrible (even worse than when I began), and I can't possibly see at this point how things are going to straighten out.

[ItsFreyja]

Hey gabriella36, sorry to hear you're frustrated with slow progress. When we look at our own mouths every day it can be hard to see the big picture -- but I sure see a difference from your earlier photo! Your upper centrals have derotated nicely and I always think that makes the biggest difference to anyone's smile. That upper wire has straightened out so much that you know all the force is going toward expanding and decrowding the upper arch now. As for the lowers, I can tell the canines are working on getting in line, but you probably already know that they're some of the slowest teeth to move since their roots are so long. Hang in there!

[gabriella36]

I've made it to the 3-month mark and had my second adjustment and first wire change yesterday. I'm in .18 wires now, though there was some back and forth about whether to go ahead and put me in the .20s. I'm glad they didn't. When they changed out my wire to the .18, they also connected my back molars to the wires. Wow, that's sensitive! I had a cleaning right before the adjustment, and both my dentist and ortho are quite pleased with my progress so far.

It didn't really hit me until I looked at my most recent photos compared to my original ones just how much movement has taken place already. The human body is a wild and wonderful thing.

My bottom arch kind of looks like a wave, or a rollercoaster. I'm not sure how they are going to straighten it out properly, but the last few months have taught me a little about how to have faith.

Sorry for the blurry quality. Taking pictures of your own mouth isn't exactly easy.

[gabriella36]

Third adjustment last Thursday. It's already been nearly 5 months. I'm now in .20 rectangular wires. My ortho commented on how my upper incisor has derotated nicely. I barely notice it, but they showed me a "before" photo and I guess it's a lot of movement. She did a little more IPR on my uppers and said we'd reposition some brackets next adjustment in January. I was scheduled for an updated pano to see how my roots are realigning and whether there's any root reabsorbtion taking place, and had that this morning. My dentist commented on how I'm such a challenging case, but my ortho hasn't been doing anything dramatic since the extraction. There's been no more talk of gum grafts or appliances or further extractions. I think she may just be moving things along more conservatively, which is fine by me. My upper left molar was painful for a few days after the adjustment, but on the whole things seem to be going alright. Everything still feels crooked and confusing and I'm not sure what to make of it all as my teeth fall into line. Compared to last month's pictures, it looks like my bottom teeth haven't moved at all. Part of me worries that this is the best they will ever be, though I know that's a bit ridiculous.