Piglet's Braces story-New adjustment on 8-15-08

Message

#16 Post by **PigletInIowa** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 8:23 pm

Hmm, I didn't even realize the changes until I put these pictures together. It looks like that after all my gaps are getting small, visibly. (Sorry about the size of the pictures, it takes a while for the resize to take effect)

[/img]

#17 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:06 am

WOW!! Look at that change in your central and lateral, FANTASTIC!

#18 Post by **PigletInIowa** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 1:00 pm

Thanks a lot, Miss Smiley!!! I actually have a question for you if you don't mind. I checked out your story and followed your gap closure progress (which is simply amazing!) And I realize that at least at the beginning of your gap closure, most of your upper powerchain configuration is 3-7 on both sides, but sometimes you had 2-2 in addition at the same time. I'm just wondering if that was the cases for the most of the times during your upper premolar gap closure. So does that mean that when your canines move back , the front 4 follows, even they were not chained to the canine? Or your ortho actually did something to make them follow?

#19 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:40 am

The gap between your lateral and canine won't be very noticeable to most. They'll also close up pretty quickly with those powerchains. Don't fret, your teeth will be wonderful once this journey is over.

We could use a little rain in Southerrn California, send those rain clouds our way please! I hope that the stormy weather lets up and makes room for a super bountiful new beginning.

#20 Post by **PigletInIowa** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 7:09 pm

Quick update:
It has been 2 weeks from my last adjustment, one week to go until my 4th adjustment. My gaps hasn't really changed that much, maybe a little, but not much. right gap jumped from over 5mm to 4.5mm before last adjustment, then loosened up back to ~5mm after the adjustment, now after a whole day's discomfort in my bite (felt exactly the same as when I first got powerchain on June 4th, minus the soreness), the gap now measures 4.8mm or so, not big change, but at least visible. And this feels the same as last time when I saw the big jump in gap closing, luckily, this time I still have one more week before the adjustment, hopefully it'll settle and not go back. Well, I might not be completely fair on the gap opening back issue: My ortho changed wire to pull my upper 2 lateral incisors forward to align them with my central incisors (also preventing the lower teeth biting into the back of them), so the gap opening could be due to that. but at least now they are moving towards the right direction. my right gap is closing steadily, judging by the increase of the gap between my lateral incisor and the canine, but it is also a small change, about 0.3mm or so. So I guess judging by this rate, my teeth are only moving at a speed of ~0.5mm/month. It'll be a long way for my gaps to close...

And another thing I'm wondering, from both my experience and what I heard from people, whether the action of powerchain is no movement for a while, then in a jumping style. It seems to be true for my left gap, which is between the 1st molar and 1st premoar, but not true for my right gap, which is between the 2nd premolar and the canine. Anybody have any comments?

#21 Post by **MRani13** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 1:51 pm

Hey Piglet!

I just started reading about ur braces story a few days ago...and was struck by how similar our teeth are! My teeth are also pretty straight (had braces as a teen) but I was always self-concious about my 5-6mm overjet. The Ortho I'm with decided not to do extractions and said traditional braces with some IPR should do the trick. I just got braced last week so I'll be watching ur story with interest!

#22 Post by **PigletInIowa** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 2:12 pm

Thanks, MRani13! I think you are lucky that your ortho decide against extraction. I wish my ortho had said that to me. But I think here in Iowa their training is pulling people's teeth. And I feel I didn't research enough before agreeing to do it. Anyway, my case's would be way more complicated than yours, and you'll definitely have an easier and more pleasant treatment. Enjoy it and keep us updated!

#23 Post by **PigletInIowa** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:43 am

New updates of my 4th adjustment:
After going for two 2nd opinions with other orthos, I kind of already have the idea how things will be done to my teeth, so I had an extremely short question list this time. But I decide to hold the questions back a bit until the end of the adjustment. So when I was asked how my teeth felt, I only complained that my lower front teeth are biting into the back of my upper fronts, and they hurt. So my ortho took a look, then he changed out my upper to the same 018 wire (but a new one), put in same bends like last time to pull my lateral incisors out, and 2 new bends further out to push my upper front 4 into the gum a bit. He also changed out my lower wire to a 016 wire (I assume it is a bit thicker than before, since my lowers have aligned a bit, though still more to go) and put in similar 2 bends outside of the front 4 to push them into the gum. This way, he can open up my bite in the front a bit, so the lowers wont bite into the back of the upper that much. And it worked instantaneously! Thatâ€™s a great feeling! And surprisingly, he started to explain what he did to my wire and what they are for! Totally unlike before, which was without any explanation unless I pushed. Anyway, knowing what he did to my teeth feel good! And he also said, starting from next adjustment, he would start to do IPR on my lower fronts little by little to start to push them back, which will give more room for my uppers to go back. He also switched out my 4-link powerchains to 3-link ones, Yah!!!! Though he didnâ€™t explain that part, I know exactly what that means: I used to have one empty link over the gaps, and now there is not, meaning there will be more pulling tension on the powerchain, and hopefully more gap closure!!! And Iâ€™m having my finger crossed that this wonâ€™t be too tight to cause any problem, since my gaps are 4mm and 4.5mm, still on the bigger side. As for how the teeth look, they look exactly the same from 3 weeks ago, at least not any difference I can tell, although the gaps are about 0.3~0.4mm smaller on both sides. So I will hold off for the picture until next week, hopefully there will be some new movement. Overall, my spirit is pretty high after this adjustment since there are quite a bit changes to my wire, and this is the first time I ever get anything done to my lower wire (including ligature change) in 3 months ever since I started! Anyway, hopefully this good mood can last for a while:)

#24 Post by **PigletInIowa** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:27 am

Just to keep a note for myself: the gaps are 3.7mm (0.8mm smaller than pre-adjustment) on left (2nd premolar extraction) and 3.5mm (0.5mm smaller than pre-adjustment) on right (1st premolar extraction). Looks like the shorter powerchain was working. The gaps are visibly smaller and they look about the same size if I use a folding mirror to look from inside of my mouth. Only down side is now both sides of my upper arch are extremely sensitive to air and temperature: if I open my mouth to look at my teeth for too long, they start to hurt like when I had cavity. If I shut my mouth to warm them up, they'll be fine. But room temperature water for brushing seems to be ok. I wonder if this is normal or not:(

#25 Post by **PigletInIowa** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:24 pm

Thanks a lot, Denise! I'm just being lazy with the pictures

But I'll work on it soon:)

#26 Post by **PigletInIowa** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 9:47 am

A case with some similarity to mine.

Apparently the upper 1st molar and 2nd premolar moved forward into place. So that'll be my hope

#27 Post by **PigletInIowa** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:11 pm

Today I had a new adjustment following a emergency dentist visit.
A week back when I was flossing underneath my lower molar bands, my gum was bleeding a lot, it was like oozing blood if I use my tongue to push against the gum tissue between the 1st molar and 2nd premolar. So I really freaked out, and start to use hydrogen peroxide (1:1 dilution with H2O) to swish, it seem to work pretty well with the bleeding, since the bleeding has reduced to minimal after 3 days, but my left lower molars were having shooting pain like a severe cavity. So I called my dentist on Tue but she canâ€™t see me until today (Friday). But since I stopped using hydrogen peroxide after Wednesday, the pain had stopped. So I kind of turned this emergency appointment into a non-ortho consult about braces experience, and she also said the molars can move pretty fast and far enough, and that opinion was seconded by her assistant Michelle, who had braces for 2 years and also worked as an orthoâ€™s assistant for a long time. And Michelle assured me my molars will move forward, somehow that does sound pretty assuring.

Besides of that, my dentist took x-ray of my hurting teeth and showed me they look fine, good bone height, also less than 3mm deep pockets in the gum, everything looks goodâ€¦And she also prescribed me the anti-inflammatory, anti bacteria mouth wash, but suggested only use it locally on the affected gum tissue, and at least 30min apart from regular brushing

As for the adjustment, I already lost tract of what number it is. A lot of things were done:

1. Upper wire changed to a new one, has a weird name I canâ€™t remember, but not indicating the size of the wire, rectangular at the front (to hold teeth better) and round at the back (to allow more flexible teeth movement)
2. White wire ties on all upper teeth so they donâ€™t rotate
3. 9-link clear powerchain starting from left upper 1st molar, skip the left 2nd premolar gap, all the way to right upper 2nd premolar, skip the right 1st premolar gap. (So the right upper 1st molar is free of powerchain, but on class III elastics as Iâ€™ll explain in a bit.) The powerchains are supposed to start to close the small gaps created between the front teeth and between the right lateral incisor and the right canine.
4. Still bends same as the ones for intrusion of the upper front 4, though I asked the ortho not to intrude more, so hopefully they are just holding the teeth in their place.
5. Eliminated the bends that was pulling the lateral incisor out, so they can rest at their original position and not look too protruding
6. Lower front IPR in between the front 6 (so 5 places), 1/10 of a mm each, with rotor saw (except for the burning smell, it was not that bad), then 12-link gray powerchain on the entire lower arch, molar to molar, supposed to start pulling the lowers back. He said there are quit some crowding at the lowers, so he will be able to take a total of 3to 4/10 of a mm gradually (not sure if it each or total). No IPR on side teeth because destroying the natural contact is no good. But if at the end more space is needed, he might be able to take off some more from my lower 1st molars, which both had huge fillings at the front.
7. 5/16â€™â€™ (7.9mm) heavy elastics on both sides, lower canine hook to upper 1st molar band hook, 24/7 except for eating and brushing. Supposedly to bring my lowers back and upper back teeth forward
8. He also kind of mentioned to band my last molars next time, which I forgot to ask for more detail
9. He was not bothered by the fact my upper left molar is tilting into the gap, and insist the crown moves first, then the root will follow.
10. Next adjustment in 3 weeks, which is actually a good length for me since I usually get cranky after a bit more than 2 weeks, so I have been trying to call in to schedule earlier adjustment at least twice among my not that many adjustments.
I was worried about ending with a bad bite, but the ortho said I should have a perfectly functional bite at the end. And I asked about the chance I have a good result at the end, he said between 85-90%. Oh well, if thatâ€™s what he says, Iâ€™ll just have to accept it.
Iâ€™ll take pictures later. But nothing too visually stunning anyway.

#28 Post by **PigletInIowa** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 6:09 pm

Just some note for myself:
1. gaps are 3.1mm on the left (2nd premolar gap) and 2.8~3mm on the right (1st premolar gap)
2. Back teeth couldn't really close tight last night, but it already get back closing ok now
3. lower front jaw is really sore due to the elastics
4. lower banded molars and premolars are really sore, probably due to the powerchain
5. lower fronts still have the gaps generated by IPR, so hopefully they still have room to go back.
6. upper left 1st molar is still tilted into the extraction gap
7. lower fronts can still hit the back of the upper fronts
8. I'm changing the rubber bands everytime after eating and brushing, but this is only day one, not sure how long I can keep doing it...

#29 Post by **PigletInIowa** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:57 pm

Thanks, jt2lang! I just hope the rest of the treatment would be as smooth, which is hard to predict. I'll just have to wait it out.

#30 Post by **PigletInIowa** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 5:22 pm

2 days until my next adjustment, so just take some notes for myself :
1. since the elastics got on, my bite really changed a lot when they are on, but when they are off, the bite seem to shift back. So far the molars don't seem to move any, at least not what I can tell
2. right 2nd premolar moved forward a lot, since it is not attached to the molar any more, which reduced my right side gap to 2.1~2.4mm, but also created a gap between the premolar and molar, which is a big food trap, so now I have to use the small brush to clean it a lot, especially after eating steak and fibrous veggies
3. left side gap showed no change at all! Zero! So it is still 3.1mm
4. I got very bad jaw joint pain one week into elastics, and couldn't open my jaw wide for almost 10 days. During the worst days, my jaw joint even hurt when my mouth was not open. I had prescription anti-inflammatory drugs, muscle relaxant, nothing worked, and they gave me worst stomachache, so I just ditched those. But some how, starting yesterday, I felt my bite was the most different from before for the entire day, so I kept the elastics on the whole day, skipped lunch, just changed the rubber once during the day. Then at dinner, my jaw joint stopped hurting, or I'd say 95% of the pain went away. I can almost open my mouth as wide as before, and I had the best dinner since 10 days ago, and even ate 2 giant crunchy juicy white peaches!!!Hopefully this will last and the jaw joint pain never come back!