Jenn's Braces Saga: THEY'RE OFF! Cavity issues. :(

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#211 Post by **jennandtonic** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:46 am

Thanks Karen!

I was planning on waiting until I got home tonight to post about my adjustment so I could post pictures at the same time, but I've got a two hour breakin classes and I'm all caught up on my homework, so I'll go ahead and post it now.

I got there and there was the typical banter. Francis (one of the othodontist assistants) had some trouble taking my top archwire out, which kinda hurt...she had to tug and at one point I wondered whether she'd yank my teeth out, too! I like Francis, she's just not as gentle as Anne is.

Anyhow, she took my archwire out, only to have Dr. Greer put it right back in again again, and she did something to make it a lot tighter- Saying something about torque, which I'm a little confused on, but didn't have time to ask Anne about it. When looking online, torque is defined as "the rotation of a tooth on the long axis moving the root of the tooth in a buccal or labial direction," so I wish I'd asked which teeth they're trying to rotate, just didn't have time to.

Then they put another cleat on the inside of my upper arch and connected a powerchain there, beginning at my right lateral to my second molar in order to rotate those teeth. Hopefully I'll see some big changes there!

She said I don't have to wear the third elastic anymore, just stick with the two class II's.

And that about sums it up, really. Next appointment is on Nov. 27th!

#212 Post by **jennandtonic** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 4:20 pm

Hi everyone!

I know, is it really me?

I've been soooo busy with school that I have not had time for an update. Finals are next week though and I have kind of a light schedule next semester, so I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be able to update more.

I had an adjustment several days ago, and it went quite well. I ended up waiting awhile

, in fact, the longest I've ever waited for an appointment.

Then I was taken back to do a panoramic x-ray to look at progress and to see if my brackets needed any repositioning.

She put me in the chair (finally), and then asked me about my left molar, you know, the one where the gums swelled pretty badly all around it. I told her (again) that it has never caused me any pain and the swelling has been fine.

She took a look at the recent x-rays and was very pleased with the tooth, she said that she had seen the beginnings of root resorption, but now the tooth looks like nothing had ever happened. She mentioned that in the future she's going to go ahead and reband it because she thinks it is healthy enough. I hope it's in the *near* future!

Meanwhile, the powerchain to my cleat that's on the back of my upper left lateral broke

. I want to call the ortho about it, but honestly I'm not going to have time to go in and fix it. My appointment is on the 27th, I'll just bite the bullet and wait until then.

And my birthday is TOMORROW! I had hoped to have my braces off by then, but I'll look forward to having my braces off by my 23RD birthday instead of 22nd.

#213 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 11:54 am

There you are! Sounds like your teeth are still hanging in there, maybe they want this treatment to be done as much as you do.

#214 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 4:07 pm

Happy Belated, I totally missed it the first time I read your post!

#215 Post by **jennandtonic** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 6:21 pm

Hi everyone!

I had a crazy Christmas, but things are finally settling down.

I had an appointment today; it was what Dr. Greer an "appliance check," in other words making sure that eveyrthing is in working order, and they usually retie an archwire, maybe put in or take out a powerchain. No difference here today. She commented on my sliding bite- which I hoped she had noticed. It's when your teeth can't find a comfortable position when you bite, so it slides.

She also took off a wire tie between my front two teeth. She joked that she did that so I could be a true Oklahoman and have that gap. I asked whether there would be a gap, and she said she was joking; she expects that the two centrals will even up, which is exciting. I'll point out how they're not even in a second.

She told me we're in the 'fine tuning stage' which is a little confusing because I was under the impression that my lower left second molar needs to be rebanded at some point. How long does this fine tuning stage last, I wonder?

Both of my laterals flare quite a bit, my centrals aren't as together or even as I would like them to be, and there are things here and there that I want to be fixed before I get these braces off.

Considering Dr. Greer is a perfectionist, I'm just assuming this 'fine tuning' is going to take at the very least four to six months. If so, I'm happy with that because I won't settle for much less than perfection if I can't have absolute perfection. And if not, I will DEFINITELY let my voice be heard about some of these imperfections.

Anyhow, I finally took some pics today so I'm going to post some comparisons.

Now, here's my right side in October compared to my right side now. See the (now nonexistant) gap between the lateral and canine? And a LITTLE less flaring on my lateral there.

Left side in October vs. left side now. The flaring is VERY obvious here.

Okay, here's the top teeth in September vs. now. See how the left central is ever so slightly behind the right? They expect these two to even out this month.

Smile then and now:

I'm pleased with my progress, but now more than ever I want perfection before I get the braces off and hope that I won't have to settle for less.

#216 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 10:51 am

Hey good lookin! Your teeth are coming about nicely, I can't wait to see the end result of all this perfection madness.

#217 Post by **jennandtonic** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 10:54 am

Oh my god, I just looked at my ticker and realized it is my twenty three month anniversary!

I feel like I should do something special, but I won't. I'll wait till next month.

In the meantime...I've made it 23 months in these things! Wow!

#218 Post by **jennandtonic** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:21 pm

I had an adjustment on MONDAY, and my optimism is definitely on the rise right now!

I went, and after taking my bite measurements, the ortho decided, once again, just to retie the upper archwire. And I feel it, because it's definitely tighter! At first I was a little bummed because I thought 'that's all this time? Again?' but then she got out the reshaping tool and asked if I'd like to have some of my edges smoothed out. And I said 'YES!' very enthusiastically--I surprised her a bit by how enthused my answer was.

She commented on my top two front teeth, noting that they are shaped differently and so are the roots...I plumb forgot to ask if that means they're not going to end up completely straight, that is something I will address pretty soon.

She commented that normally the teeth's edges are supposed to smooth out on their own, but mine never did. That's ok, they're (mostly) gone thanks to her! I have pictures of pre-reshaping (on the left) and how they are now (on the right):

Lovely, no?! It's so exciting to have all of that mostly gone!

And here are some progress pictures. The left is from last month, right is this month.

I think they're looking pretty darn good! She thinks so too. This time, I am to wear a Class II, 3/16" elastic on the left side, and another Class II, 1/4" on the right. And this time, I'm back to a practically liquid diet, no chewing for me for a few days! I don't think it's the elastics as much as it is the tightened top archwire.

And....not to get my hopes up, but she said that for next time, they're going to "raise my bottom threes," meaning raise some bottom teeth because they're not as high as she wants them to be, and she said "and after that we can start working toward getting them off." At first, thinking I heard wrong, I thought "surely we're not going to be taking teeth out." Then I realized...SHE MEANS BRACES! AAAAAAAAH!

I've consciously never asked how long my treatment is going to be, nor have I said anything about getting them off because I figure she gets that question all the time. Now, I KNOW that we're at least more than halfway through--maybe even on the last leg. That's SO exciting!

My next appointment is February 18th.

#219 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:38 pm

Fabulous Jenn! I'm excited for you!

#220 Post by **jennandtonic** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:43 pm

Yesterday was my TWO YEAR anniversary in braces.

I was going to make a post, but had to catch up on homework, so I'm a day late. However, I did put together some collages marking my progress. I'm very happy....

and may this anniversary be my LAST anniversary in braces!

#221 Post by **jennandtonic** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:40 pm

Once again busy college stuff caught up with me.

I've had two appointments since I last updated.

On the appointment before last, she 'lifted' three teeth, and I didn't notice the difference- I guess she did!

The last appointment was pretty uneventful.

See, we've been waiting for my overbite to change. I've got a sliding bite and it's been at 3 mms for oh, forever. It's tricky though, it'll sometimes show as 2 mms because like I said, they use the term 'sliding.' No change this time, it's still at 3 mms even though I've been wearing Class II, 3/16" elastics for about two months now. So she said to start putting my elastics on the closing loops instead to pull them a little more, and on the right side I'm also wearing a 1/4" elastic from the closing loop to my molar on the very back to fix my midline.

She also tightened the wireties on my top archwire pretty significantly.

Next time is just an appliance check. I'm happy overall with my progress, but disappointed that my dang bite won't close AT ALL! I wear my elastics faithfully, even while I'm eating, so it bothers me.

After this last appointment, my teeth HURT! I believe that's the worst it's ever hurt yet. I couldn't close my mouth without feeling pain, and I was even debating whether or not to call Dr. Greer and tell her that this wasn't going to work. Luckily I woke up on the third day and it was MUCH better. Now I'm able to chew normally.

Anyhow, here are some comparison pics; left is last time, right is this time.

#222 Post by **jennandtonic** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:01 pm

For the last two days, the gums between my molar and premolar on my left bottom side have been a bit painful while I brushed.

I hoped and prayed it was not a return of the swelling, that it was just maybe something I ate that poked my gums.

This morning I woke up to find the swelling back in the same place it was before. It's not the molar this time, of this I'm positive because my gums are painful in front of the premolar. The tooth itself doesn't actually hurt, it's the gum area. And it's painful this time, which worries me.

I'm quite upset right now. I knew that this month was going to be a bit hard because I was originally supposed to get my braces off this month until that last swelling cropped up, where my treatment had to be in a holding pattern for about three months. I guess this was just a bad month to have a setback considering I was going to be FREE this month.

I called my ortho, she's not going to be able to get back to me until Monday morning. While I'm not sure what's going to happen, I accept that my treatment will probably be put on hold once again. In the mean time, I quit wearing the elastic on that side, hoping to alleviate the pain. It's not working, though.

I'm really, really trying to see the bright side here. It just feels like any time I make some progress, something happens to set me back.

#223 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 1:09 am

Now how in the world did I miss your braceversary?! Happy belated 2nd braceversary!!!!!!!

Oh the anxiety, kind of like when we first get braced, we're so eager to see the changes go by so quickly. Your midline will shift and your bite will close, in due time my dear!

#224 Post by **jennandtonic** » Thu May 08, 2008 6:26 pm

I just had another adjustment. I have not updated in awhile, because, well, I've been pretty down for the last month. Nothing specifically bad has happened at all, I've just been down about my braces, and hadn't felt like coming on to look at anyone else's progress because I've felt so stuck.

So, I will update everyone about what has happened since the last time.

They took a look at my gums, massaged the area with a soft brush, cleaned it out, and all that jazz. I was instructed to get some of that Gly Oxide I used last time, and then they would see how it looked at my next appointment (which was to be five days later).

I got the softest baby tooth brush I could find, massaged it every night, and used the Gly Oxide. It looked a LOT better, but still hadn't gone all the way down by the adjustment. She put in a partial archwire for the bottom teeth, like the last time. I was also to wear triangles with the 3/16"s, and a 1/4" from my right closing loop to my back molar.

A gap is forming on my bottom teeth where there wasn't one before--it's between the centeral and lateral incisors, and I'm sure it's because it's a different sized archwire.

I had an adjustment today, and she didn't look at the bottom teeth at all, instead making some bends in the top archwire. It's a little tighter, and I think she's trying to fiddle with the alignment in the top teeth, I'll show you when I post pictures.

I feel a little better though, because she said that she thinks I'm getting pretty close, that there are a few things she wants to take care of, but that braces off day MAY be pretty close. I don't know when that means, but I'm a little more encouraged.

I'm continuing with the same elastic configuration from last time--I'll post pics of that, too. And this configuration especially has brought attention to my braces--some people have been saying how pretty my teeth are looking, and also asking how I eat through those elastics.

I manage it, but I have to change the elastics a lot because they randomly pop in the middle of the day.

I'm sorry I haven't looked at on your braces stories, I will try to do that this week.

And thank you for your kind words, bracedagain, rage31, Miss Smiley, and linda21! They are most appreciated--and I'm sorry I didn't see them this month. Once again, i've just been so down.

#225 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Fri May 09, 2008 2:39 am

Jenn - don't be down! This is THE place to come when you're down and need some support! We're all going through it and there isn't one thing you could say to make us think you're being over-emotional. I hope you know that even though we know one another by message board and our board handles, we still feel for one another especially when one is feeling blue.