Granola's braces journey-- retainer check 2/13/08

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#286 Post by **Granola** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 10:07 pm

Hi Linda21! As always, it's nice to see a post from you here. Thank you so much for the empathy re: the loss of my dog.

It cool to know that you are also having good results with brushing your Essix. Mine has been so much cleaner since I started doing that. I still soak it in denture cleaner twice a day, and brush it several times during the day whenever I brush my teeth. I've been pretty much wearing it constantly, although sometimes it does take me a little while (an hour or so) to get it back in my mouth if I get involved with cleaning up from dinner or some similar thing. I still think I must be wearing it 20+ hours a day.

I did have a few hours of worry last night - after soaking in denture cleaner and brushing, I put it back in my mouth and it seemed warped. The right side felt warped, and loose, and moved visibly when I opened and closed my upper and lower teeth.

I'm sure I only used cool water on it so I couldn't figure out what would make it loose. Usually when people's teeth move their retainer feels tight, not loose, so I was really

I thought for sure that I would have to place a call to my ortho today (and wasn't looking forward to that) when I noticed this morning that the looseness was gone and it seems to be fitting normally again. It was bizarre and I have no idea what that was about.

My retainer change appointment is in two weeks. I really think I'm going to miss this clear retainer, but hopefully I will like the Hawley just as much (still wish it was just a plain wire in front instead of the max wrap as I'm afraid that will look weird - ah well, hopefully after four more months of all day/night wear I'll be released to nighttime only wear).

#287 Post by **sjsarre** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 3:57 am

Congrats on being debanded.. Your teeth look awesome..

#288 Post by **cwatt1** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 4:31 pm

Granola, I'm really glad rage31 stopped by; otherwise I would have missed your latest posts as well as your debonded pics.

You've got to be thrilled with how the teeth turned out; they look really beautiful! Perfect alignment (at least it seems so to me) and perfectly symmetrical arches. What a tremendous accomplishment!

Hope all is going well with your retainers.

So sorry to hear about your beloved whippet. I haven't had a pet in years, and when my parents moved away while I was in college they took our dog with them, but I was still shaken when she died. Beautiful idea to spread her ashes in the places she loved.

Take care!

#289 Post by **Granola** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 5:03 pm

Greetings Linda21, sjsarre, rage31, and cwatt1! Thanks to each of you for your posts!

Hi Linda21: I never did figure out what was up with the retainer that one night. I usually always test the water with my finger to make sure it's cool before rinsing my retainer. It was strange, but I'm glad it didn't happen again!

Hi sjsarre: Thank you!

Hi rage31: Thank you so much re: my teeth. I still miss our dog so much, but have accepted finally that he is gone (although I am still finding myself thinking "oh, I need to let him out" or that it's time to feed him. That habit is hard to drop after having a dogs continuously for 13 years. I hope your pets are around for many, many more years. Thanks for wishing me luck with the new retainer (please read below about the new one).

Hi cwatt1: Thank you very much, and I'm so glad you found my journal.

I really appreciate your compliment. My orthos did the best that they could (with the crowding I had, narrow arches and the fact that I had extractions as a teen, not the ideal situation) and I think the results are great (but believe me, there are some imperfections which you would see if you looked). Still, I'm extremely happy with the overall result and appearance, and think they did an excellent job. So sorry to hear about your childhood dog as well. We never stop missing them, I guess.

- - - - -

I went in to pick up my new retainer today. They had a surprise for me. They decided not to make me the maxillary wrap retainer (which I was *really* happy about) and told me they'd instead made a special Hawley that has a flat wire in front and an extra hook around the biscuspids. [I don't know if that extra bicuspid hook is uncommon here on Archwired, but for them it is, apparently. They said they usually just give their patients a regular Hawley, but for patients who have a high tendency for relapse (I am a reluctant member of that group

) they use the type that they gave me. The acrylic is not the clear pink plastic I had chosen and was expecting (because the Hawley they made for me was made at a different lab than the one they use for most of their Hawleys), which is fine but it's not pretty

.

The other "surprise" is that they took an impression for a lower nightguard. I mentioned that I'd been grinding at night and that my Biostar was wearing on the left. I asked if the Hawley would eventually have to be replaced by a nightguard, and would a nightguard provide adequate retention? She suggested a lower nightguard (basically an extra thick Essix). I asked if this would prevent my bite from settling and they said it shouldn't since I'll only wear it at night. I need to call back tomorrow and make an appointment to go pick it up. I'm not even sure if there is a charge for it, but they didn't mention any charge (I will be quite grateful if they include it because I don't think that is something that orthodontic treatment usually covers).

So - two new appliances for me!

Photos to follow.

#290 Post by **Granola** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 7:53 pm

Hi KK!

Exciting and foreign are the words of the day! It is kind of exciting to have some new "equipment" and to feel like I've entered another stage of retention.

So far so good with the new Hawley. The acrylic portion of it is much thicker than the Biostar (Essix type) retainer that I had, but I think I'll be used to it soon. The wire parts are completely smooth and comfortable and don't poke anywhere - in fact I can't even feel them when I'm talking or my mouth is at rest (of course I can with my tongue). I think I am liking having my teeth more uncovered than the Biostar allowed them to be. The clear acrylic of the Biostar almost seemed to magnify the size of my teeth (which was not needed, given my big centrals

) so even though now I have a wire again, it is nice to see the naked teeth behind them.

Two little things I forgot to type earlier: The ortho warned me that this type of Hawley is more delicate than a regular Hawley, and to be gentle with it. It is a lot heavier in weight than my Biostar, which actually felt more delicate to me, but I'll take her word for it!

It is definitely making me lisp a tiny bit, and I was whistling unintentionally

a bit when I put it in and spoke to the assistant at the office. The only other speech difficulty seems to be with "ch" which I'm sure I'll work through quickly. Reading aloud to my son is always a good chance to practice speaking. My DH said he liked the look of the Biostar better, but I think I like the look of this one better.

When I first tried on the Hawley, it felt a bit loose. My ortho adjusted it and now it feels perfect. It is so nice that it can be adjusted like that!

One last thing is that I noticed when taking my vitamins with it in that I was unused to the bulk on the roof of my mouth, and even though it fits well and doesn't move at all, I felt a little afraid of swallowing it.

I'm certain I'll get over this quickly.

#291 Post by **Granola** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:06 pm

New Hawley (it's mean looking!

):

Told you it wasn't pretty!

BTW, I had just rinsed it and that is the little bits of water you see (I promise it's not saliva!).

Hawley (from bottom):

I'm still glad that I didn't choose a dark color because my upper teeth are very translucent (every dental office I've ever been to has told me that too) and I was afraid the dark color might make my teeth look less white.

I forgot to post this funny photo I took of my lower lingual bar using a dental mirror:

#292 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 9:45 am

Your hawley looks like a mean alien from the top side. It looks great on your teeth though!

#293 Post by **Granola** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:55 pm

Meryaten, I think the flat wire is probably just best suited to my particular case, is what I gathered, but I'm not sure exactly why. It definitely seems to help it stay put, but I have no experience with a round wire to know if those function very differently. Wish I knew (didn't think to ask)!

Linda21, I love that we are a nosy bunch here.

Where else can we share photos of our appliances where anyone will care! It was fun trying to get a photo of my bonded - I couldn't get one from above so had to try that mirror and it actually worked (looks weird though for sure with those gobs of glue).

Hi Miss Smiley! So true, my retainder really does look like a mean alien from above.

All is well in retainer land here. My Hawley is very comfortable and in a way has been easy to get used to than the Essix. That being said, I'm still struggling a little with the "ch" sound.

#294 Post by **Granola** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 4:31 pm

Hi KK - thanks so much for the good wishes (and right back at you!).

All is going well with my Hawley so far.

I have an appointment this coming week to pick up my nightguard.

I'm curious to ask them a question about my bite also. With the Hawley in, the same tooth (lower left central) is hitting the retainer first, making it harder for the other teeth to make contact, but my bite feels great (and the central is not hitting) when I take the retainer out to eat. I think that is probably good news, but I'm curious to ask about that.

#295 Post by **Granola** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 5:47 pm

Hi seriously! Thanks for the compliment, and you are right, my Hawley really does look like an Orange Dreamsicle (a mean one!).

By the way, are you ready for the season premier of Grey's Anatomy? I can't wait and need to get set up to record it just in case something happens when it is on.

- - -

I went for my follow up appointment today to pick up my nightguard. I wasn't sure if I would have much of a chance to chat with my ortho, but she gave me a lot of her time (and they were busy too!). I am just so grateful to them for the amazing and thorough care they are giving me (after all, I am all paid up and they could just wash their hands of me). I feel like they are so committed to making sure I do not experience relapse (since I have a high likelihood of that).

To rewind a little: My upper Hawley has been bothering my palate right in the front behind the teeth on the flat area of the palate before it curves away. This started about a week ago after everything being just fine with it. I showed her this and she thought that my bite was causing it, because the retainer was just loose enough to move upward each time I closed my mouth because of that one tooth hitting it.

She adjusted my retainer to fit more snugly around the premolars and canines, with the idea that it will not allow as much movement of the acrylic up into the palate. It is definitely harder to get off now (it was very easy before). My teeth are sore now just as if I had an adjustment! Not too bad though. The upper palate still feels sore though, but I'll be curious to see if it is indeed better in a few days. She said to make sure to come in if it doesn't get better.

The lower nightguard is an extra thick Essix. It was so tight that I could barely get it on, and getting it off was impossible. It took many tries (now I know what people here are talking about when they've written about this very thing). Once I managed to get it off, my ortho instructed the tech to grind away the area of the retainer that was close to the gums. Once that was done, I had a much "easier" time with it (it wasn't easy but it's manageable now). The ortho gave me the tip to lift up on the left back side of it and that really worked.

They did not charge me for the nightguard! I am amazed by that and again am very grateful. It's so interesting because they were $500 to $1,000 more than the other orthos I considered, but the other orthos charged for x-rays and study models and nightguards were certainly not included. Things don't always work out this way, but on many levels I'm so happy I trusted my gut and went with them, even though they were the most expensive. They are really taking care of me.

I'll take a picture of my nightguard later.

#296 Post by **Granola** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 2:42 pm

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking on occasion, and thought I would pop in for an update.

I just had my seven month (post-debonding) retainer check.

Everything is looking good, and I (knock wood) have not been experiencing any major problems.

I had noticed that in the interim between my last check a few months ago and yesterday's, my upper rear molars had intruded back into the gums a few millimeters.

My ortho decided to have me go to nighttime-only wear of my Hawley at this point, to allow better settling and extrusion of those molars. He also recommended that I chew gum frequently to help this along.

Other than that, everything is looking very stable.

I keep feeling like I need to go put my Hawley in and I don't. It's an amazing feeling.

#297 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 3:22 pm

I can't believe you are a 7 months already! Glad to see you're still doing well!

#298 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 3:22 pm

I can't believe you are a 7 months already! Glad to see you're still doing well!

#299 Post by **smallbutmighty** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 8:43 pm

Wow, nice to hear from you Granola! I haven't received any update notices in quite awhile, and have been wondering about people. Too busy to spend much time on the internet as I am doing some teaching in a special community college senior enrichment program, plus lots of running around. Good to hear that it has gone so well for you. I was supposed to be done this month (NOT), then by Easter, but it doesn't look like that is happening either, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised!