Lea's story...Update and pics pg. 5

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#61 Post by **Meloho** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 9:28 pm

Wow, so much movement, so little time...good job!

I was curious about that front bottom tooth, the one that's more exposed at the root. Are your braces gonna be able to fix that or will you need some type of gum surgery to cover the tooth up a bit at the bottom?

#62 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 2:46 am

Lea- your teeth are on the move! I wish I had that much movement.

#63 Post by **lea72104** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 12:00 pm

Meloho- My hygienist said it shouldn't be too much of a problem and that the braces will hopefully fix it. My ortho has not said anything about it so it doesn't seem like it will be too much of a problem.

My boyfriend got a new job and we'll be moving away from the area that we are currently at. We'll be moving about an hour- hour and a half away. I'm going to continue to see my current ortho since i only go once a month anyway....the drive shouldn't be too bad and that will give me ample opportunity to see my friends here in Indy!

#64 Post by **lea72104** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 4:09 pm

Welp...went for my third adjustment on Tuesday and also got the lowers! I have pink and green ligs (no pics yet, but hopefully soon)...the bottoms are really sore, but that's to be expected. My left 1st molar on top( i think that's the one #6) is hitting the band on the bottom, but the assistant said that as my bite improves, so will the hitting of the band. There was nothing too eventful for the top, just a lig change. i must say, i was hoping for a power chain as that would mean closing these daggon gaps. O well, no big deal, it's all part of the process i suppose.

#65 Post by **lea72104** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 7:53 am

Ok, It started Sunday with a broken bracket....I went in on Tuesday to get it replaced and forgot to bring my bite plate. The ortho thinks I popped it off when i wasn't wearing it, which is possible. I went home to grab the bite plate and bring it in to have it adjusted and we couldn't get it in....so the assistant started shaving it down and got it just about done when my ortho came over and told her not to worry about it and just do a mold for a new bite plate on the top. soooo she takes off the ligs and wire to do the molding... and then starts taking off the bottom...(i was curious as to why when i had already had them off once that day to replace the bracket, which they didn't do because i didn't have my appliance....and i got 2 spacers to put a molar band on the premolar i think)....the ortho comes over and asks why she's taking off my lowers when i already had them off, she didn't know i had them off earlier and didn't have the chart as the ortho had taken it......well long story shorter i got the molding for the new upper bite plate done, two new spacers, and basically 2 adjustments on the bottom and 1 on the top in one day! needless to say i was sore the next day!

#66 Post by **joney** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 2:20 pm

Hi Lea

Sounds like quite an eventful day. Hope your teeth settle down soon. You've had a lot of movement, your teeth are looking great.

Regards
Joney

#67 Post by **lea72104** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:33 pm

thanks Joney, I must admit, I'm quite pleased with the upper alignment. I have a top molar on the left side that is hitting the molar band on the bottom tooth on the left and it's a bit annoying though. the ortho assistant said that as my teeth move this would settle down!

#68 Post by **lea72104** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:00 am

i went to my adjustment yesterday and it was semi-eventful. I got a new Biteplate..this Time it's upper rather than lower and i like it a little better. Still is a pain in the rear though. I kept the same wired, but had another molar banded because a bracket wouldn't stay on. I got a powerchain on top to close up the gaps that have formed. It hurts pretty bad, but it's ok. I went with blue on top and purple on the bottom. i had green and pink last month but couldn't take pictures because my camera is in a box somewhere from the move. I'll update with pics soon i hope though.

#69 Post by **lea72104** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 4:30 pm

Well, since my last post I have had quite a bit going on. I moved cities, switched to my orthos other office and got a new job. Oh and i started classes again.

The bite plate is working well. I love it actually, much much better than the lower i had previously. I got a new job with Biolife spam spam services taking blood.

Last adjustment wasn't a big deal. Got new ligs and a new powerchain, that's about it!...I got new dental insurance which should be paying 50% of my ortho treatment in quarterly installments, which i couldn't be happier about. I'm loving the progress of my teeth, they are all in much much better alignment. still not perfect, but we're getting there!

Here's some pics!

lowers

uppers

bite plate

#70 Post by **lea72104** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 11:34 am

I had my adjustment on Friday the 21st and everything went really really well! My ortho, Dr. Rapp, switched out the wires on both the top and bottom. Man was that painful for the first coulpla days! I now have a .16 niti on the bottom and a .16 stainless steel on the top. I got red and gold ligs for the THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT IT TO THE ADMINISTRATOR. THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT IT TO THE ADMINISTRATOR. THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT IT TO THE ADMINISTRATOR. THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT IT TO THE ADMINISTRATOR.! My boyfriend thought that was pretty cool cause it's his favorite team. I have had a power chain for the past 2 months but since i got a new wire, my ortho decided it would be better to not do it this month and let my teeth settle a bit, boy am i thankful for that!

My ortho also told me that i can take out my bite plate while i sleep if i want to, but i haven't tried it yet. My molars on the right side are starting to touch every now and then even with the bite plate in, which the assistant said was a good thing. Dr. Rapp said that my oral hygiene is really good and that my gums are really healthy. He said my hygienist should be happy with the cleaning when i see her on friday and that he'll be really really surprised if she isn't!

He also said that i might want to have my teeth shaped/shaved when we get closer to the end because i have one that looks like it was chipped (it's actually due to the bite though) and that it would look better after i have spent all this money anyway lol. I talked to him about retainers and he recommends the hawley because, with his experience, he has seen them break easier and you cant tweak if needed. He also said they last a lot longer, but that i could do a permanent on bottom but i could also do a removable hawley if i wanted, which i probably will because it's easier to floss. I will probably have to wear is 24hrs a day for a year and at night forever because my teeth have moved so much even since march...He didn't even realize they were my teeth! I am hoping this means that my debrace date will be sooner than the expected 20-24 months, but i'm not getting my hopes up because that's still some time away... I mean geeze i'm only in my 6th month!

sheleah

#71 Post by **platinum** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:13 pm

Your teeth look so good!!!!!

Only six months and your teeth look fabulous! Both archs are so round!

What there is left to correct?

My teeth are moving slowly

#72 Post by **lea72104** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:00 pm

Platinum...I'm not 100% sure, but at this point i assume it is correcting my bite and doing some minor tweaking.

#73 Post by **lea72104** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 1:58 pm

I just realized that it has been almost 4 months since I have updated pics and progress~! That's kinda silly. I don't remember what happened at the last few appointments with the exception of the one in January, so I'll start with that one.
I went in on a Wednesday to see Dr. Rapp (I have been scheduling all of my appointments with him because he's great.) but he was sick and I never got received a call so I had to reschedule. Well, the only appointments left were ones during the time I worked or otherwise another 3 weeks out. *I had already waited 5 or 6 because of the holidays and was desperate to change the ligs because they were silver and I didn't like them, I only went with silver because I had a company dinner to go to with my boyfriend* I asked the office manager, Julie, to call another office only 1/2 away and see if they could get me in. Needless to say, they couldn't. I ended up driving to their office in a city about an hour away the next day. That was a fun trip! Haha.

They took an x-ray, which is something they don't typically do until about 3 months or so before debanding. Dr. Rapp wanted to be sure that my roots looked good and were on the right path, if not he was going to reposition some of the brackets. He let me see the x-ray and it showed all of my teeth with perfect, parallel roots!

This is exactly what he wanted to see! he decided that he wanted my molars to stay where they were at so he told the assistant to wire tie *in figure eights* around the molars. and i also got a powerchain across the front *six i believe* with a figure eight at each end of the power chain. The assistant that banded me (they have traveling techs) did my adjustment that day and i let her choose the ligs and powerchain which i let her do anytime she does my adjustment cause she always pics really cute colors. She did a red powerchain with pink and red alternating on the bottom. My teeth sure were sore the next couple of days.

I still have the bite plate, but Dr. Rapp said that I can start weening myself off of it. I think Probably weened myself off too much, i only wear it like 2x a week at night....probably should work on that!

He also said that I'm about halfway into my treatment and that he can't believe how quickly my teeth have moved. The estimated time was about 20-24 months and it's month nine right now so i'm figuring closer to 18. Not getting my hopes up too high though. That would put me at having them off around Sept/Oct. I'd just be tickled pink to have them off by Christmas!

here are some pics from December:

And January:

Sorry, there's one in there that's kinda spitty! HEHE!

Here are a few starter pics so you don't have to go to the beginning unless you want to read the saga.

Enjoy!!
Sheleah

#74 Post by **lea72104** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 2:00 pm

sorry, must have forgotten to crop a couple down to size!

#75 Post by **samantha_lou** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 2:40 pm

Wow, incredible progress - your teeth are really looking fantastic!!