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WOW! Thanks guys!! I'm feeling pretty good about how my teeth are shaping up!
Rhonda30 and Linda21, thanks for the reassurance, I'll be hitting you both up for pointers once I've got them . As strange as it sounds I'm excited to get started with elastics; it's something different to look forward to & I'll be happy to help this process along .
Airbraceface, hannahwebbo and nerdgirl thanks for the support! Congrats on getting your braces and good luck !! I'm looking forward to checking out your stories!
Hi all! Well, I'm in big-girl wires now ....the square ones. Let me tell ya, I had some tender teeth after a day in those suckers. Much more uncomfortable than when I first got my braces! I was happy to put up with it though, I just want these teeth moving! Also, I've got elastics going on now...pretty exciting stuff.....can't wait to see something happening as a result of these little things.
My ortho and the assistants continue to provide blah service , but no serious offenses as of late (I am very glad that I only go in there every 8 weeks). My anchors (I think that's what they're called - the clamps on either side of one of my top and bottom teeth) weren't clamped last time, and the bracket that has come open before has been doing it again , I like to think that I catch it the same day that it magically opens....but I fear that I go for days with my wire loose. Guess I'll just keep checking...ortho said it just needs to be closed when found .
Other than that, just chugging along. My lowers seem to have stopped moving. You can't see it in the pictures but my lower front 4 came up (think donkey teeth) and have stayed there, but haven't straightened out any more. The ortho said that we'd do the fine-tuning in a couple of months (I hope to get those lowers back down!)
The pictures below don't show much progress from October to December, but Big Mama seems to be moving a bit since I got the square wire put in (notice the little gap between my two front teeth in the third set of pics ) so I'm confident that space is being made to accommodate her. The insides of my cheeks get swollen and sore every now and again (as you can see in my December lowers pic) a little wax fixes that right up. I still have my turbos as you can see, no problem there - I don't even notice them anymore. Please excuse the huge size of that last pic, I couldn't shrink it for some reason. I may be seeing what I want to see, but it looks like the overlap is a bit less severe in the last one....I dunno.
Well, I was hoping that the pictures show movement that I haven't seen day to day ... maybe next time.
Have a wonderful winter and holiday season!! I'll post more when I detect progress!
Before:October:
December(almost5mos):
BeforeOctober:
December(almost 5mos):
BeforeOctober:
December(almost5mos)
BeforeOctober:December(almost5mos):
Last edited by Cinnamon on Mon Dec 10, 2007 12:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
Looking good Cinnamon! I agree Big Mama is getting there. I think you need to do a little cheer for her, ala "I think I can, I think I can, I know I can, I know I can!"
Thanks minlou, Karen, and markybwoy I appreciate the kind words! It's wonderful to have fellow bracees to compare notes with. Hope to check out your stories soon (it's finals time at the moment !!!!!). Here's to more progress all around .
What the...when did this happen??!! Check out my first molar on your left It's way higher than it's sibling behind it!! I sure wish that all of them would start bustin' a move upward . I can't believe that I didn't notice this before...woohoo!!
Cinn your teeth look fantastic so soon! Well not that you needed much movement in aligning them but it looks like you're well on your way! Also, I noticed how your arch is widening out nicely!
Upper and lower 1st premolars extracted
Uppers braced 4/6/07 & Lowers braced 4/20/07
ceramic brackets and rectangular arch wires
Est. term: 30-36 months
De-banded: 3/04/09 w/ LBR and U&L Essix
Just wanted to post an update (aka I wanted to see if my teeth have moved since I last took pictures ) Things are moving along. Last week I had cleaning and an adjustment. Sounds like I'm doing a good job cleaning my teeth. I got larger wires and had my turbos removed. I really didn't care whether or not they took them off - I didn't notice them at all...so I wasn't as excited to get them off as I'd anticipated.
My ortho decided that it was time to clean up my front teeth and he asked me if it was OK to shave off a bit from the bottoms of them. I knew that I'd have that done before the end of treatment but I was a bit scared to have it done before the teeth were in their permanent positions. It went well though and I have to say - I feel that they look better now. They're lookin' straighter and straighter!!! I'm starting to psyche myself into thinking that I'll get an early release! I know I know....I'm prepared to do the whole 18+ mos that it may take. I want these chompers perfect, and I'll wait a LONG time to get them that way (after all, I've waited many many years already, no sense in getting antsy now!!)
Next appt he'll move a couple of brackets and do some IPR on the top fronts to fit them nicely together and get rid of my growing black triangle. I'm willing my teeth to be next to eachother by then so that I won't have to freak out about him accidentally shaving more off of the straight one than I would like (because they are still overlapping slightly at the moment...or are they?? ). He seems to like to zip along and I fear that he'll use a machine for the IPR vs. the manual file type. SLOW and STEADY PLEASE!!! I'll have to let him know just how freaked out I am. I'd rather have him annoyed and aware of what he's doing than going on auto-pilot and taking too much off.
Progress pics below show BEFORE / DEC 5th 2007 / FEB 2nd 2008
I just wanted to document my lowers here. I have voiced concern over the arch that I see in the pic below but my ortho doesn't see anything wrong with the lineup. The front 4 teeth were brought up when I first got my braces on - and I want them to go back down ! My big fear is that it won't be fixed with braces and instead he'll file them down to match the others when my treatment is over. I'm not a big fan of having good tooth filed away so I think I'm in for a fight with my lazy ortho. We'll see.
The pictures are fabulous ... the progress is super! It looks like you have made tremendous progress in just six months or so. Time flies, eh? I just got braces myself in early December. At the start it seemed like it would be forever, but one you get used to them, you forget the braces are there - well, until you get an adjustment.
Keep up the great work - your teeth look fabulous!!!
I'm feeling pretty good about how my teeth are shaping up!
. As strange as it sounds I'm excited to get started with elastics; it's something different to look forward to & I'll be happy to help this process along 
.
!! I'm looking forward to checking out your stories!
, but no serious offenses as of late (I am very glad that I only go in there every 8 weeks). My anchors (I think that's what they're called - the clamps on either side of one of my top and bottom teeth) weren't clamped last time, and the bracket that has come open before has been doing it again 
, I like to think that I catch it the same day that it magically opens....but I fear that I go for days with my wire loose. Guess I'll just keep checking...ortho said it just needs to be closed when found 
) so I'm confident that space is being made to accommodate her. The insides of my cheeks get swollen and sore every now and again (as you can see in my December lowers pic) a little wax fixes that right up. I still have my turbos as you can see, no problem there - I don't even notice them anymore. Please excuse the huge size of that last pic, I couldn't shrink it for some reason. I may be seeing what I want to see, but it looks like the overlap is a bit less severe in the last one....I dunno.
... maybe next time.
October:
October:
October:
October:
December(almost5mos):
I knew that I'd have that done before the end of treatment but I was a bit scared to have it done before the teeth were in their permanent positions. It went well though and I have to say - I feel that they look better now. They're lookin' straighter and straighter!!! I'm starting to psyche myself into thinking that I'll get an early release! I know I know....I'm prepared to do the whole 18+ mos that it may take. I want these chompers perfect, and I'll wait a LONG time to get them that way (after all, I've waited many many years already, no sense in getting antsy now!!)
!!!!!). Here's to more progress all around 
