Fluffy's Story: IPR BETWEEN FRONT TEETH! (Pix pg8)

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#106 Post by **fluffybottom** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 11:55 am

iBorg
I can't help counting the weeks! But doing so doesn't seem to slow things down for me; in fact, I can't believe how quickly it is all flying by. In less than a week, I'll have had my top arch braces for five months! It still seems like I just got them on.

catfish
Yeah, I'm very pleased! There's no saying if it will come all the way down or if it will get stuck (the tooth is at a really difficult angle in relation to the roots of my other teeth) but that it is moving at all is enough to put a big smile on my face!

mynameisjonas
Ahahaha! YES! I push on it with my tongue, too. I know that it probably does nothing because, honestly, if all it took was a tongue push, it probably wouldn't be impacted. Still, it feels like I am being proactive and encouraging. Like a little 'Rah Rah Come on, Tooth!' cheerleading from my tongue.

Meryaten
I like to move it, move it! *shakes her booty* Hahaha..

lifeisgood
Thanks! In regard to my impacted canine, I see a little movement week to week, sometimes even day to day. As long as it keeps trucking, I'll be happy!

Still a few weeks until my next adjustment (I'll be getting a heavier wire and, I think, they will be attaching a chain from the impacted canine directly to the wire -- but I might have misunderstood that part) but I thought I'd post my most recent pictures because there has been some more movement! Not so much with my top arch -- there hasn't been too much of a change there for weeks now (which is vaguely frustrating; my arch is definitely a lot better than what I started with -- A LOT better -- but my two front teeth are still sitting sliiiiightly behind the teeth on either side of them. It's not so noticeable in the pictures but I can feel it with my tongue) but my impacted canine continues to crawl along. The movements are small but I am very excited about it getting closer and closer to where it needs to be. I can't wait to see my ortho and show her my progress! Perhaps now that it is moving, she'll be able to guess how long it will take to get into place.

In other news, I have somehow figured out a way to go back to my nail biting habit despite wearing braces. This, of course, is not a good thing! But I am thinking that it will probably come to an abrupt stop again once I get my lower arch braced (which should be pretty soon! Late October/early November, most likely). I don't always feel like the prettiest thing with these braces -- especially for a while when I was sporting a 15 lb weight loss after the canine exposure -- but most of the time, I don't even notice them. I recently got my hair colored a delicious dark brown/black hue that makes me feel gorgeous and I'm happy to say I have gained back about half the weight I lost so my face is starting to look fuller again.

YAY!

And for your animated pleasure (I can't wait to do one of these when my treatment is over and it goes from pre-brace all the way to post-brace!):

I don't post all my pictures here, just when I think there has been enough change to warrant a post. However, I do take pictures every week and I have them all up at http://rooftoof.blogspot.com/ if anyone wants to see them all.

Thu Oct 02, 2008 1:59 pm

Wow fluffybottom - your tooth is certainly on the move!!

#108 Post by **Willy George** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 8:55 am

Girl,your posts are really giving me hope!!

Your animations are great,and please,keep up the good work! IÂ´m hoping youÂ´ll get this tooth down a lot sooner than you think!

IÂ´ve got the same problem,and IÂ´ve been trough the damn surgery last thursday,so my roof is still pretty messed up and I canÂ´t see much ( maybe because of all the stinchs). Anyway,IÂ´m about to complete 21 years and hear a lot from ppl that itÂ´s too late and all..but looking at your progress is inspiring!

All the best for you!

#109 Post by **fluffybottom** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 8:58 am

flesh-was-sweet
I can't even tell you how relieved I was when I first noticed it was moving. I had been so afraid that it was going to be fused to the bone!

Willy George
Good luck to you and your own troublesome tooth! I bet you'll start seeing movement before you know it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the both of us!

CHAPTER FIVE: THIRD ADJUSTMENT
Two weeks ago, I had my third adjustment. It was a quick visit but I got a new, thicker wire (0.18 x 0.25, I think she said -- by the way, I have been meaning to ask: does anyone know what all the various different wires do? In layman's terms, that is...). The orthodontist also had the tech wire-tie my teeth to keep them all from moving too much and I got a new chain on my impacted tooth. But the most exciting thing? They took impressions of my lower arch to prepare the brackets they put on yesterday! Yaaay!

CHAPTER SIX: FOURTH ADJUSTMENT AND LOWER ARCH BRACED!
Exciting day! Yesterday I went in to have my lower braces put on. I thought that was all they were going to do but they also adjusted my top arch, too. They took off the coil, added little hook things for my eventual elastics and changed the way my chain is attached to my impacted tooth.

Putting on the lower braces went smoothly although, I must say, they are tearing up the inside of my mouth much worse than the top ones ever did. One of the reasons, I am sure, is that my lower teeth are much more crooked than my top ones were so the brackets are all sitting at strange, sharp angles. I might actually have to use wax for the first time! Eating is also proving to be a challenge -- not because my teeth hurt because they don't (yet) but because of the build-ups on my teeth. Because of my overbite, my top teeth were making contact with my lower braces so they had to put on build-ups to keep me from chipping my teeth. Since my molars don't touch now, it makes chewing very difficult. Hopefully I will get the hang of it! It would be a shame for me to lose the weight I just gained back from my exposure surgery in May.

Let's see, what else. I asked her about my impacted tooth and even though it is moving, she still can't say for certain if it will successfully come down (because of the angle, it has to kind of 'turn a corner' to get into place). But I am choosing to be optimistic rather than uncertain because, well, I have faith in my tooth! It's moved this far, right? RIGHT! I also asked her about the upper gap between my two front teeth and if I am going to be stuck with it. She let me know that she will be using IPR and that she'll pull those teeth together -- that made me happy to hear. I wouldn't have been crushed to keep my gap (I've always had it and it's fun to squirt water from it) but I am certainly happier to hear that it will be taken care of!

Anyway, onto the pictures:

#110 Post by bb » Fri Oct 31, 2008 11:00 am

Awesome progress!
It must be so great to see such a big change!

#111 Post by **fluffybottom** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:06 pm

bb
Thanks! It is pretty exciting, seeing my teeth slowly but surely move into place. I just think ahead to the day when they have moved enough and I get the braces off -- I think I will smile all the time, even in my sleep!

Mr. Ken Bracedagain
I'm happy with the movement but my orthodontist is still uncertain whether it will successfully move into place. I mean, it looks like progress to me but I can't really tell which part of the tooth I am seeing. It's probably all sideways and backwards. But I am ever hopeful and optimistic until I am given concrete reason not to be!

CHAPTER SEVEN: FIFTH ADJUSTMENT AND BYE-BYE GAP!
Another exciting adjustment! The ortho is happy with the progress of my lower arch and it is so neat to see how much they have moved in six short weeks. She didn't change the wire on my lower arch; she'll do that when I see her next time in another six weeks.

And I don't think she actually changed my top archwire either; still the same thickness as before. However, she did take the lacing off my brackets, put a push coil on the wire to open up the space where the impacted canine should come down, retied and tightened the button to my power chain and ... AND:

I got IPR between my two front teeth to get ride of the gap!

I knew IPR was on my treatment menu put this was the first time I've had it done. Completely painless, no worries at all. When she was done, I touched my tongue to my two front teeth and the gap she created there felt HUGE. That was, until she put the powerchain on. I immediately felt pressure and tightness; when I touched my tongue to my front teeth again, I could feel no space between them!

This was a fairly uncomfortable adjustment -- lots of pulling and pushing and pressure. I might have even wiggled in the chair a couple times. My mouth is pretty sore as a result but I like that because it feels like everything is working extra hard. I'll just have to stick to the softer end of the food spectrum for a few days.

And now, onto the pictures...

#112 Post by **suzeeq22** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 12:56 pm

Ok.....I have a dumb question. What is IPR??? I've been braced since 11/4...my first appointment since then is 1/13/08 and it says adjustment with IPR????

What can I expect???

TIA!

#113 Post by **SharMarali** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 8:12 am

Holy cow, Fluffy, what progress! Roof toof is moving right along, your bottom teeth are much straighter after only a few weeks, and LOOK how much your arch has rounded out!

lol I'm pretty happy to see the arch, in particular, because I have a V-shaped arch and my ortho is convinced we can reshape it without surgery or special equipment. I thought he was nuts at first after reading so many stories here where people needed palate expanders and surgery, but I can see that it obviously does work in some cases, so maybe all those years he went to school and practiced orthodontia DID mean something after all! *tongue planted firmly in cheek*

#114 Post by **grneydfairy** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 10:16 pm

Oh yeah, your bottoms are progressing really fast! How are you feeling?

#115 Post by **fluffybottom** » Fri May 22, 2009 12:00 am

Well, it has been a while! Since I posted, I had a hunk of gums that was getting in the way of my impacted tooth removed (lasered away!), my impacted tooth bracketed (yay!), an elastic put on and my one year anniversary of getting my braces.

I had an adjustment today and my orthodontist was really pleased with the progress of my roof toof. When we started this adventure, she was extremely doubtful that we'd be able to move it. Now that it is almost into place, she has deemed the movement 'miraculous'!

I've had a miracle in my mouth, folks!

Here are some picture of the progress over the last ten weeks, starting from when I got the flesh in front of my roof tooth lasered away (allowing the impacted tooth to finally get bracketed and put on the wire).

Next adjustment, she will be repositioning the bracket on that tooth; when she put it on initially, only the bottom of the tooth was available so it currently is positioned too low. I also got a heavier wire today and my mouth is a bit sore.

I can't wait until the tooth is in place! I'm tired of looking like a hillbilly!

#116 Post by **jenny101101** » Fri May 22, 2009 3:39 am

Wow fluffybottom! That's some progress!!

Congrats!

#117 Post by **techiegirl74** » Sat May 23, 2009 8:01 pm

I read your story the other day and finally have the chance to post about it. What an AMAZING change thus far especially with your canine tooth. Congratulations on getting to move into place!!

#118 Post by **Neptune** » Sat May 30, 2009 7:46 am

Glad to see you back on the board, fluffybottom. I'd missed your amazing progression animations all this time. Glad to see that your wayward canine has finally found it's way home.

#119 Post by **fluffybottom** » Thu May 13, 2010 2:25 pm

Well, it has been some time, hasn't it!

I stopped writing about my progress and posting pictures for a while because, well, I was getting very frustrated with my treatment. From about June-ish last year until January of this year, I didn't get any new wires. I didn't get any powerchains. I didn't get any elastics. I'm sure my braces were doing something but it must have been below the surface because I was taking pictures the whole time and it didn't look like anything was moving.

In September, my ortho took xrays and noticed a bone abnormality. She sent me to a periodontist and he gave me some bad news. While my impacted canine came down just fine, there was bone loss (well, I don't know if it is loss; he said it might have just been that way) where the root of the tooth between my canine and front tooth was supposed to go. There's nothing to hold the tooth in place and he told me it would be mobile. Because of the severity, he said it wasn't a good candidate for an implant so I'm going to have to get a cantilever bridge to replace the tooth.

Ehn. What can you do?

Obviously, having a bridge isn't my first choice but being upset about it isn't going to change the situation. So I allowed myself to be disappointed for fifteen minutes and then got over it. I'm sure it will look fine!

Also in September, she recommended Sure Smile to me to help speed up my remaining treatment (for those unfamiliar, they do a scan of your teeth, build a computer model and then precise wires are sent with the bends in them to achieve the changes the ortho wants). I had that done in October and when I asked in September how much longer I have, she told me five to ten months (which meant Feb - July 2010).

Based on this estimation, I put aside flex spend money to pay for the tooth extraction, gum graft and bridge that I will need to get done once the braces are off. But when I went in to the office in January to get my first SureSmile wire, she said I was schedule to have my braces off in October!

!!!!

Yeah, I wan't happy to hear this, especially considering my original treatment estimate of 18 to 24 months would have had me out of braces between Nov 2009 and May 2010. If I didn't get out of braces by July, there wouldn't be enough time to complete the extraction/graft/bridge in this calendar year and I would lose the thousands of dollars I put aside in my flex spending account. She did say, though, that she thought I would be out of braces well before October and I explained my concerns about timing. I didn't want to rush the braces off before I was ready but I wanted her to know that if the finishing work could be done with my deadline in mind, I would appreciate it!

So things have been going well since January; the SureSmile wires and elastics have done wonders for my bite and remaining issues. I started the year with a slight cross bite that was open on the sides (due to the removal of the build ups I had had on my first molars for forever) and in no time, all my teeth were coming together as they should! The time between visits has been getting shorter and shorter; every now and then, I'd ask her how much longer I'd be in braces and she's say 'not too much longer'. Which was a frustrating answer because I didn't know what time frame equaled 'not too much longer' in her mind; I was certain that it was different from what I was imagining!

At today's appointment, I asked her again and she told me that she thinks two more visits and then I will be done! My next appoint is in two weeks so hopefully soon my braces will be off!

..then I just have to look forward to getting my tooth pulled, gum graft and bridgework.

#120 Post by **shinyRiver** » Thu May 13, 2010 2:55 pm

We both have only 2 more adjustments! AWESOME!

Those SureSmile wires sound futuristically fantastic! My ortho has been putting little kinks in my wires by hand. So frustrating. So time consuming. (And they can't be very precise!)

But I am so excited to be getting my braces off, as I know you are, too! I can't WAIT to see your progress. Your story has been my favorite, in all my years on AW!

And I'm sorry about the bridge, but that does happen sometimes. My friend's cousin had that happen. His bridge is so real though, I didn't know that his bicuspid wasn't real for YEARS. It may be annoying, but in terms of aesthetics I'd rather have a bridge than a cap or an implant. I can't stand the black line around the tooth at the gum line on implants. it's so obvious, especially on front teeth...

I think your smile is going to be gorgeous. Bicuspids are easy to fake! And with a gorgeous canine like yours, no one's going to be looking at your bicuspid anyway!