Margie's Story!

Message

#31 Post by **graciesmom** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 8:51 am

Your teeth look great1 Glad to hear your speed braces are going well and that they will be off even sooner than you thought! I just got speed braces and look forwrd to seeing changes

About the elastics? I didn't think they used elastics with them? Did you get them yet?

Thanks for sharing your story!

#32 Post by **Margie** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 9:12 am

Thanks graciesmom!

I don't have the elastics around the brackets (I think they are called ligs?) but I will have to have elastics to fix my bite, that is what the little hooks are for on some of your brackets. I don't have them yet, I think I will be getting them at my next appointment which is in about 5 weeks.

#33 Post by **Margie** » Sat May 01, 2010 9:46 pm

I am now just over 11 months along and had an adjustment on Thursday.

Right away I knew they were going to be doing quite a bit during the appointment. I ended up with my first power chain and a coil spring thing.

I have the power chain on my top teeth to close the gap that has formed. I was pretty excited about this, I have been wanting this gap to close since it formed. Plus for some reason people kept asking me if I was going to get that fixed. Of course I am going to get that fixed, I'm not paying several thousand dollars to end up with a gap!

I did not expect the spring thing at all! I didn't even know they were putting one in until after it was already in! They are using it to move my teeth to fix my midline (on the bottom) which is quite off due to me missing a tooth.

I was expecting more pain than what I actually have. That is a good thing though, I would rather expect pain and then be surprised when there isn't much pain.

I have to go back in a month for another adjustment, I am really looking forward to it, I feel like I am getting close to the end.

I will try to post some pictures tomorrow!

#34 Post by **Margie** » Fri May 21, 2010 8:20 am

Ok, so I really suck at posting pictures! I am sorry! Things have been pretty hectic lately, the boyfriend and I are moving in together at the end of the month and I have been trying to get everything sorted for that.

I thought I would post a quick update. I am now a year into treatment! The past year had gone by so quickly I can't believe it!

At my last appointment I was given a power chain on the top 6 teeth to close the gap I have between my two front teeth and that gap is now nearly closed! That is very exciting, I went from having them overlapping to a huge gap to now nearly closed.

I was also given a spring on my bottom to shift my teeth to fix my midline. I now have quite a big gap from that; I am very surprised about how quickly it shifted my teeth.

My next appointment is in a week so I am anxious to find out what they are going to do this time.

And I am going to get some pictures up in the near future, I have taken some but just need to upload them, but at the rate my teeth have moved I might need to take new ones anyway.

#35 Post by **Margie** » Thu May 27, 2010 5:17 pm

So here are those pictures I have been promising! I will start with the pictures from about 4 weeks ago when I was at the 11 month mark:

Here is the top:

Here is the right side, you can kind of see the spring thing and the small gap it had already started to make:

Here is the left side:

Here is a picture from front on, I don't think you can see the power chain, but I had already had it for a couple of days before I took the picture and it had already started to close the gap:

And last but not least, my bottom arch:

#36 Post by **Margie** » Thu May 27, 2010 5:23 pm

And here are some new pictures I just took today, so about 3 weeks since I took the last pictures, I have also added my pre-braces pictures to show what a difference a year makes!

My top arch:

My bottom arch:

My right side:

My left side:

Front on:

#37 Post by **Margie** » Fri May 28, 2010 4:19 pm

Here is a quick update:

I had an adjustment today, and a lot happened! First they replaced my top power chain, put a power chain on my bottom front teeth and then gave me elastics to wear in a triangle shape on both sides of my mouth! Very intense.

I go back in just over a month for my next adjustment. I hope I don't have too much longer left! I will post pictures when I can.

#38 Post by **PrincessPeach** » Sat May 29, 2010 2:15 pm

Your teeth are looking amazing! So many changes, you must be so proud!

#39 Post by **fosterp** » Sun May 30, 2010 11:39 am

your before pictures are a lot like mine and its almost unreal how your teeth changed in the exact same fashion as mine in the same time period

i am wondering if you used bite turbos - and did the alignment of the teeth ever create an overjet that to be corrected later? I noticed that my overjet has grown a bit since the braces were put on, hopefully its not going to be there forever.

#40 Post by **Margie** » Mon May 31, 2010 7:48 am

Thank you PrincessPeach! I am very pleased with how everything is looking!

fosterp - No, I didn't get any bite turbos. I did notice that I did have a bit of an over jet once my teeth got straightened out. I have elastics now to fix my bite so I am assuming that will fix that problem, but I'm not sure.

I had a very busy weekend, I had my dental appointment Friday where I was given power chains and elastics and then I moved from my parent's house to an apartment with my boyfriend, which was super busy! It was probably good that I had that distraction from my teeth though! Occasionally when talking I will bump my teeth together which doesn’t feel good at all! I don’t have any problems getting the elastics in and out, the first night I kept snapping my lip with the elastic, thankfully I got the hang of it pretty quickly.

My power chains collect food like crazy when I eat, kind of annoying, but I’ll get used to it. I’m just looking forward to the end of treatment, which is hopefully still around the end of summer!

#41 Post by **Margie** » Mon May 31, 2010 9:46 am

And I just thought I would mention that my bag of elastics has an elephant on it, and they are described as "Heavy" on the bag. Hopefully that means these are the strongest elastics so it won't get worse than it is now!

#42 Post by **Margie** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 8:27 am

I am currently feeling like the biggest idiot ever. I was looking through some pictures on my camera over the weekend and I found some pictures I took after my last adjustment. While looking at the pictures I realized that I have been wearing my elastics in the wrong configuration for the last 3 weeks! I have been wearing them in a triangle configuration when I should have been wearing them in an upside down triangle configuration.

I really hope that this hasn't slowed my progress at all; now I know to pay extra attention the next time I get an elastic configuration!

#43 Post by **Margie** » Tue Jun 29, 2010 8:24 am

I went for an adjustment on Friday and I told them about my elastic mistake. The assistant laughed and said it could have been worse and the Dr. said the same thing. When he checked my bite he was pleased with my progress so it doesn’t seem like I slowed down my progress at all when I was wearing my elastics the wrong way.

At that adjustment they took the power chain off my top teeth, the Dr. took my top wire out and put a little dent in it. I think that is to straighten out my lateral incisor on my right side, it is still hiding behind my central incisor a little.

On the bottom they moved the coil spring back a tooth, so now they are pushing the teeth to the centre and added a new power chain. The Dr. reminded me again that because I am missing a tooth (tooth 35) my bite and midline won’t be perfect. Because it is my bottom teeth I’m not too concerned. My bite is comfortable now and I don’t have any issues eating, and it isn’t something people will notice so I’m not bothered.

I am guessing I have about 12 weeks or so left in my treatment time. My Dr. wants to see me again in 3 weeks. I am guessing that is to move the coil back a tooth and then wait another 3 weeks to move the last tooth into place and then I should be done soon after that. I was going to ask but then I chickened out because I’m not sure if I want to know the answer! I just really would like to have my braces off in September at some point. I am going on a cruise with my boyfriend to celebrate our birthdays at the end of November and I would like to have my teeth whitened before we go. I would love to go on vacation with a perfect white smile!

I will have updated pictures posted within the next day or so!

#44 Post by **Margie** » Thu Jul 01, 2010 5:27 pm

And here are my new pictures I promised, I think I took them June 26th.

#45 Post by **iBorg** » Thu Jul 01, 2010 8:49 pm

Margie:
I found your story after your post of Fluffster's. Your story is a perfect example about what I find amazing about adults with braces. Most of us want them to make our smile closer to what we believe it should be. Initially you didn't seem very interested in braces but after seeing your result, I'm sure you made the decision to have them. Your teeth are showing an amazing amount of improvement. You have every reason to be happy and excited about the results.

Mike