Starfish's braces

[starfish88]

I suppose that could be the case. Because the assistant who does my adjustments is so nice I assume they all must be and blame the ortho. Maybe thats a bit harsh. I also totally believe he deserves his time off now for the holidays so I'll try and think happy thoughts for all of them now and figure it out in January/February.

I know I can't expect much upper palate expansion as an adult, although my orthodontist has said it will look like a lot because my teeth were tipped in and are now tipping out...but now I have the upper rectanguar wire I am shocked at all the signs of expansion that I'm getting. I have a tiny diastema! Its only about 1/2mm but its the first time there has been a gap there since I was 7 or 8! I also have tiny gaps between my central and lateral inscisors too! I hope it doesn't decide to get worse just when I have Christmas and engagement parties to go to! Seriously - people get braces to NOT have a diastema...although I know this is the part of the 'it gets worse before it gets better' thing. My upper palate looks much wider too when I tip my head back. i'm quite excited to get a nice wide smile. My Future-in-laws said my voice sounded different and better over the phone too. I hadn't noticed anything and my accent changes all the time (I can't help it - I pick up the accent of where I'm living at the time!) but its exciting to think other people can notice changes too.

[NICURN85]

Hey Star,
I hope you get everything with the ortho straightened out soon. I also had a gap to appear between my top front teeth. I guess everything is shifting around. Since my power chains last week tiny ones have been developing on my bottom arch as I'm guessing things are moving around. I am finally pain free from the power chains!!!

[starfish88]

Thanks for the reassurance. My gap in between my front teeth has slowly started to close but I now have gaps between the teeth next to the front! Oh well I'm sure this is all part of the plan - my upper jaw certainly feels more roomy, I can't wait to get powerchains to close these gaps.

Another massive change with my teeth is that as my upper palate has widened my front teeth have moved in a bit more. So my top teeth now touch the fronts of the lower teeth - as in I'm pretty sure my bite is normal! OK so my ortho hasn't had a chance to agree on this yet but fingers crossed that I escape extractions. It feels odd for my front top and bottom teeth to touch and my lips to close together. I guess I'll have to get used to a 'normal' bite! I also went to feel my crooked tooth with my tonge the other day and it wasn't where it used to be. Its still only tied to the wire with elastic but it feels like its almost in line now.

I really feel like I might be getting to the end of braces - my ortho hasn't said anything about finishing yet so maybe not, but with my bite feeling better and my crooked tooth standing up I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm still on holiday so my internet is so slow - sorry I havn't been around as much although I have been reading and running. I didn't quite pack enough elastics for my holiday either so I had to go to the local orthodontist here that my mums friend uses (seems like everyone has braces now!) and beg for extras. I took along my old packet so they gave me the same ones just a different brand - crisis averted.

Hope you are all feeling equally sucessful with your braces - I'm thinking of you all even if I'm not commenting or replying right now.

[Dee17]

Hi Starfish,
Sounds like you are making some really good progress! That's wonderful. Don't worry about all those little gaps opening up. Not too much. I'm sure he'll close them all up again before you're finished. Can't wait to see the latest round of photos. Enjoy the rest of your holiday.
I am headed to my orthodontist today for my first adjustment which was originally scheduled for December 17th. I'm nervous about it but I'm sure it will be fine. I'll be posting about it later on today.

[smorse]

Sounds like things are going well for you! I also have a very large gap on my bottom arch which hasn't closed up at all. It's all part of the progress, just have to be patient!

[starfish88]

I'm just back from my most recent adjustment. My ortho was in a much better mood (I can always tell because when he's happy he's singing!) and I'm much happier too. Given how my teeth moved so much I'm not facing extractions anymore and even IPR looks unlikely! I also got rid of the spring so all 28 teeth are now engaged! I also only have to wear my bear elastics at night! It feels like my bottom jaw might fall off at any moment without elastics on I've got so used to them! Plus I got a powerchain across the top and rectangular wires on both jaws (top is thicker though). I can't add pictures yet as I'm off on a trip for the weekend but I've taken a 'before' adjustment pic which I will post when I get back possibly along with a few days later pic if powerchains really work as quickly as they seem to do for everyone else here! I also asked how soon I'll get them off and their best guess was 10 more months, not bad! If that falls to 9 I'll have them off for Christmas though. (Fingers crossed)

[Dee17]

Sounds like things are going really well. Had a chuckle about your singing orthodontist. It's funny how dentists do things ike that. My dentist is always humming some silly little tune. Good luck with your powerchain. Hope it doesn't hurt too much.

[starfish88]

So its only taken a couple of attempts to get my picture up this time! Usually it takes a couple of hours! I'm really happy by how much my overjet has come in and my ortho has agreed I don't need extractions and it's even unlikely I'll need IPR! My ortho was in a much better mood and I got all my questions anwered. I can always tell when my ortho is in a good mood because he sings. This adjustment he was singing 'I am so beautiful to me' and all his assistants were laughing.

The last picture was taken before my adjustment so you can't see any of the new things I got. I've gone to rectangular wires on both jaws and a powerchain on the upper - I really needed it those gaps were really starting to annoy me but they have already almost closed after only a few days (and the pain has already gone too!). I also only have to wear elastics at night - still bears but I went back to the plain kind - for some reason the neon ones didn't seem to pull as much as the white ones. I also got rid of the annoying spring on the right of the picture (left in my actual mouth!) and that tooth is finally engaged! Excited!

My ovejet still looks like its there in that picture - but my bottom teeth were touching my top teeth. I guess it doesn't matter as my bite is way off again though. My smile has really widened out too. i'm really happy - I was worried that by refusing SARPE I would still have a thin smile but its amazing how much its changed.

I also found out I have about 10 months left in braces - really hope I can push it to 9 and get these things off by next Christmas but I'll have to wait and see. i want to put up a ticker counting down to debanding but I don't want to jinx it!

[Dee17]

Yes, you can really see that the overjet has pulled in. Good going! And your smile DOES look wider. I think that orthodontics is just amazing. The things they can accomplish. Who'd-a-thunk it, huh?

[starfish88]

Thanks Dee...i agree orthodontics are amazing - I never thought I would have got a result like this and I'm not even 1/2 way through!

[Dee17]

Yay! Can you just imagine how great they are going to look when you're all finished!? I can't wait to see the end result.

[starfish88]

Dentist visit on Monday - Just a clean and a check-up but I'm getting pretty stressed again. I don't know why but I was more stressed than usual before my last dentist visit and this one is WORSE! Now that extractions are off the table with the ortho I can relax about appointments there but dentists still freak me out even though the staff there are really lovely. I'm going to mention my anxiety is getting worse again but I would love a way to deal ith it besides the valium I currently have to have.

[Dee17]

Hi Starfish,
I was having terrible anxiety before I got my braces put on. Once they were on, it quieted down for a while but then it started up again and I started doing some really bad teeth clenching to the point that I was waking up 2-3 times per night in pain. I mentioned this to my orthodontist and he suggested that I got see my family doctor for a prescription for some muscle relaxants. The long story-short is that I ended up going to my therapist who put me on something called an SSRI (selective serotonin uptake inhibitor) which is a drug to treat anxiety. I had to wait about 4-5 weeks for it to finally kick in but once it did, I was much better. Most of my anxiety is either gone or at a very manageable level now. I'm not trying to encourage you to take a drug for your problem. You may not need it but this is what I experienced and I thought I would tell you about it. Good luck.

[starfish88]

Thanks for the tip Dee, I'll ask about it at my dentist appointment and see what they think. I know that here they can prescribe Valium and similar so maybe they can help with SSRI. I will certainly do a bit of research. I have be having a horrible time clenching with the stress of it recently and have woken myself up doing it too. Hopefully it will be a bit better after Monday!

[Dee17]

Hi Starfish,
I just want to caution you about the dangers of Valium. You do know that it is terribly addictive, don't you? If you are going to take something like that, just be very careful, okay? It's not worth having to deal with an addiction issue. Take good care!