Oldfart Orthodontic Diary

[oldfart]

Oh wow, OF, do you ever look great! Was it all worth it? I hope so!

So far.. But still a long way from being done.

[Dee17]

What is left to do now that you have your braces off? I have been out of mine since last December. For me, it was well worth the journey but I am having some trouble maintaining my teeth. Space between the front incisors keeps wanting to open up despite the cemented retainer. Ugh.

[oldfart]

Closing posterior open bite.

right.jpg

This side is close. The molars are too far to close without having to pay for a lot more than I can. The goal is to get the premolars touching. This side is pretty good. (apologies for the pretzel piece on the molar). About 1-2 mm or so.

left.jpg

This side has more to move as it couldn't be closed as the top was attached to the TAD. This one has about 3-4 mm and we are going to try to get rid of some of the tiltting of the molar also. The top back molar is what was brought forward about 12-14 mm. How's that for a wad of Elastics? Two cross bites (one you can't see), a Class II, and a triangle.

[KayKay]

Super grateful for the details of your story and all the photos. They are helpful! Thank you!

I go from the feeling that everything is going well - to the feeling that I'll never be out of braces. Some moment in the day I'm pleased with the results so far - but then I discover something that feels wrong. Today - my upper front teeth are being hit by the teeth below. Never had the lower teeth been so close to the uppers. In fact - my lower canine on the left is touching the back of the canine above it. Not the bracket - the tooth. Worries me. But I do see what he's doing with the elastics on me. He's leveling my lower mid molars - I hadn't ever noticed the valley in my pre-molars and molars before - so he's fixing that. And I think while he fixes that, the teeth will be odd - again.

I hope.

Comment and question about all your elastics:

Right now I'm wearing my box on the left and triangle on the right. The box = 24/7. The Triangle - 12 hours. The hard part? I feel anxious when I put them both in because when they are both in place - I can't open my mouth except slightly. I worry about coughing. I worry about sneezing. I've sneezed in my elastics and yikes!

Do you wear your elastics all day? How do you talk? How do you function? My lips are so dry. Will I get used to the elastics?

[oldfart]

The more you wear your elastics, the more you will get used to them, and your jaw will get stronger and you'll be able to open your moth more. For me as soon as I put all of them in, I can open my teeth about a quarter inch, but as they stretch out over an hour or so I can make it up to about 3/4. Lips do dry out, but not too bad. I try to leave them in to snack, which is hard both as my tongue cant get outside the confines of inside my teeth to either move food or clean. Talking is pretty normal, I slur a bit especially right now on my Rss. as my tongue can't even get to the teeth its supposed to get to, to make the sound. My tongue is starting to object to the crossbite elastics invading its space.

To me it was harder to wear elastics when I was just wearing one on each side and felt no pressure at all. Teeth hitting teeth will change constantly throughout your treatment. That is a good thing. Where you want to be careful is where you have teeth hitting brackets. I have to wear really tight Class IIs right now (Top Canine to bottom Molar) just to keep that canine back. In the photo below you can see where it is just barely hitting the bracket.

::Gross Comment Alert:::
My only bodily fluid concern with my elastics.. (lol) is I had a wife and son barfing with the flu.. I woke up about 3 with an upset stomach, and had to take some of mine out the rest of the evening, as I really didn't want to projectile vomit with a mouth I couldn't really open. Nothing happened.. but was worried.

My issue now is that I am biting my tongue more when I talk. This actually is a good thing I guess as it means my open bite is closing.

[oldfart]

One of the most annoying things now is that I have no forward/back and side to side movement of my lower jaw. The elastics are holding it in the correct biting spot which is also why I do like this setup. I tend to move my jaw all around when I chew just to find whatever teeth are hitting the best.

[oldfart]

The first week with a new elastic setup is always so easy compared to the next five weeks. No pain, just I feel my whole teeth physically shift when I put them on and it feels like I have an elephant sitting on my face.

[newbite]

You're really going through the ringer with those elastics. I can imagine it's an insane amount of pressure when you first put them in and that everything moves! It's really crazy how mobile teeth are during treatment. My ortho did ipr on the top at my last visit to try to close my embrasures a bit, and did something that made me extremely freaked out. After shaving between the teeth he had me hold up the mirror and look while he pushed my teeth together to simulate how they'd look with the power chain. He just did it with his hands and THEY MOVED! I was so horrified, I'm so ocd about my teeth falling out from bone loss, I didn't need to see that. Even though it's totally normal and fine, of course. Anyway. Sheesh... Teeth!

[braces23]

wow! you're brave

[oldfart]

Not brave, just wanting to get this open bite closed. Basically I have a hard stop and removal of my braces in December. I moved and with a new ortho I could only afford six months of treatment.

I have even more elastics in now. Right now I have Box elastics on molars on both sides. Class II elastics on both sides, Two triangles on one side, and an additional box elastic on the other side. Yes with this many in, It takes about an hour before they stretch out enough to open my mouth at all.

I had to go in yesterday for a broken power chain and discussed elastic wear. Just after 24 hours my jaw is so frikken tired of this setup. I have no forward/back or side/side movement at all. It's like I have one of those dorky appliances that restricts jaw movement.

Four weeks until next apt.

[oldfart]

Updated photos. Hard to see exact amount of remaining open bite with all the elastics on.

right.jpg

left.jpg

[EWUgal15]

That is super impressive. I hope watching you go through this is enough to make your kids wear their retainers.

[oldfart]

I'm free! Braces off and initial retainers right before Christmas. Just clear essix retainers for now, but will get a gnarly Hawley with a built in latural tongue crib in three weeks. Basically to prevent my tongue from adding to the open bite issues.

I was never able to get everything done, but happy with the results.

retainer.jpg

The bite was moved just a smidge off the midline to help the canines meet better. But that wasn't a high concern in the first place.

[Bracesat57]

They look great! Congrats!

[NeilH]

Congratulations on getting finished. It looks like you got a really nice result in the time you had.