My journey (expander, then braces)

[Featheryy1221]

WOW, that is AMAZING progress in almost no time!!!

Thank you Anna.

I'm curious; any idea why you've had quick positive results?

Do you think it's had anything to do with the expander you had in before, helping loosen teeth letting them move better/quicker?

Probably my age helps. I'm still pretty young at 22 (started this all when I was 21). Before starting treatment I had read one expander blog where the girl was 23 and her ortho said that because of her age and her being petite, her mouth/teeth would shift easier. Which I'm petite myself, but I'm not so sure that being short and thin really does cause teeth teeth to move faster. ha. The girl in that blog did get done with her treatment 10 months ahead of her estimated time though, so who knows.

Mainly though, it was because I had 5 power chains on (3 on the bottom teeth, and 2 on the top). Though my bottom teeth didn't move much at all (thanks to my wisdom teeth).

This time I have no power chains, so there probably won't be as much progress this month. We'll see though, my teeth do feel clicky every once in a while, so maybe I'll be wrong.

[Featheryy1221]

So as of today it's been two months since I got my braces on.
Due to the fact that I have my final exam this week and then my sister and nephews are supposed to be coming to visit from out of state, I won't have any time to post for a while, probably not until after my next adjustment and after the 4th of July. So I figured I'd just do an update earlier.

As I suspected, not a whole lot of movement.
The arch comparisons are from when I got my braces on to now. I didn't take photos of that last month.
My front tooth still hasn't become completely straight as you'll see in the pictures. Also it's shape is pretty terrible, so hopefully when it gets straightened out, my ortho will do some tooth shaping.

I must say, I have been feeling over orthodontics lately. I realized the other day that it's been over a year since my first consultation, it's been 10 months since I got my x-rays and impressions done, and it's been 8 months since I got that expander. So really, I've been on this journey for a lot longer than I realized. So that's probably why I'm in that "over it" phase. I'm really just anxious to get these off and look normal again.

[SpottedPickle]

Maybe it is just me but it sure seems a lot more movement than you are giving yourself credit for has gone on I can see a big difference. I hope it continues to keep moving. Good luck on finals week. I had mine this week. I have a two week break now which I really need!

[Anna5]

Hang on, I know sometimes it is hard to wear braces, but keep your eyes on the end result. I am sure your results will be very, very great!!!

[Nozzelnut]

On the positive side, it looks like the archwire is holding your upper expansion very well. It's starting to round out. I wish I had that much room. I know others have said it; but your teeth are so white!

Hang in there; they'll be off before you know it.

[Featheryy1221]

Maybe it is just me but it sure seems a lot more movement than you are giving yourself credit for has gone on I can see a big difference. I hope it continues to keep moving. Good luck on finals week. I had mine this week. I have a two week break now which I really need!

Yeah there's a big difference between when I first got braces on and now. But it's just a small difference between last month and this month. Which I feel okay about today, because obviously I can't have great progress all the time.
And thank you! I'm currently taking a break from studying for my final tomorrow because otherwise I'd probably go crazy. lol. I'll actually be finished with summer semester after this so I'm excited about that. I hope your finals went well for you! Enjoy your break! They always seem to go by so fast!

Hang on, I know sometimes it is hard to wear braces, but keep your eyes on the end result. I am sure your results will be very, very great!!!

Thank you Anna! Some days it's more difficult to remember that than others, that's for sure. I'm sure my results will be good, I'm just being impatient.

On the positive side, it looks like the archwire is holding your upper expansion very well. It's starting to round out. I wish I had that much room. I know others have said it; but your teeth are so white!

Hang in there; they'll be off before you know it.

It's definitely holding up. Guess that 4 months of waiting with that expander just sitting in there really does work to make sure it doesn't collapse. Which is good, because I don't want to go through all that ever again. haha.
And thanks! I hope you're right.

[Featheryy1221]

I had an adjustment appointment and my first emergency appointment today.

Let's start with the adjustment appointment. I got thicker wires placed on. The ortho originally said to "put on the '6' wires," but my assistant suggested putting on the '8' wires so my ortho agreed to that. I'm pretty sure I made a face when the assistant was placing the ligs on because she immediately tells me, "sorry sweetie, these wires will feel tighter than the other ones." They definitely were a bit more pressure than I was used to. The ortho made her steel tie one of my brackets (i dislike steel ties, they always completely destroy floss. lol). And then I was on my merry way back to my house to see my sister and nephews, we'd all go out for ice-cream, and then say goodbye to them.

Well... Exactly 5 minutes after I arrive home, I feel a ring like object in my mouth while I'm playing hide and seek/tag with the kids. First thought, "Are you kidding me?!" A tiny silver lig had fallen off one of my brackets. So after I check a few times in the mirror, I call the office and the girl asked if it was on the steel tie tooth, and I say, I don't think so. She tells me I can come in and they can check it. I ended up having to miss getting ice-cream, and I drove back to the ortho. And another assistant fixed the lig for me and clipped my top wire more.

So that was my day. I can already feel my teeth shifting. Which is kinda cool. At least it's all working, that's all that matters.
Hopefully I won't have to do an emergency appointment again. In my defense this wasn't even my fault. lol.

[parsleysage]

Ack, sorry about the thicker wire and the lig popping off! And missing out on ice cream is a punishable offense, you should have made the ortho give you a voucher haha. Hopefully all your ligs stay on until next adjustment!

[Featheryy1221]

Ack, sorry about the thicker wire and the lig popping off! And missing out on ice cream is a punishable offense, you should have made the ortho give you a voucher haha. Hopefully all your ligs stay on until next adjustment!

Parsleysage, I thought the same thing. Haha. I was so annoyed with the assistant for not getting it on right. Like missing out on homemade (storemade?) ice-cream of all things is a terrible offense. And that would have been my last outting with my sister for two+ years, so I'm still bummed about it.
I hope the ligs stay on as well. The assistant that fixed it seemed better at it. I just never thought that would happen of all things. Haha. I thought at least if I was making an appointment it'd be because my brackets fell off. The thicker wire actually isn't bad which I'm surprised about.
Hope everything's going smoothly for you!

[SpottedPickle]

That is a complete bummer about missing out on such an important outing. I am glad that the higher Guage where is treating you better ml than you thought though. Hopefully it continues through your weekend!

[Featheryy1221]

That is a complete bummer about missing out on such an important outing. I am glad that the higher Guage where is treating you better ml than you thought though. Hopefully it continues through your weekend!

Thanks SpottedPickle. The thicker wire has actually been no problem at all. I started eating normally the next day. hope everything is going well with you!

[SpottedPickle]

That is great that the wire has not caused too much of an issue. I know that they can be a complain sometimes! Things for me are going well, up and down as to be expected!

[Featheryy1221]

So all has been quiet on the braces front... until now.
The area around my lower right furthest back molar has been hurting. I noticed it a bit a couple days ago, and yesterday it seemed to be worse. :/ This concerns me because I still have my wisdom teeth in and I don't want my tooth or its root to be getting crushed.
Basically, if some of you remember, I was told the day I got my expander on that I should get all 3 of my wisdom teeth out before treatment because they're impacted sideways (pretty much right against my molars). Because I had school and I had literally just paid my tuition (and every oral surgeon around me demands full payment upfront), my ortho said it'd be fine if I got them out after getting my expander out, but before I'd get braced. Fast forward to when I got my expander out and I got told I'm getting my braces on in a month. To which I replied, "aren't I supposed to get my wisdom teeth out? they're impacted. I thought that was the next step." And my ortho says, "oh we can do that during your treatment."
So basically... moral of that story is that if its my wisdom teeth that's the problem, I'm going to be super annoyed.
... I'm hoping the pain is just because of the fact that i ate pizza crust both of those days. Lol.
I'm going to wait it out a few days. If it gets better, I'll tell them on August 4th at my adjustment. If it doesn't, I'll have to go in and see what the heck is going on.

[Featheryy1221]

Well that's another adjustment done.
The wisdom tooth area pain I had last a couple days then stopped, so I didn't tell my ortho today about it. He was super busy today and two of his assistants called in, so staff was short. I didn't want to be a problem.
I noticed while I was brushing my teeth after they took my wires out, that my front teeth are getting a lot more straight. There's still a decent amount of work to do, but it's pretty exciting! I was a little jealous when I saw a kid get his braces off today. Lol.

They put in a thicker wire. I think it was .19 titanium wire. That's what I'm pretty sure I overheard anyway. Lol.
And I got a coil spring to bring my one bottom tooth to the party.

Anyway that's it. Hope you're all doing well!

[Kevinr144]

Well that's another adjustment done.
The wisdom tooth area pain I had last a couple days then stopped, so I didn't tell my ortho today about it. He was super busy today and two of his assistants called in, so staff was short. I didn't want to be a problem.
I noticed while I was brushing my teeth after they took my wires out, that my front teeth are getting a lot more straight. There's still a decent amount of work to do, but it's pretty exciting! I was a little jealous when I saw a kid get his braces off today. Lol.

They put in a thicker wire. I think it was .19 titanium wire. That's what I'm pretty sure I overheard anyway. Lol.
And I got a coil spring to bring my one bottom tooth to the party.

Anyway that's it. Hope you're all doing well!

You're making tremendous progress! I thought my teeth moved fast but your story is inspiring.