Damon Braces Journey/Open Bite

[MissRed]

Hi MissRed and all, I am new on here and haven't even gone through the rest of the board but want to say I am following your story and finding it very interesting. I am 1 month in with my braces and have been told I will need tads as well so was freaking about that will be interested to see how you go.

Hi Hash, thanks for commenting, do you have a story up on here?

I'm getting two mini screws which as far as I am aware are the same as tads, one on each side of my outer gum but I haven't been given a date because I think it depends on when the ortho thinks my teeth are ready for it. I know it will be a while away yet though as it definitely won't happen until I move up to thicker wires.

[Hash]

Hi ya, no I don't have a story going here yet, still figuring my way around here. I have posted on the bracket club saying hello ! And I forgot to tick notify when reply posted!
I am 40, severe overcrowding top and bottom so 4teeth have to come out and braces for 2 years
I will post up my story soon. Continued good luck

[Ozinewbie]

Hi MissRed, have loved reading about your braces journey so far... Just wanted to ask you about the waterpik... Do you recommend a certain brand?? Are they an "ortho" thing or do most dentists recommend them? I had not even heard of them till I came on here... Maybe they're not that common in Oz... Or I've been living under a rock! I'm only 6 days into my braces... Still on soft foods & I must be a bit tragic but I'm still finding it all quite painful!

[MissRed]

Hi ya, no I don't have a story going here yet, still figuring my way around here. I have posted on the bracket club saying hello ! And I forgot to tick notify when reply posted!
I am 40, severe overcrowding top and bottom so 4teeth have to come out and braces for 2 years
I will post up my story soon. Continued good luck

I'll look forward to following your story

[MissRed]

Hi MissRed, have loved reading about your braces journey so far... Just wanted to ask you about the waterpik... Do you recommend a certain brand?? Are they an "ortho" thing or do most dentists recommend them? I had not even heard of them till I came on here... Maybe they're not that common in Oz... Or I've been living under a rock! I'm only 6 days into my braces... Still on soft foods & I must be a bit tragic but I'm still finding it all quite painful!

Hiya Waterpik is a brand name and so there may be other options in Australia, search google for "oral irrigators" and you should get some options.

I only found out about waterpik through these forums and I'd definitely recommend getting one or something similar if you can, some people use the irrigators and also floss everyday but I brush, use the waterpik and mouthwash each day and then floss three times a week, I find that is working well for me at the moment, some would disagree but I'm fine with it currently.

I don't think it's tragic! Lol I honestly think it comes down to people's pain thresholds, I always knew I had a pretty good one and so my braces so far have been pretty ok though I'm having a bit of a bad day with them today. Which braces do you have?

[Anna5]

Hello Missred,

How are you doing now? I hope your treatment is going well. I am looking forward to your update, maybe some new pictures?

[MissRed]

Hello Missred,

How are you doing now? I hope your treatment is going well. I am looking forward to your update, maybe some new pictures?

Hi Anna,

I'm doing fine I've had the odd couple of days where I feel like I've been kicked in the face but other than that it's been ok lol.

I'm only uploading pictures after each adjustment so it's easier to keep track and my next adjustment isn't until July! Hopefully it comes around quickly though.

[MissRed]

Hi all!

Jeez it feels like ages since I've posted haha. Just a quick update to say I'm off for my third adjustment tomorrow. I'll post some pictures at some point later tomorrow for comparison.

I'm not convinced there has been much movement, there are certain areas where I know teeth have moved but in other areas I'm not sure anything has happened yet :S

I suppose tomorrow we'll find out! Haha

Any questions please ask, hope everyone is well

[Anna5]

Good luck with your adjustment. I am looking forward to seeing your progress pictures!

[NeilH]

Welcome back! It's amazing how time flies. Good luck with the adjustment.

[MissRed]

Welcome back! It's amazing how time flies. Good luck with the adjustment.

Thanks

[MissRed]

Well, first of all I apologise for the picture quality, I can't seem to get to grips with my camera although taking pictures of teeth isn't exactly the easiest thing haha. I might try and use my iPhone next time.

Anyway...

Went for my adjustment this morning and it wasn't too bad at all! I've moved up to thicker wires now at my last adjustment I was given the same wires. I can definitely feel the pressure and it's constant but I still would not describe this as "pain" more like a dull ache which I can deal with. He said to expect aching for first two days then I should be back to how I was.

The photos on the left are from my last adjustment and the photos on the right are from about an hour ago.



Well for the first pic I can definitely see a bit more closure of the open bite! I've been able to feel this too, a couple of teeth on the sides that never used to touch can touch now and I know this sounds weird but it's really noticeable! I can feel myself being able to eat a sandwich much easier as each month goes by! Haha



In my opinion there hasn't been too much movement with my bottom teeth, they've become slightly more aligned I would say since the last adjustment. The little guy at the front who is still sort of diagonal has had his bracket repositioned today and so I assume by my next appointment he will be lined up too.



With my top teeth there is still some overlap between the front two and the tooth to the left of the front teeth still feels slightly underlapped when I feel it with my tongue. One thing I do notice though is the difference in the size of my arch, am I imagining this or has it widened a bit?? It might just be that the photo on the right is slightly bigger actually haha

I've still got to have my TPA bar and my miniscrews on the sides of my jaws in at some stage of this treatment and seeing what the braces along have already managed to achieve especially with the open bite has given me so much confidence . If you are hesitating getting braces, just do it!

Any questions let me know! Hope everyone else is getting on well with their treatments too

[Anna5]

Hello!

I think you have made AMAZING progress, MIssred! Your open bite is much smaller now, and yes, your upper arch has definitely widened A LOT. I am sure your teeth will look so beautiful when you are done!

[MissRed]

Hello!

I think you have made AMAZING progress, MIssred! Your open bite is much smaller now, and yes, your upper arch has definitely widened A LOT. I am sure your teeth will look so beautiful when you are done!

Thank you Anna!

I'm feeling a lot more positive as the months go by! Pretty sore today but that's to be expected after the adjustment, more excuse to eat ice cream haha

[MissRed]

Long time no speak!

I went for an adjustment today and much to my excitement pfft! I'm now on elastics. They're making my mouth really ache at the minute but I'm hoping I'll get used to it. Gotta get used to having to take them out and put them in again for eating and brushing too. Hassle but it needs to be done!

So here are some pics from my most recent adjustment.

Firstly here are my elastics, they go from my back bottom teeth up to , my last clear bracket (I really need to learn the names of each teeth) but hopefully you get the idea!



Next here's the progress on my open bite, not too much has changed here since my last adjustment but I'm still really impressed with my movement so far



Here's my top teeth which have rounded out nicely but there's still work to do, my palette has almost certainly got larger now too!



And here are my bottom teeth, I've got a bit of a gap going on at the front at the minute but hoping that will close by my next adjustment which is at the start of December.



Any questions please ask!