The Professor's Story of Braces at 40 (with pics)

[TheProfessor]

That was a tough weekend, but things are much better now! I had an old friend visiting for the weekend which meant that I talked A LOT and really aggravated all the sore spots in my mouth. I realized on Saturday evening that I could use a nail clippers to trim back the pokey end of the clear tie on my front teeth, so that problem was solved. My spacer pain went away Sunday night, and I went and had the pokey archwire trimmed and smoothed down this afternoon. My cheek already feels better, I can now eat without excruciating pain! Now if I can survive the banding on Wednesday it will be smooth sailing until my next adjustment. I will have had 3 ortho visits in 7 days!

[TheProfessor]

So, today I got my right lower first molar banded. My ortho office was very busy today ( I guess my ortho is still on vacation so the other ortho has a double load). I had to wait 30 min to get called back ( I have never waited more than 5 min) but at least I got the best techs this time. My bracket opening and wire removal was almost painless (my crazy tooth on the bottom always hurts at adjustments). The tech removed the spacers and tried a couple of different sized bands. Then she sat me back up and I waited another 15 min for the ortho. He came over and said I needed a different size band, which he then put on my tooth and had me bite down on a little stick several times. Then he glued it in place and did some grinding on it. That tooth moved a lot in the last week of not being attached to the archwire, both up and in. He told me that I would be biting on the band for a while until the tooth settles back down. So, I was demoted from the 0.019 x 0.025 finishing wire to a scrawny .014 x .025 wire (the first square wire I had back in December!) since the thicker wires won't bend enough to accommodate that tooth in its new position. The tech finished putting the wire in and told me that the teeth in that area will be very sore. It was fine this afternoon, but this evening I can feel the soreness setting in. It already hurts to bite on that side. Tomorrow might be an ice cream for dinner day

I hope that this doesn't set me back too much. I felt like my lowers were making great progress and now I'm worried that it will take a long time to build back up to the finishing wire. I wish they would have just banded that crowned tooth at the beginning....

My next adjustment is in 4 weeks. Hopefully that bracketed tooth will get in line by then!

Now for some progress pics:

My 41 year old Metalmouth Smile:


Scrawny bent wire on the band


I have a bottom arch! I will enjoy not having a powerchain on my lowers for at least the next month!

[metalliKa]

It seems your progress is coming along just great! Amazing what a little metal wire can achieve in just a short period of time!

I have my third adjustment this Friday...hoping for a new wire.

[MrPlenty]

Wow your before and agrees are amazing.

[TheProfessor]

It seems your progress is coming along just great! Amazing what a little metal wire can achieve in just a short period of time!

I have my third adjustment this Friday...hoping for a new wire.

I'm also amazed when I look back at my "before" pictures! I think my dramatic changes are done, now for the slow process of making everything as "perfect" as possible. I hope you got a new wire at your adjustment. I'm always happy when I get a larger wire, it means progress!!!

[TheProfessor]

Wow your before and agrees are amazing.

Thanks! I hope my story inspires other people to " just do it"!

[TheProfessor]

The last 8 days have been the worst since the beginning of braces 15 months ago, but I'm finally able to eat like an almost normal person today! I think I was chewing like a cow for several days last week due to various sore spots and pain when my teeth would touch on the right side. My molars around the band on my right side are still tender if I bite down on food, but they are fine if they just touch my upper teeth.

The molar band isn't too bad. It is kind of rough on the inner side (I think my ortho ground some hooks off of it). It doesn't rub on anything, but my tongue is curious and wants to keep feeling it.

It looks like my archwire is starting to level back off in that area, now I have hope that I can go back to the biggest wire again soon (hopefully at my next adjustment).

[newbite]

I'm sorry to hear you had to go down in your wire, I hope you can get back in the finishing wire soon! Your teeth are looking great!

[TheProfessor]

I had my 9th adjustment today. I have now been braced for 16 months, which means I'm 2/3 of the way if my 24 month estimate is correct.

My adjustment went ok-the tech was good at opening my brackets and only caused a bit of pain when she closed the doors on my wonky lower incisors (there are a couple that usually hurt at adjustments). I went up to a 0.018 x .025 wire on the lowers, and I should get back up to the finishing wire at the next adjustment or the one after that

The whole loss of bracket/ molar banding fiasco caused me to lose a lot of progress on my lower teeth. I think the small wire wasn't able to hold my lower incisors upright and they tipped back out. In a domino effect, this messed up the way my teeth meet and irritated my left jaw, which has been extra clicky and sometimes sore for the last couple of weeks. I can't eat anything that requires much chewing without at least a little pain.

My regular ortho still wasn't back today and the office was super busy (I even had to park in the lot of the business next door!) The ortho who was there looked at my teeth for 10 seconds and told the tech to add a power chain to my lowers. They didn't do anything to my uppers (no detailing bends or anything). I complained that my tmj has been acting up again and he told me to keep on eating softish foods, put heat on it, and take ibuprofen if it hurts too much. Then he walked off before I could ask anything else.

I'm pretty frustrated with my teeth and braces right now. I think I lost at least 3 months of progress (or more if I don't get back up to the finishing wire at my next adjustment in 6 weeks). I also really miss my "real" ortho--she at least takes some time to talk to me when I have an adjustment. I hope she is back at my next adjustment!

I will go back in 3 weeks to get my wires taken out for my 6 month cleaning at my dentist. The receptionist acted really put out and annoyed when I tried to schedule this and told me that it wasn't necessary, but I held out because my hygienist told me that she can clean much more effectively without the wires and chains. It is going to be a pain, though. I will pop into the ortho at 9:30 to get the wires out, drive 5 min to my dentist for my cleaning at 10:00, and then not back to the ortho until 12:30 to get my wires put back. I think she is trying to punish me for being a difficult patient...

On the bright side, there seems to be a surge in adult bracers in my town. A 50ish lady had just gotten hers put on when I arrived this morning and another adult was getting braced as I was leaving. A 70ish lady was called back for impressions when I was in the waiting area. Maybe I've started a new trend....

No pictures this time--it is too depressing! Just look back at my posts from March or April to see what my bottom teeth look like

[metalliKa]

Ouch! Sorry to hear you've had quite a few set backs recently. Why is your ortho MIA? Hopefully when she returns, all will be taken care of and you can resume your original estimated sentencing. I'm so glad I chose my ortho, he's the only proprietor and only has two chairs which are within feet of each other and his office is never overbooked with patients waiting, crowding around. When I go in for my adjustment, I'm usually in and out within 30 minutes...that's probably because I always book the first appointment of the day.

Chin up...it's been said around here more often than not...things really do get worse before they can get better.

[newbite]

Aww I'm sorry you had such a bad adjustment! I hope your progress isn't set back as much as you fear. That's really silly about the receptionist being a jerk about the appointments. That's something a lot of offices do and it's so obvious that you get a better cleaning without the wires. I would ask for that too if my ortho and dentist weren't so far apart. Jeez.

I hope this bad experience is quickly forgotten and that your jaw starts feeling better soon!

[TheProfessor]

Thanks for the positive vibes, metallika and newbite! I just needed to vent my frustrations and now I feel much better! It seems like the power chain and thicker wire are doing their job and my teeth seem to be pulling back in already. I can tell that my top and bottom incisors aren't touching as weirdly as they were the last couple of weeks, and my jaw feels slightly better today (I could eat a big burger with a knife and fork this evening and my jaw didn't hurt, so I guess it isn't as irritated. It is just a little achy now).

At my June appointment I thought that my regular ortho must be on vacation, but it is weird that she was still gone 5 weeks later. I wonder if she is having some personal problems (health, family etc). I will ask the tech at my next appointment. I think the practice runs fine when both orthos are there, I never had to wait and often got in early until this summer. I hope it gets back to normal soon--I picked this practice because I really liked the personality of the ortho and I thought the office wasn't an overcrowded braces mill...

It is perfectly logical to get the wires removed for a cleaning--I think the receptionist is also stressed with the overcrowded scheduling, people are probably starting to complain. So, I've forgiven her for being snippy with me

[TheProfessor]

I was at a huge professional conference for the past week and am happy to report that my braces were no problem! As opposed to a year ago, when I felt very self-conscious, this year I didn't think about them at all! I only had one braces-related conversation. Another Professor who has known me since I was in grad school asked my why I made the decision to get braces at this age. She was curious because her teenage daughter just got braces and she was not satisfied with the ortho's answer to "what will go wrong if my daughter doesn't get braces now?" I explained how my teeth gradually got more and more crowded, making it difficult to keep them clean, excessive wear leading to root canal and crown, etc. But, I also agreed with her that it seems that braces are being over-prescribed these days, but I guess there is no way to predict what a persons teeth will look like in 20 or 30 years if they aren't corrected.

I also had an eating mishap on Monday. My jaw was still a bit sore (it is much better now) and I was having lunch with some old friends at a British pub-type restaurant. I ordered Shephard's pie, thinking it would be easy on my jaw. The waiter said that they were out of that dish and suggested the chicken curry. I said ok and realized it was a big mistake when a bowl of extremely yellow curry arrived and I started eating it! I hoped for the best, but now my formerly silver lower power chain is a bright fluorescent green (looks like Mountain Dew) and the elastic tie on my top front teeth is an icky yellow. I'm really glad I don''t have a power chain on top! I already have an appointment to get my wires removed for a cleaning in 2 weeks. I think I can survive my colorful teeth for that long

[metalliKa]

on me! All these times, I thought you were a man! Can't really tell from just the mouth and teeth pictures. Heheeh

[TheProfessor]

No problem, I've also had a few instances where I realized that I had the gender wrong for fellow archwired users! Just remember that girls can be professors too!!!!