My Carriere, retainer, ceramic braces journey at 31 y/o

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meggie
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2018 11:56 am

Re: My Carriere, retainer, ceramic braces journey at 31 y/o

#16 Post by meggie »

23 WEEK UPDATE - PARTIALLY BRACED! (FINALLY!!!!)

I had another check-up today, and although the ortho says I am making great progress with the Carriere, I still have 1/4 of a tooth to go. I think the fact that my right side was done in 5 weeks really set me up for unrealistic expectations for my left side. Looking at my before pictures today showed me just how far it has come. The tech I had today did a great job of explaining it all to me. She said that Even if I am in the Carriere for 9 months, if I had've done the bite correction using braces, it would have added 2 years to my treatment. The carriere is not correcting just tooth placement, but altering the skeletal and muscular system of my entire jaw. When you put it that way, 6 months doesn't seem so long.

I clench my jaw a lot when stressed (I have a now 6.5 month old who refuses to eat, so frequent stress), and so I have cracked and chipped my Essix retainer at the back quite a bit. The tech cleaned it up and smoothed the edges for me - so that was nice. She also answered some questions regarding all the "lingo". So here is what I started with:

50% overbite
9mm overjet
Both upper 1st bicuspid in crossbite
Extreme spacing on top
Mild overcrowding on bottom
Missing left lower 2nd bicuspid
Retained primary right lower 2nd bicuspid (has since been pulled and bone graft placed)
Congenital enamel defect of upper right central incisor.

Today I had ceramic brackets placed on the four top front teeth and a really small wire placed to "wake those teeth up" and start gathering them and pulling them in slightly. I was so surprised at how the elastics around each bracket really locks everything down. The tech said I won't be in too bad of shape today, but tomorrow my teeth are likely to be quite sore and that will last fir 3-4 days. Once the left side moves that last 1/4 tooth back with the carriere, the carriere will be taken off and the rest of my top teeth will be engaged.

Because I have such a large overjet, I find it a little hard to close my lips over the brackets. The tech said it will get easier once the overjet moves back a little. Right now, when I close my lips, the brackets sit right in between both of my lips. I will try to take some pictures and post all my befores and during photos soon.

meggie
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2018 11:56 am

Re: My Carriere, retainer, ceramic braces journey at 31 y/o

#17 Post by meggie »

6 MONTH UPDATE - The end (and beginning) is near!

I have had the Carriere Distilizer on for a little over 6 months now. Congrats to you if you have read my very detailed journey thus far. My top front four teeth have also been in braces for 6 weeks. I will start with the braces update.

The first 3 days with braces on were HORRIBLE. I thought I would be safe eating soup - nope. Even closing my mouth and accidentally hitting my bottom teeth on my top ones sent reverberating pain through my whole face. It was horrible! Trying to bite anything was futile for the first three days. It got much better after that, and I could eat almost anything again. I say almost, because now I have a list of no-no foods. I am sure you know about that anyway. Being 31, I opted for the clear ligatures. I am meticulous with brushing my teeth after I eat anything, but after 6 days of one cup of coffee a day, the ligatures were neon yellow. I stopped in at my orthodontist and asked if I could please make an appointment to have them changed before the holidays, so that I didn't have yellow ligatures for all the social gatherings. They brought me right in then and there, popped them off and put on frosted ones. The frosted ones still turned yellow, but not as noticeable. I must say, I believe my lips and cheeks were toughened from the Carriere, because the brackets did not cut up my mouth like I expected. Today, I had the wire "re-engaged", and instead opted for silver ligatures. They won't stain, and aren't too ostentatious. This time, instead of simply placing the ligatures around each bracket, the two end teeth got a figure 8, which I was told will hug the wire to those teeth a little snugger. I saw my before pictures, and the difference in my teeth already is astounding. The front 4 have rotated in place, and are very visibly straighter.

I continued with the Carriere, but had a 5 day period of intense jaw pain and clicking. I called the orthodontist, who was on holidays. He advised me to take off the elastics until my next appointment. I took them off that evening, and got a much needed jaw-break overnight. The ache was gone in the morning, so I re-installed the elastics. The pain hasn't come back. I believe that I must have had a night where I was clenching my jaw and irritated the joint. I know I clench, and it has caused several cracks in my essix retainer. Today, I was disheartened to hear that my left side is simply not moving much anymore. Seeing as I have worn it for 6 months now (now laughing at the original 12-16 week estimate), I am ready to move on. The ortho said that regardless of how much or how little that side moves, we will remove the appliance and install brackets in 4 weeks. I was surprised to learn that they are going to go ahead and do upper and lowers, as the original plan was just uppers. When I had the initial consult, it was 50/ 50 as to whether I would need jaw surgery to correct my bite. He said today that in order to correct what the carriere may not (over the four weeks), it would likely mean surgery. BUT - he also said, the Carriere has corrected it sooooo much, that it may be worth leaving that left side SLIGHTLY off. We will make that decision in the future. I CANNOT wait to be done with the essix retainer! Bring on the brackets! I am not looking forward to the pain again, but at least I know it has an end. I am super glad my orthodontist is not going to keep the Carriere on past another month. 7 months is a long time to wait.

My husband is getting braces in two days... so we will both be metal mouthed! Hopefully we won't get stuck together lmao.

lindz74
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2017 6:39 pm

Re: My Carriere, retainer, ceramic braces journey at 31 y/o

#18 Post by lindz74 »

Hey! Congrats on getting braced! I'm sorry your left side is giving you issues. :(

I highly recommend the lavender bands for the ceramic braces on top! I started off using the clear bands as well and they stained SO easily (I drink a lot of coffee and tea), but the lavender bands almost don't stain at all and they're not noticeably purple when you smile or talk. I hope this helps!

meggie
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2018 11:56 am

Re: My Carriere, retainer, ceramic braces journey at 31 y/o

#19 Post by meggie »

Good-Bye Carriere! Hello bra---- OMG THIS HURTS!

So after 7 months with the Carriere on, I finally got it removed. Two days before my appointment I looked at the essix retainer as I was walking to the bathroom to brush it and put it back in after having my morning coffee. I kept going past the sink and threw the retainer in the garbage. I just couldn't bring myself to put it back in my mouth. It was so cracked and discoloured from 7 months of use that I decided to give myself two days of retainer and elastic free bliss. It was magical.

The morning of my appointment to de-carriere, and get fully braced I ate a skittle. Literally one. I missed them. When I laid back in the chair, the tech took a pair of pliers out and started taking the Carriere off. Because of its shape, she had to torque my canines pretty hard to snap the appliance off. This was the worst part. Scratch that - the second worst part of the appointment. I felt like my canines were going to break off. When she finally got the appliance off, she ground the glue off. My teeth are extremely sensitive, so this was not fun. When she was done, I ran my tongue over them one last time, and settled in to get the remaining brackets applied.

It took what seemed like forever! When she was done, she stood back and then said "oh! I didn't notice that your front brackets were ceramic!... I just looked at the silver elastics and put silver on!" Yup. She had to take all the top brackets off, take all the glue off, re-clean and etch them, and then apply the ceramic brackets. This was the worst part. She then put the wire on top and bottom and then re-checked the notes. She told me she wanted to double check with the orthodontist about something. The ortho came in and looked, and asked me how the top felt. I said "secure". I guess the tech accidentally put on a thicker wire than I was supposed to get (by one size). The ortho decided it was okay, I would just be a bit more sore than last time. My evaluation of this particular technician is not that great.

The good news - I have lost 5 lbs! The bad news - I couldn't eat nearly anything for four days. Anything I did eat, I ended up ingesting like a seagull, minimal movement of my jaw required. The first few days I would panic slightly thinking I forgot to put my retainer/ elastics in - and then I would remember they are not a thing in my life anymore. My bite feels WAY off with the braces on, and I can't close my mouth at all. For the most part this doesn't effect me, except when I am trying to eat "little" foods like corn or peas.

My teeth in front are astronomically straighter than they were when I started. They are moving so fast! I am happy with them, but I still have some pretty extreme spacing. My next appointment is at the end of March (8 weeks from appt to appt) and the ortho said she will place a power chain across the front. I have heard horror stories about these, but am anxious to make some serious progress.

SinkFullOfDinner
Posts: 273
Joined: Mon May 23, 2016 2:25 pm

Re: My Carriere, retainer, ceramic braces journey at 31 y/o

#20 Post by SinkFullOfDinner »

I'm sorry to hear that you had the remedial assistant (aka office dunce) doing the work, but your description of the day is hilarious! I guess the good news (maybe?) regarding the metal/ceramic mix up is that at least you know what to expect on your future debracing appointment. Am I trying too hard to find a silver lining?

Glad to hear things are straightening out so quickly. Maybe the spacing is giving them more room to move without interference, so....yay gaps? Continued good luck with things moving quickly!

meggie
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2018 11:56 am

Re: My Carriere, retainer, ceramic braces journey at 31 y/o

#21 Post by meggie »

SinkFullOfDinner wrote: Wed Feb 13, 2019 12:16 pm I'm sorry to hear that you had the remedial assistant (aka office dunce) doing the work, but your description of the day is hilarious! I guess the good news (maybe?) regarding the metal/ceramic mix up is that at least you know what to expect on your future debracing appointment. Am I trying too hard to find a silver lining?

Glad to hear things are straightening out so quickly. Maybe the spacing is giving them more room to move without interference, so....yay gaps? Continued good luck with things moving quickly!
Haha! Glad I can add some comedic relief :-) I agree - yay gaps! I was just commenting to my husband that I have never in my life had to floss my top teeth. The spaces were always so huge that a toothbrush did the job. I now actually have to floss between my front two teeth. It is amazing that they are actually lined up together!

meggie
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2018 11:56 am

Re: My Carriere, retainer, ceramic braces journey at 31 y/o

#22 Post by meggie »

Two Year Update: Yup - I've been in Braces for Two years

Alright, so I haven't updated for a really long time. So here it is.

I moved to a different province in July 2019, which necessitated me switching orthodontists. I saw him for the first time in August 2019. He has a different way of doing things than the last ortho, so we got rid of the steel ties on my molars to canines and power chained everything on top. Unfortunately, this undid a lot of the work that the carriere appliance did. Since then, my ortho has worked on the following:

1. Correcting very deep overbite by flattening curve of spee. This is being done by using a reverse curve of spee on my bottom arch. This wire is being held on by power chains.
2. Removing ceramic brackets in favour of gold metal ones. Ceramic brackets are big and bulky and are not very discrete when paired with silver power chains. I swapped them out for very discrete gold brackets. They are MUCH smaller, so my lips don't get caught on them. Much happier with these.
3. Evening out the spaces where I had retained primary teeth removed. This was done by using push coils on one side (smaller gap) and power chains on the other (large gap).
4. Reducing overjet - double powerchains ALL THE TIME. I had MASSIVE gaps. I frequently had closed powerchains both under and over my archwire on top. Spoiler alert - I still have them.
5. Correcting class II malocclusion. Remember that stubborn left side I detailed back in 2018? Yeah - it is still stubborn. I have been wearing class two elastics for this since August. When the ortho went up to 8oz x 3/16'' elastics on that side, it actually had so much force that intead of pulling my canine tooth backwards toward proper bite position, it yanked the molar it is attached to upwards and out of alignment.

Then Covid Happened.

I ended up not seeing my ortho for three months. I had terrible jaw pain (probably from clenching) and broke off two brackets. My ortho said to stop wearing elastics until he could see me, because there is nothing he could do for my TMD because the labs that make appliances for ortho patients with TMD was closed.

After three months, I saw my ortho again for the first time last week. Pretty much all the progress with aligning my bite that was gained with the carriere and elastics was lost. So I am working my way back up to heavy elastics on both sides. My canines both need to move back by 1/3 to 1/6 a tooth. Yay. He put a higher guage reverse curve of spee on my lowers, with push coils in the gaps where I will eventually have implants to hold them open. Power chains across all the top arch, but I think it is to just keep reeling in the overjet, which has come a LONG way. I would say my overjet is probably 3 mm ish now (it was measured again last August when I switched ortho and it was 9mm still). I asked my ortho to be real with me about timelines because I was supposed to be wrapping up treatment in August 2020. He said realistically, I am looking at another year if his ability to see patients remains limited because of COVID.

My next appoint isn't for 10 weeks because all the COVID restrictions have slowed down his pace of practice. Powerchains lose their elasticity after a week...

Given that I have been in braces for so long, and I am a 33 year old woman - I feel done. So, instead of waiting 10 more weeks to my next appointment, I purchased a roll of closed power chains and a couple dental tools and will be changing my own powerchains every two weeks until I see the doctor. I will update as to how that goes.

Nabba786r
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Jul 15, 2020 7:52 am

Re: My Carriere, retainer, ceramic braces journey at 31 y/o

#23 Post by Nabba786r »

Hi With your treatment was there any extractions? And also did you notice a change in your facial structure or your side profile or any change in your upper lip due to the overjet

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