alexa's orthodontic livejournal - Braces are off!

[alexa]

Haha. Meryaten, trust me, I'm the oldest (nearly) 25 year old you'll ever meet.

I don't know what it is, but I've just never gotten along with people my own age. I think I just got born at the wrong time or something. My best friend is 54...and he's always telling me that I act like an old fuddy duddy!

[alexa]

Heh. I'm more like 25 going on 57.

My older sister (who just turned 37) cracks jokes about me getting an early start on being a crochety old cat woman.

(She's right...I already gots me a cat! )

[alexa]

Awww...cute!

[alexa]

It's true...you need more than one cat....but my cat is kinda crochety, and much like how I dislike large portions of the human population (working with the public will do that to ya!), she dislikes the entirety of the feline population.

Everytime I get her near another cat, she freaks out. With every other cat I've ever had, that would always wear off...not with her! Been living with my sister for like 4 years now, and my Cossie (her name's actually Cosette) still LOATHES my sister's cats, to the point of me having to get a litter box in my room so that she never has to go outside of my bedroom. She loves people, but she just isn't a cat's cat. She's a nutter, but I love her!

[alexa]

Thanks for the birthday wishes Karen...despite having to work, it was still pretty swell. My co-workers helped me celebrate!

Okay, back to the teeth drama...and it is starting to feel like unecessary drama.

I went back to the ortho today with a left central incisor that was more rotated than when I originally asked her to straighten it. I brought in a sheet of paper with pictures labeled "May 16th" (the morning of my adjustment two weeks ago, showing my slightly rotated left central incisor), "May 18th" (showing the newly straight left central incisor that was now hitting my lower teeth) and finally, "May 30th" (this morning, showing a left central incisor that was out of control and horribly rotated and also hitting my bottom teeth).

She kept trying to interrupt me, but I held up my sheet of paper, pointed to each illustration and showed what happened on each day. I explained that I wanted my teeth to look like they did on May 18th, and that all I had wanted her to do was to stop my teeth from hitting each other when I bite down. I pointed out that my tooth is more crooked than ever now.

She took the pictures from me. Looked from the pictures to my mouth, and then said, "It's over corrected. It's because the wire isn't activated." Number one, I think that's a total BS answer, so I didn't bother to ask the question of WHY my wire wouldn't be activated. I told her about five more times that I wanted the tooth to be like they were on May 18th, but without the contact....I suggested maybe bending the wire and moving the tooth forward and using the rotational wedge again. She just looked at the pictures and ignored me. Finally, she put some bends in an archwire and told me to come back in a week....and also said I could come back tomorrow (Thursday) if something goes wrong. I replied, "Goes wrong? What's going to go wrong?" She just shrugged and said that I had told her that my teeth move fast and she figured I'd be able to tell if something was wrong by then.

It was HELL getting that archwire into the bracket grooves. HELL. It hurt more than anything they've ever done. The ortho asst. at one point commented that she didn't want to force it and break a bracket. I told her I didn't want her to break my tooth! They ended up stepping back the size to force it into the bracket properly.

So, now, about 18 hours after my appt., my left central incisor is back EXACTLY where it was before I told her to fix anything.

At least it's no longer horribly rotated like it was after she had "fixed it" last week, right?

I've been debating today about whether or not I should go in tomorrow and once again address the problem. Start from scratch. The problem is that I don't want to. It's exhausting. I'm leaning towards just waiting until my appt. next week. My ortho is out of the city and it costs me $8 everytime I go in transit. A little steep for my budget, I'm afraid...especially since nothing seems to really be getting acomplished here.

I've also been debating about whether or not it would be possible for me to see another orthodontist for just one appointment. Maybe they could help me straighten out this problem without being a regular patient. I'm under contractual obligation to my current ortho office, and I only have another month and a half to go (supposedly)....I would just hate to see me stuck in braces for the entire summer just because my orthodontist apparently knows less about the process than I do.

Sorry to be a bit of a downer. Feeling a little frustrated. I just can't believe that right down at the wire, I have to deal with this kind of grief!

[alexa]

Thanks for reading Meryaten....yeah...I don't know what to do either.

I'm actually at the point, where I really do want to leave...eventhough I only have two months left. If I could find a private orthodontist who would look at my wonky tooth, correct it, get my teeth ready for some settling time and then put me in some retainers for a reasonable price....I just might do it.

I'd need to cash out vacation time to pay my current orthos office their entire balance...and there might even be a fee for leaving early...but if the new price wasn't too bad....like maybe $500 or so, since they wouldn't have to do much....I just might do it. My happiness, and ultimately the state and health of my mouth is worth the debt to me. I mean, if she needed me to tell her my FRONT tooth was rotated in the first place, who knows, there may be other things she has missed!

Things have just spiraled out of control since my Dr. left without telling her patients. I know I'm not the only one who's having problems as well, because I heard a woman talking about how awful our new doc is and how much she missed our old ortho in the waiting room.

Anyone think I'm over reacting about wanting to leave? I need perspective. I know I don't have much left to go....but I worry about the negative impactl of this radical rotating on my tooth. I worry that this person doesn't know enough to even tell me that my braces are ready to come off.

I don't know...

(Better go back to playing Elite Beat Agents on the spammer spammer, hey I'm a spammer so please report me DS to cheer me up... )

[alexa]

Nope...they wouldn't tell me.

I asked.

[alexa]

Updated the livejournal following my first visit back to WD since my trip to see the consult ortho last week.

Sorta more of the same "blah" happenings...but I think I've decided what is going to be best for me at this juncture in my treatment. I may not be able to leave WD with the braces on...but I sure can leave with them off.

I hope after next adjustment in July I feel more cheery!

[alexa]

Hi Linda!

I actually had a consult with another ortho. This ortho (whom I really liked) told me that my bite was fine and that all I had to do was have some brackets respositioned to fix the slight rotation of my upper left central incissor and on a couple of teeth on the bottom to fix some space that could be tightened up. She said it was all detail work and pretty much confirmed that it's all a cosmetic thing at this point.

I was going to transfer, but I looked at my WD contract and the wonderful price that I was given for my braces would be revoked if I broke the contract and I would've owed them $1230, then I would've had to pay the new ortho $1500 (the cost of three appts., debanding and retainers) to finish up the treatment. I just can't swing these high costs. It's too much. I graduated college a couple of years ago with substantial credit card debt due to being denied financial aid my senior year. I just can't add another $2000 of debt to my plate right now. I'm busy trying to consolidate my finances right now just so I can plan to be rid of my credit debt before I'm 30, and frankly I think it's more important.

My current ortho does not seem capable of fixing these last minor details, and mytseriously, she has of late decided that they don't exist, despite the fact that another ortho confirmed that they're there. My teeth do seriously rock, aside from this small defect. The consult ortho confirmed that the problem could be fixed while in retainers if that was the route that I wanted to take. This is why I've decided that taking the braces off, saving up and then getting a retainer that will rotate out the tooth that extra little bit is the best option. The consult ortho said these changes are almost instant at this stage SPAM SPAM SPAMMING, so if I just keep my teeth the way they are with retainers, I can fix this some other time if it still bugs me.

Thanks for keeping up with my story! I don't think the braces are coming off mid July anymore...I should change my sig. I do hope, that they'll be off early in August and that yesterday's was the last active adjustment.

Yes, why do these things always happen at the end?

[Granola]

Hi Alexa -- just got caught up on the latest. I'm so sorry that switching isn't an option for you, but knowing the retainer option is there for you will hopefully be some comfort. I'm sure at this point you are just relieved that you won't have to deal with your current ortho at WD for much longer.

Your teeth really do look fantastic, you know.

[alexa]

Thanks Granola!

Yeah, my teeth are darned close to the perfect result for me. I'm comfortable with the retainer option later and I'm totally ready to bid adieu and get me some kick butt hawleys like Meryaten's!

Sorry your appt. may get bumped...I'm gonna cross my fingers for ya that you get in on Monday morning so you can get yourself closer to debanding!

Debanding. What a wonderful word!

[Granola]

I'm totally ready to bid adieu

Me too, Alexa, me too! May it come soon........

[strugglebuggy]

Hi Alexa!

Man I feel so out of the loop! I've been catchin up on your posts and all I can say is WOW. I feel horribly for you and what you've been put through over the months!!!

I've updated my page today. I had an appointment today and finally got to update it. I've been MIA because of things going on here. The aunt that I was taking care of ended up in the hospital in March and in hospice care in April. My mom and I took care of her along with her husband. We lost her mid-May. Then my husband's grandfather died last week. It's been a real fun summer so far.

I was wondering if you ever had anything called an arc wire put on. When at rest, it looks like a circle with little loops in it and they open it up and clip it to an exsisting wire. It is meant to straighten roots. They put on one me today before taking xrays and i came back later to get thexrays done and they said my roots are doing excellent and they took the wire off again. I was hoping to get home long enough to take a picture because I've never seen anything like it. I looked like I had little rainbows going over each bracket because of this loopy wire.

Anyway, he said my bite is excellent and that I'd be getting them off soon. I'm hoping by my birthday in September. Here's to a speedy debanding.

[alexa]

Livejournal updated...debanding date set!

[Granola]

Hi Alexa!

I just got caught up on your journal - so you have a debanding date! I am so excited for you.

Sorry you had to hear some less than professional comments from the ortho and assistant (oh brother!) but you definitely rose above it.

Your teeth are looking SO great - I can't wait to see them when your braces come off.

I have a few little things with my teeth that are still not perfect too, but I am very glad that I got my braces off at this point -- I hope the small things won't bother you down the road. I think you'll be so happy to get your braces off that maybe they won't bother you as much as they do now.

Your retainer sounds way cool - I think purple sounds fantastic! What a good idea to get the nightguard now and save yourself another impression later.

Hmmm - why can't I do the breath-through-your-nose trick during impressions?

Okay, official countdown is underway, Alexa!