Underbite & crossbite correct w/Damon, IPR, Acceledent etc

[TheProfessor]

Great progress! Braces really are amazing inventions

[newbite]

I had my 5th adjustment yesterday. They increased the size of the top rectangular wire and on the bottom bumped me from a round wire to a rectangular wire. They actually just took the wire from the top and put it on the bottom (which seems sketchy, but I guess is fine). The ortho wanted to skip the small rectangular size on the bottom and go to the next size up but fortunately the ortho tech convinced him to just go with the smallest one. I'm really glad she did that because my top teeth hurt really badly for a week when they first switched to a rectangular wire. My bottom teeth (mainly in the front) hurt but so far not too terribly bad. Flossing hurts, though. My top teeth don't hurt at all. I guess the big problem is just getting used to the first rectangular wire.

My elastics are the same, and nothing else is new. They took a panoramic xray and said my teeth look really good. Amazingly, the ortho tech said my underbite is gone! My front teeth still need to rotate out a bit since one still hits the bottom a little, but they have turned a lot.

The ortho said he was going to shape my worn down front teeth at my next appointment in february. I am considering telling him I don't want him to... since I would MUCH rather keep all the tooth and get bonding to even them rather than risk him shaving them too short.

Anyway.. I'm getting tired of braces, the inside of my bottom lip is irritated for some reason and that actually bothers me more than the teeth hurting.

But if my underbite is really gone already then I have *nothing* to complain about!!

[newbite]

6 months is almost here! I've been using my Acceledent about 80% of the time (hovers between 80 and 90) I hope that is enough to get these braces off sooner (12 to 14 months, I'm looking at you). I am so overwhelmingly busy with school that the braces are only noticeable now when they're causing me a problem (I still get random sores when teeth decide to move and rub a new spot). My dry mouth is gone (THANK GOD), my speech is pretty much normal, and having an almost perfectly normal bite feels AMAZING. My molars don't touch as well as they should (the "middle" teeth touch first) but I assume that will get sorted out.

I've been concerned about this big gap that opened up next to my lower right canine, but it's already starting to close. I was thinking it would mess up my currently perfect midline (!) but it's hard to tell now. It will probably work out fine.

If it turns out that my front teeth can just be shaved acceptably straight with no bonding then I will officially be the luckiest person to have had braces. My case has turned out so much simpler than I feared (and was led to believe). Assuming it continues to go well. But so far, so much better than expected.

Oh and I still adore my elastics. They have helped my jaw problems so much. I hope I can function as well without them once the braces are off. To me they are a wonderful support and guide to help keep my jaw in the ideal position (not sliding around back and forth and side to side). All hail elastics!

[TheProfessor]

Congrats on making it to the 6 month mark! It sounds like things are progressing nicely for you. I hope I love elastics as much as you--I have a feeling that they are in the near future for me...

[newbite]

Do not fear the elastics! They are your friends Hopefully you don't get one of the more difficult configurations that interfere with talking (triangle, etc).

[newbite]

I had my 6th adjustment yesterday and I've had braces for 6 months! I'm using my Acceledent right now, my teeth hurt! not terribly, but they do hurt. When I was brushing my teeth I noticed that some of them felt numb, which was funny (better than shooting pains, though!).

They gave me bigger wires on the top and the bottom. They also gave me elastic tiebacks on the bottom to try to pull my bottom front teeth backwards and close a gap on my right side. The gap is more than half closed already and it's been less than 2 days. Crazy!

They said I'd be wearing the tiebacks probably for the rest of my time in braces, urgh. Better than a powerchain though since they seem like they'll be easier to keep clean since they're not flush against my teeth.

The tiebacks go from a back molar to new hooks attached directly to the wire. I've also increased the pull of my class 3 elastics by using the new tieback hooks instead of the old drop in hooks. My bite has changed a lot already, my teeth don't fit together very well.

They said that once my bottom teeth are pulled back they can pull back my top teeth since right now they're flared out a bit.

They repositioned the bracket on my lateral incisor since the tooth is sticking out. The bracket popped right off, I didn't feel a thing! Grinding off the glue was pretty gross and disturbing. Fortunately that tooth isn't sensitive but a lot of the other ones are. Not looking forward to that part of debanding (lots of cold air!). The tooth looked great without the bracket! No staining or damage. Yay

The ortho also did a bit of ipr on the bottom edges of my front teeth to try to make them less triangular. He did a really good job, he didn't take too much off and they look so much better. I feel bad saying this, since I'm spending so much money on them, but I feel like my teeth are ugly. Not just the worn down front teeth but my gum recession. Oh well. I am so fortunate I can get my teeth straightened at all, and I'm not doing it for aesthetic reasons anyway.

All right, to make myself feel better i posted a photo from the day i got braces. My teeth definitely look better than they did before, at least

[TheProfessor]

I think your teeth are looking really great! I have the same feelings about the shape of my front teeth (I've got big grooves in mine and they seem oversized compared to the rest of my teeth). I asked the ortho about it last time and she said that she could even them out most of the way at the end, but the deepest groove might need some bonding. I'm not crazy about that idea. This will sound weird, but I have been worried about my teeth looking too perfect at the end-- I don't want to look like I have dentures

[newbite]

Thanks Professor! I hear you about not wanting your teeth to look *too* perfect. I thought a few times about asking for a gap between my front teeth (I don't know if they'd even do that!), since I had a partial gap before between the bottom halves of my front teeth (since they were so flared) and it will be weird to have a line of completely straight front teeth (assuming that even happens, haha). But I probably shouldn't ask for a new potential problem.

I suspect after I get my braces off I'm going to have to have gum grafting across my front top and bottom teeth. That's a lot of skin. I should just go to a periodontist to find out for sure how bad it is, I just don't want to know until I can do something about it.

[newbite]

I'm so bored with my braces! It's almost 7 months. My next adjustment isn't for another two weeks, ugh. The tiebacks are doing wonders-- that lower gap is closed and it flosses like a normal space now. The tooth still needs to rotate but at least the gap closed. I'm concerned the tiebacks on the left are over correcting (it's the right that needs all the movement). It looks like my crossbite on the right is a little better, hopefully I can avoid crossbite elastics. But if they'll get these braces off sooner I'll ask for them!

I was hoping for 12 months but that seems extremely optimistic. They're going to do IPR between my teeth next appointment, I think. So that means more gaps and longer in braces.

A few days after my last adjustment I had to go in to get the wire clipped and I asked them to take out the drop in hooks I used to use for my elastics. What a relief to have those gone! The new elastic hooks that are attached to the wire are bad enough for catching food, it's good not to have two extra in there.

At least the time is going quickly because of school. Not fast enough though!

[TheProfessor]

I'm with you on the braces boredom! At least your sentence is pretty short- I still have a whole year to go!!!

Don't worry about the IPR gaps--they are small and will close up really fast in combination with a power chain.

[newbite]

7th adjustment yesterday, my teeth hurt! Mostly the top. I miss the early days when adjustments didn't hurt!

They changed my wires to the last rectangular wires (last before the finishing wire). They did IPR on a few top front teeth and all 6 bottom front teeth. It didn't hurt one bit! They put a short powerchain on top, a longer on bottom, replaced tiebacks on bottom AND put some on top, AND bumped up my elastics from rabbit to impala. All *that* hurt, though!

My top wire is already poking me on the left, and I can tell my front teeth have moved. The ugly gum recession gaps are less noticeable. And this is nice (hopefully it lasts)-- one of my top teeth has a notch/recess in the gum and the tooth must have moved in some way so that now it's hardly noticeable!

Speaking of gums, I'm going to a periodontist next week. I happened to look at my gums in the car when the sun was shining directly on them and it terrified me. All 6 of the bottom front teeth, and one in particular, have transparent gums with no color, just the tooth underneath and a few blood vessels. At least my gums are healthy, but they're paper thin, so I have no idea what the perio will recommend. Apparently I'm on schedule for getting the braces off sometime between september-December this year, but the perio could seriously mess that up. Here's hoping he'll say "Yeah, your bone is thin and your gums are thin, but you don't have to do anything until your braces are off"...

[TheProfessor]

Wow-sounds like an eventful adjustment! IPR is scary to think about, but I was also surprised by how painless it was. Good luck with the periodontist-I hope you can finish up your ortho treatment without having to get something done to your gums!

[newbite]

Thanks Professor! Periodontist tomorrow... Not excited but it will be good to know one way or the other.

My new elastics were hurting my jaw-- they were pulling my jaw back so far (1/4" behind normal resting position) that I needed to forcibly pull it forward to get my teeth to connect and my jaw joints were starting to hurt. The ortho tech said they were probably overcorrecting since I wear them so much, so she said to only wear them 12 hr/day at the same time every day. I decided to wear them during the day since my jaw seems to hurt worse at night. Last night was the first night I didn't wear them and my resting bite seems better already (and less pain). I don't know why they bumped me up so far in elastics, but even the rabbits were starting to over correct a bit.

[KaylaChristine]

Your teeth are looking great!

Your gums sound a little similar to mine. My gums are really thin too. My jaw bones are also super thin and that has me really worried about my upcoming surgery...but I try not to dwell lol. I hope everything goes well with the periodontist! Keep us updated on what he says.

[newbite]

Your teeth are looking great!

Your gums sound a little similar to mine. My gums are really thin too. My jaw bones are also super thin and that has me really worried about my upcoming surgery...but I try not to dwell lol. I hope everything goes well with the periodontist! Keep us updated on what he says.

Thanks KaylaChristine! Good luck with your surgery!

I just finished with my perio appt, and it was nothing unexpected. I need a frenectomy (frenulectomy) of the attachment between my lower front gum and lip. That's $613. They said insurance doesn't normally cover that.

He said that takes one month to heal and then I should have gum grafts on all 6 lower front teeth. Depending on how I do it (with my own tissue or "Alloderm"-- ie, cadaver...) it's about $3500, including Emdogain which I think is the stem cell application I've read about although he didn't specifically say stem cell. Hopefully my insurance covers part of this.

I asked him about waiting until my braces are off for the gum grafts and he said he wouldn't recommend it. But he wasn't pushy about it, he didn't try to scare me at all. It wasn't a hard sell, which I appreciate.

I have to talk to my husband but I think I'm going to get the frenectomy soonish and then the gum grafts this summer. I really shouldn't wait until my braces are off because that will be the middle of my last semester in grad school and I will NOT have the time or energy to heal from surgery. Which would mean waiting until NEXT summer, which seems like a pretty bad idea.

My teeth are turning into a $10,000 investment. Oy.