Jenn's Braces Saga: THEY'RE OFF! Cavity issues. :(

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#16 Post by **jennandtonic** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 1:13 pm

A gap! After 4 days with a powerchain on the right side, my tooth is moving back to fill in the space left after the retractor! Yay!

One more step to spreading out my bottom teeth.

Pics to prove it:

before gap, last month:

Yesterday:

Also, here are some pics of my retractor hook and powerchain, left and right sides respectively.

And, here's a big grin for the camera:

#17 Post by **jennandtonic** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 1:14 pm

I meant after the extraction, not retractor! Oops!

#18 Post by **jennandtonic** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 12:55 pm

Today I'm not feeling optimistic about my tooth movement.

I keep trying to remind my emotional side that braces are a process and I'm going to have these for two years, so there are going to be some months when I don't notice much movement, but my other side is saying "but all you've seen in two months is one change!"

I'm being silly right now. Anyway, my next adjustment is on Monday so on Tuesday, my THREE MONTH anniversary I'll post some pictures.

#19 Post by **jcdamon3** » Mon May 01, 2006 10:13 am

Hi Jennandtonic. Don't worry. Things will move. I feel the same way: it is sooo frustrating because things go soooooo slow. I have been in braces almost 9 months and time seems to be crawling. From your pictures, I can see you are making progress! Hang in there!

BTW, I read on the other thread your comment about your dad and braces. You go girl! You deserve to have beautiful teeth and I am so happy you made this decision to get braces. You will have beautiful teeth when you are done. Just realize you are taking the non-easy way out on this. Braces take a long time, unfortunately. Keep your eye on the prize as they say.

#20 Post by **jennandtonic** » Mon May 01, 2006 10:38 am

jcdamon3 wrote:Hi Jennandtonic. Don't worry. Things will move. I feel the same way: it is sooo frustrating because things go soooooo slow. I have been in braces almost 9 months and time seems to be crawling. From your pictures, I can see you are making progress! Hang in there!

BTW, I read on the other thread your comment about your dad and braces. You go girl! You deserve to have beautiful teeth and I am so happy you made this decision to get braces. You will have beautiful teeth when you are done. Just realize you are taking the non-easy way out on this. Braces take a long time, unfortunately. Keep your eye on the prize as they say.

I'm really trying to keep my eye on the prize, but sometimes it's a little hard. It's really good to have encouragement from people like you and this forum though! Good to know I'm not alone.

Thank you so much for your encouragement. It helps immensely! bI'm definitely going to remind myself what you said about it not being the easy way out of this. Maybe I will be that much more rewarded.

And the funny thing is my dad hasn't said a word about my braces since I got them...maybe that means he realizes he was wrong.

#21 Post by **jennandtonic** » Sun May 07, 2006 8:07 pm

I did have an adjustment on Wednesday, but I've been so busy with finals that I haven't had time to edit the pictures I've taken. So this is a post to say I'm going to get around to posting pictures tomorrow!

Also, they put in not one, but two retractor hooks to close the extraction gaps in the top of my mouth. I may have some difficulty trying to post the pictures of the retractor hooks, but I'll sure try anyway.

It was a little hard trying to eat the first couple of days, but I've adjusted pretty well since then. I've also had some weight issues, as I've posted in the Metal Mouth forum, but I'm working on it.

So anyway, pictures tomorrow! And I'm definitely going to show off my great lig color...it's a metallic green!

#22 Post by **jennandtonic** » Mon May 08, 2006 11:03 am

Okay, here are the promised pics. Sorry for the blurriness, but I'm STILL working out the kinks of my camera:

Here's a somewhat angled view of my top teeth:

right side (the retractor hook on the top is too far back, so I don't have a great picture of it):

bottom teeth as of today:

And here's the newest picture of the increasing gap as the right canine moves back to fill in where my first premolar was extracted: (note that there is a definite larger gap than last month!)

here's the left side, with a great view of one of my retractor hooks!

Finally, here's a smile for the camera!

#23 Post by **Raspberry** » Mon May 08, 2006 3:16 pm

Hi Jennandtonic,
You're teeth are looking great! I can't wait till my ortho starts to close my gaps !
I love the color of your ligs, what do they call that color? Metallic Blue, or Turquoise... either way they look great.

#24 Post by **jennandtonic** » Mon May 08, 2006 3:24 pm

Raspberry said:

Hi Jennandtonic,
You're teeth are looking great! I can't wait till my ortho starts to close my gaps !
I love the color of your ligs, what do they call that color? Metallic Blue, or Turquoise... either way they look great.

They are a metallic green color. Thank you, I really like them too!

#25 Post by **TechChick** » Sun May 21, 2006 1:22 pm

Your teeth are looking good.

I have the same type of brackets as you do.....Well my front 6 and front bottom look like the normal type of metal brackets, but the rest look exactly what you have on.

I'm kinda curious what type they are, they don't seem as common.

Anyway, your treatment is awsome so far!!!!!!!!

#26 Post by **jennandtonic** » Sat May 27, 2006 2:49 pm

Thank you TechChick! I'm only sorry I didn't see your post earlier. I'm curious about what type of brackets these are as well, they don't seem all that common! I think you and one other person on here are the only ones I've heard that are like mine.

I had an adjustment on Tuesday but haven't had much time to edit pictures since then, managed to make time today.

They put another powerchain on the other side of one of my extraction gaps on the bottom. It's kind of hard to see, but it's on the left side, closest to the tongue. It was a bit strange to get used to, but I've adjusted pretty well, I think. My new habit is running my tongue along that metal.

Something else exciting, I noticed that my bottom teeth have straightened out a bit. Here's a picture from April 13th, and compare it to the one above.

Also, the gap they're trying to create with the right canine is moving right alonge:

And here is a good pic of my ligs, a nice cornflower blue!

One last thing. I made a thread about talking to my ortho about headgear, and I was going to call her about my issues but chickened out! It's still a worry, but I know I'm going to end up waiting until the next adjustment, June 12th. I'm unsure what to say without sounding too angry.

#27 Post by **jennandtonic** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:39 pm

I had my adjustment appointment today.

Sadly, we did not have time to address the headgear question because the ortho was literally checking my teeth then leaving for an emergency situation.

Since the appointment was so fast, I did not have time to ask what they were doing, but I think they have replaced a few of my powerchains to include more teeth rather than just the two in between all of my gaps. Pics of this soon to follow.

And upon studying my teeth, there have been mostly tiny changes, but still changes! The extraction gaps on the bottom have definitely gotten smaller, so that's exciting! I'll try to take a picture of that and see if I can compare any older pics to new ones.

In the top teeth, I have also noticed that a tooth has moved back slightly to fill another extraction gap. Veeery slight movement, but noticeable nonetheless.

#28 Post by **M1k3y** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 10:16 am

Amazing progress so far. Hope things continue to go well for you.

#29 Post by **Joanna20** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 12:54 pm

Hey! That's some good progress! Keep us posted!
Joanna

#30 Post by **jennandtonic** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:51 pm

Good suggestion Kiwi! I will definitely write that on the appointment card so I don't forget!

I am too, rage31! Even the slightest movement is exciting to me, even if it's not to anyone else.

Thank you M1k3y and Joanna20!

Here are the pictures, as promised:

Here are my top teeth as of today:

And here are the teeth on the top right side:

See that canine? It's moved back juuuust slightly to fill the gap where I had my first premolar removed.

Here's the bottom right side. The canine that has been moving back is still going! As far as I can tell, they replaced the powerchain that had been there before to include the lateral incisor in front of the canine. Also, the extraction gap is almost closed, that pic will come in a second.

Here is my bottom left side and another one of the powerchain replacements I talked about in my last post. The powerchain used to only go between the first premolar and the molar where I had the 2nd premolar removed. It now encompasses the canine tooth as well.

Here's the top left side. I think the canine has moved back a little, but I'm not sure. And I know they put a tighter powerchain there, but I don't think they did anything else.

Here are my bottom teeth. Note that on my right side (your left) the extraction gap is noticably smaller and...on my left side (your right), the extraction gap is...almost gone!!!!!!! To be able to tell, look in between the first banded tooth and the first non-banded tooth. That is where the gap used to be.

Here is a picture of my right side all together:

And a GRRRR for the camera:

And my smile. I had them put in dark green ligs, but they don't look dark green to me. In some lights, and in these pictures, they look sort of blue: