Karencoutts' Story with Carriere Distalizers and Damons

[karencoutts]

Symphonix,

Sorry I could not get back to you earlier. I mostly check this forum only when I update. Opera Gal, thanks for the tip on lipstick.

The CD is used to move a whole unit of teeth together. In my case, it was used to move the upper teeth 1 mm on the left side and 3 mm on the right side. You still need to use elastics with it.

I would recommend the CD over braces any day. From the viewpoint of the patient, they're easier to clean, almost invisible, and trap less food. It's a way of delaying going into full braces. From an ortho's point of view, it is an elegant solution to previous methods of moving teeth back without rotating the teeth or other undesirable effects since the force is applied in one vector.

Now for my latest update...

I'm going to start rolling and saving up ticker tape! Finally some good news about my progress. The upper wire was changed to an 18-25 stainless, and the lower wire was left alone. My lowers now have a power chain 3-3. Posts were inserted onto my wires to allow for elastics to be placed in v-formation over my right and left side. The posts are anchor points for the elastics to loop over.



The v-formations are to keep my uppers and lowers aligned together (?) Can't remember how it was explained, I was so happy to hear about an end in sight that my giddiness made me stupid. I am to wear these elastics 24 hours, except for brushing teeth and eating. I should change the elastics three times a day. I'm going to change them four times a day, once at each mealtime and once before I go to sleep, because it's easier to remember. I suppose I could skip the lunch change, but I brush my teeth after lunch, so it's nice to put on new elastics then.

The upper arch is still too large for the lower arch, so the new archwire has a smaller curve. In four weeks I will come in again and make an appointment for de-bracing.

Did I remember to scream in happiness yet? Yiiiiiii Yiipppppeeeee!!!

[gokix]

Your teeth are looking good! I am just beginning to wear elastics also, not too bad! Here's to your mouth staying good!

[karencoutts]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, GoKix.

Update.

It's amazing how my attitude toward my braces has changed now that I see the end in sight. I can tolerate the pain of my poking wires (pain now gone) and the tedious teeth cleaning routine much better now. I am glad that I bought the flossfish, otherwise I wouldn't bother flossing as much as I do, which isn't nearly as often as I should. The strange thing is it seems that when I floss, not much comes out. So why should I bother, except to massage my gums? I am a lifetime daily flosser. I hope this habit of not flossing *every* day doesn't ruin my regular habits.

About one week after the adjustment, I had pain from something sharp against my mouth lining developing beside the upper and lower furthest back molars. I had to wax for a few days, but now the pain seems to be gone.

My elastics haven't bothered me much, but I find that I am snacking less because I don't want to take them out. So I've lost weight partially due to that and partially due to exercise.

Yesterday I was learning how to do flip turns in the swimming pool when suddenly one of my elastics broke. Weird. I couldn't decide whether it would be better to leave one in and have an asymmetrical thing happening or to leave both out. Too bad I don't carry around my elastics like I'm supposed to. Decided to leave one in...

Today I developed a mystery sore in my mouth on the area touching my upper left third incisor.

2.5 weeks to go!

[karencoutts]

Well, it happened again. I broke an elastic while swimming. I must be straining the elastics when I'm breathing, with my gasping for air. As to why this happens only during swimming but not during running or biking, I have no idea.

After the elastic broke, I obsessed about my teeth regressing as I grunted through a one hour yoga class and walked home.

Note to self: carry elastics with you all the time, ding dong.

[karencoutts]

I've broken three elastics in total now. Two while swimming and one while yawning. I must really open my mouth widely when I breathe while swimming freestyle, and I surmise that this repetitive stretching of the elastic weakens it to the breaking point by the end of the workout. Thank goodness I haven't swallowed any elastics yet. I just keep the elastic bits in my mouth until I reach the end of the lane then fish around my mouth for it before disposing of it in the sharps container in the shower.

They're fairly annoying to wear. I never realized how much I like to snack. Quite a great dieting aid, if you like that kind of thing. Better than having your stomach stapled. I was recently at a party with awesome finger food. I kept disappearing into the bathroom to fiddle with my elastics because I couldn't resist the hors d'oeuvres. My friends must have thought I had the runs.

Singing is... a pain. Thank goodness these things will be off before my next concert. Reading stories to my kids is... a pain. As I voice the different characters in the book, I fight the force pulling my teeth together.

Also, with the elastics on, I notice people looking at my teeth strangely. Braces were bad enough but could be mistaken for bad teeth with a quick glance, but the elastics are like a flashing neon sign screaming I AM HAVING ORTHODONTIC WORK DONE. I AM VAIN. (At least that's what I *think* they're thinking.) I was in a YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE COME HERE YOU SHOULD GO TO THE COTTAGE DOROTHY! OH SUGAR BARBARA STANWYCK store looking at the YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE COME HERE YOU SHOULD GO TO THE COTTAGE DOROTHY! OH SUGAR BARBARA STANWYCK Free shoes when this teenager with very hip hair helped me and I noticed that she was wearing braces. It made me feel... very foolish, since I'm more than double her age. I have yet to run into an adult with braces on.

After only a few weeks of wearing elastics, I've also become shameless. I used to go to the washroom to remove the elastics before a meal, but yesterday I was in the middle of a shopping mall food court and I just yanked those suckers out as they made a dramatic snapping noise while I sat at my table with my youngling. I can also put the elastics back in without a mirror. I suppose a teenager could get away with that kind of behaviour, but a middle aged woman looks rather coarse doing the same type of thing.

The funny thing is that none of this bothers me much. Now that I know the end is near, you could force me to wear a Madonna metal conical bra with nipple tassles over my regular clothes as part of my orthodontic treatment and I would be happy to do so, knowing that the damn braces are about to be terminated. Hasta la vista, baby!

[opera^gal]

Been in the 'snapped elastics' club a while now too and I agree...sooo annoying! Not only does the pop in the lip startle you, but the fishing around to find the remains and attempted removal...super pain in the backside!
I too now remove/put in elastics by fingers, in every imaginable location known to man..I simply do not care anymore! Twang twang folks..get over it!

[karencoutts]

Opera gal, I'm a big fan of your blog. I like how funny it is, and it seems we have a similar time frame.

I'm glad you're also into public elasticizing, because I'm getting fairly impatient with this stealth denial of elastic wear, ducking into shady corners and empty rooms to install/remove my elastics. I even thought of you this lunch as I brazenly snapped my elastics back into place in a busy Italian restaurant while I sat there with a pained expression on my face.

Last night I was too lazy to go downstairs to get my bag of elastics. So I rummaged around in my old elastic bags back when I was wearing Carriere Distalizers, one year ago. Yikes! Many of the elastics had turned yellow. Undaunted, I picked a bag that had green writing on it and said medium, but I did notice that it labelled "USA" whilst my current elastics are labelled "Spain." I went ahead and put on the USA elastics, even though they seemed hard to stretch.

After lying there for 10 minutes, realizing I was unable to open my mouth at all when my usual elastics allow me to eat and sing, I finally got some energy to give up and head downstairs to get the correct elastics. It turns out that the USAs are M6 Elastics, 6 mm (1/4") Medium 2.7 oz, and the Spain are M10 Elastics, 10 mm (3.8") Medium 2.7 oz elastics. Both have an expiry date of 12-2007, though I am wearing these elastics more than a year after the previous bag was used! Now that I've seen how elastics degrade over time, it seems strange that my current elastics were born at the same time as the previous ones. That might explain why they're breaking on me.

[opera^gal]

Would your ortho post you some non-expired elastics if you called for them? Giving out expired packets seems counterproductive to achieving anything I think. This is month #5 for me in the latex torture devices and I'm plain ol sick and tired of the daily rigamaroll!!! Nice to know someone else on the planet is suffering under the same moon of snappity snap snap twwwwang as I am

[karencoutts]

Sorry, Opera Gal, I did not mean that the elastics had an expiry date of 2007, but they were issued in 2007. I was questioning why one year later I received similarly aged elastics. I guess someone working in supplies for the ortho is not doing their job properly... there should be a faster turnover for elastics.

Six more days to go before my next appointment. I'm so excited. I hope there isn't a huge gap between my next appointment and the actual debracing. I would like to have these suckers off by May 16, the date of my next triathlon. Otherwise I might be a danger to the other athletes as these freakin' elastics break and riccochet. It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

[karencoutts]

I was quite excited about my appointment today, thinking I would get a debracing date. Instead, I answered the question, "So, do you like your teeth?" truthfully.

I noted two problems:

1. The black triangles between some of my prominent upper teeth; and
2. The uneven cutting edges of my two front incisors.

The ortho agreed to shave down my front teeth since I have an overjet problem so it would all right if the teeth end up receding a bit as they are narrowed. The shave hurt. I watched the enamel on my teeth turn into puffs of white powder, smoke from the mini buzz saw. I was holding my breath, thinking that I don't want bits of my teeth in my nose. There's something not right about having teeth in your nose.

Afterward, my wires were replaced and power chains were placed under my lower wires (4-4) and over my upper wires (3-3). It seems that there were also power chains over the back teeth of the uppers, to prevent the space from getting any wider, so I was told.







I am to return in two weeks, in theory. Unfortunately, the good ortho is on vacation, so my next appointment is in three weeks. We may or may not have the teeth shaved again at that point.

So in effect, by asking that the teeth be shaved, I have prolonged my torture for a little while yet.

The good news is I can stop wearing the V elastics. Hooray for the little things! Now I can snack as I wish. Hello weight gain, here I come!

[karencoutts]

My archwire started poking on my upper left within two days of having my teeth shaved. At first I let it tear into my cheek, but finally it became too painful to eat and I caved in and waxed it. A week later, today, I went in for a needed clipping.

The CAD said it was a "miniscule" amount of wire, but her instrument was able to clip from the left and right side. I happily tossed my wax glob into the garbage right there at the ortho's office. I was hoping that she would say, wow, your teeth have moved quite a bit, let's move on to the next stage, but no dice.

I don't see a huge difference, but you can see for yourself.

Here is a picture from one week ago:

http://s474.photobucket.com/albums/rr10 ... G_9738.jpg

Here is a picture from today:

http://s474.photobucket.com/albums/rr10 ... G_9808.jpg

Do you see any difference in the dark triangle between my front teeth? I'm imagining that I see one...

[karencoutts]

A week later, and the wire is poking me again on my upper left. Sigh. At first I was going to be brave and take the pain, but it's tasting fairly raw in there, so I globbed some wax on it.

I had my teeth cleaned on April 22 and discovered that the black triangle between my lower incisors is larger than I thought it was! Ha! So it must have been filled in by layers of tartar, then. I'd told the hygienist that the next time I would see her that I would have my braces off. This time I told her that I will have my braces off, um, soon.

The silly thing is that my insurance only covers a cleaning every three months. So, since I just had my teeth cleaned, even if I get my braces off next week, they'll have to stay dirty for another almost three months unless I pay out of pocket for a cleaning.

Last night I had a dream about my braces being removed. I was at the ortho's office, and one of the CDAs first did some measurements, and she told me that all my angles were lining up, showing me a profile of my face, and pointing at my forehead and chin... that they... uh... lined up vertically. Then she said I'm ready to have my braces removed. She started clipping them off with that plier type apparatus. As she was doing so, I was wondering whether she was qualified to determine that my teeth were ready for de-bracing. I guess that this thought was really frightening to me, because I woke up. Too early to start my day. Sigh.

Today I met with a friend I hadn't seen in years. I noted that any of my friends who haven't seen me for the past 15 months would never have known that I'd had braces on. I outlined to her the pros and cons of wearing braces, and I think I scared her off, but I did refer her to my secret identity in this blog, so she can read more on my experience. Bottom line is that braces are definitely worth it, but that I really hate them and want them off, like, yesterday. I recommended Invisalign over a metal mouth to remedy the two worst things about wearing braces: 1) juvenile appearance and 2) it's hard to floss.

I'm sick of trying to close my mouth for pictures while smiling and seeing a glint of metal if just a little bit of my mouth is open. I hate the poking wires and adjustment pains, although the weight loss from avoiding food while newly adjusted is good. However, I love food too much to think that is a good trade off.

Yesterday I was being filmed by four television stations and I just did NOT want to smile naturally, i.e. open my mouth. I was cursing my braces and that they've been on longer than promised. I wore a suit, but it was hopeless. It is impossible to look professional and grown up and be taken seriously while sporting gleaming braces.

Well, I was promised that I would have the braces off before summer comes. Please, oh please, let the summer come soon this year.

[karencoutts]

I feel like a fool now thinking that I was actually near the finishing line. Another day, another adjustment.

The CDA removed my wires and my curry stained yellow fluorescent powerchains. I was allowed to floss--ahhhh. Luxury. Then I had the audacity to ask whether the CDA could remove my "posts", the little nubs on my wire that she winds elastics around, since we're not using elastics any more. SHe pointed out that she needs those to loop the powerchains around. Little did I know...

This time the ortho took a peek and said that things are looking good. Then he proceeded to give orders, as usual. Both powerchains were removed, but today saw the return of the dreaded ELASTICS.

I am now wearing two sets of elastics. One that runs from my upper posterior molar to the upper anterior posts. One that I get to put in and take out after every meal. Bye bye V formation. Hello new formation: From the lower posterior posts to the upper anterior posts.

Another change: the lowers are now fitted in stainless steel wires, 18-25s, I believe, now matching the uppers. Other finishing touches: little kinks were bent into the wires to force my front right incisor downward to level with the other front incisor, and a kink between my front lower incisors to make sure the wire doesn't move from side to side.

Here is a picture of the new formation. I am very much looking forward to the pain I will no doubt be in over the next week, along with the pleasure of poking wires on the uppers. I asked for a glob to be put on the end of the wires, as suggested by another poster, or for the ends to be turned forward, like yet another poster suggested, and was shot down on both suggestions by the CDA. So I stocked up with two more containers of wax. I wonder how much wax I've eaten already by this point.



My next appointment is two weeks from now. The CDA expressed doubt that we would be finished by the end of June... The road goes ever on.

[karencoutts]

I really wish there was an edit function like there used to be on this forum!

I forgot to say that the reason for the next elastics is that the ortho is trying to correct the overbite. We are trying to bring the upper teeth more inward and the lower teeth as well.

[karencoutts]

Yesterday I was going to complain about the terrible pain in my molars biting into my, ahem, chocolate almonds. Of course, this did not stop me from eating approximately half a pound of them anyway. So, if I can tolerate the pain enough to eat, then am I really in that much pain?

Yes. I am. I was. Today is much better.

Elastics. Inexplicably, this time around I keep forgetting to put the elastics on after eating.

These are the elastics I'm using this time around:



Say. Is that hourglass symbol on the lower left indicative of an expiry date? So is "06/2008" the expiry date then? What the HECK? Why do I keep getting old elastics from the ortho? Is business THAT bad?

Here are some of the elastics I pulled out today from the bag:



I am thinking of using the middle elastic in the picture, because it looks really *special.* Yes, I'm going to use it on the right side because I'm in *that* kind of mood. What do you think? Should I do it?