Missing Ligs

I have 4 brackets on my lowers that are not self ligating. I called my OD's office today because I didn't see the ligatures on them, so I wanted to make sure that was supposed to be the case, or if the tech forgot to put them on. The tech called me back and said she was sure she put them on. I got in for a last minute appointment at the end of the day. Sure enough, she forgot to put them on. This time, instead of the little rubber band ligatures, I got the metal ties. I think they are better anyway ... they have less risk of falling off, they are very thin and discreet, and they don't stain like the bands. I am glad I called ... I don't want to slow anything down ... I set on getting this done in September!

Heavy Wires and Early Fall Surgery Estimate!

Ok, so I went into my wire change appointment today, standard operating procedure. She accidently cracked one of my brackets when opening the door to get the wire out, so Dr. L had to take that one off and reposition it back on. Then he repositioned the one on the back tooth. I got my heavier wires. The best part was at the end, he told me I would need to make an appointment to get my Sure Smile wires on, which I scheduled for April 29th. I have my Sure Smile Scan on March 10th. I asked when he would be able to estimate when I would be ready for surgery. He said that things were moving very nicely, and he expects I will be ready by early fall, however he will be able to give me a definate time-frame once the Sure Smile wires are on! So it sounds like maybe September, but for sure October, I will be surgery ready!! And I should be able to schedule in May! I am just so happy that it looks like we've shaved a few months off my original timeline. That is so much better than tacking a few months on.

Not too much else to report ... my teeth aren't too sore yet from the wire change. My cheecks are catching on the new wires, but they will get used to it soon enough.

Overjet ...

I managed to get a picture of my overjet ... all 6 mm of it ...

I also took a side profile pic to show my overjet from the side:

I will be anxious to see the difference post-op ... I think I may have even been posturing my lower jaw forward a bit in this pic which is something I tend to do.

I'll post more after my appointment on Monday!

8 week progress ... WOW!

Since I have my first appointent on Monday for a wire change, I thought I'd post my progress since I am at the 8 week mark. It is truley amazing how much my teeth have moved in 8 weeks! Below you can see my "before pictures vs. my current picture:

I am definately happy with the progress I have made ... although I am still waiting for the middle lowers to unravel ... but a lot of the original overlap is gone! I still have a ways to go ... but 2 months ... I never thought they would move that quickly. When I had braces when I was younger, I didn't pay attention to the speed of the movement like I am now, and I certainly didn't have the tools to document it. Below are my progression pictures ... from before up to this point ... you can see the progression over the last 2 months ...

So there you have it ... I am ready for my appointment on Monday ... bring it on! Let's get some heavier wires and keep these things-a-movin'!

Not much to report otherwise ... I haven't had any canker sores lately and things have been pretty comfortable in my mouth since they have fixed that pokey wire.

Naked Tooth!

I went to Mexico over New Year’s, and that darn bracket on my lower molar all the way in the back came loose again. So, by the time I got back and was able to get into the ortho, it was about 5 days already. It was already pretty ripped up back there from the wire, and I could never really get the wax to stick so I gave up and figured I would just deal with it. I am sure that the bracket coming loose didn’t help, as the wire had more liberty to move around back there and rip things up more.

I wasn’t able to see Dr. L again, so a different ortho took care of me yesterday. The assistant told me that I should have clipped the wire since it was so torn up, there is no reason for me to be a human shish kabob. She did tell me I was taking impeccable care of my teeth, though. She said that it looked like they just put the braces on yesterday. That made me happy, since I know that the better I take care of them, the more quickly they will move. The ortho on duty took a look and decided not to put the bracket back on, since I have another appointment for a wire change at the end of the month and he wanted my cheek to heal up. He said Dr. L can place the bracket then. I was worried that it would delay my treatment plan, but he said that in no way would it compromise the speed of my treatment, he was actually very pleased when he looked at my before pictures to see how quickly things were moving. He even said that if Dr. L were there, he may even have wanted to change the wire. Darn, I wish Dr. L would have been there … I guess I just have to be patient and wait until the end of the month.

So, they buffed off the glue and snipped the wire, turned it in and left me with a naked tooth! The assistant told me to do several salt water rinses a day to help things heal. I also had her change a couple of the ligatures on the brackets that are not self ligating because they were stained. My mouth feels great! No canker sores, and I can feel the sores in the back healing up already.

I took a pic today to see the difference and how things moved. I can really see the movement now. Although they still have a ways to go, you can really see how they have moved apart, as they don’t overlap nearly as much as they did at first. So, 5 weeks into braces, I think I am doing pretty well!

I am posting another pic … I still don’t like how yellow my teeth look, but I just have to deal with it for now since I am taking as best care of them as I can. I will definitely go in every 3 months for a cleaning, though, vs. 6 and see if that helps any.