Wednesday, March 12, 2008

3.5 month progress ...

Well, I think the pictures speak for themselves ... I continue to be pleased with my progress and movement. I had my teeth cleaned on March 5th, the first time since I've had my braces on. I decided to get them cleaned every 3 months vs. every 6. I went to the ortho on March 10th for my Sure Smile Scan and they took new photos. So, here are my 3.5 month progess photos, of the front view (look in particular how much my lowers have moved!), my upper arch and my lower arch:





Because I have such a large filling on one of my upper molers, the had to do the sure smile scan manually versus the imaging that they typically do. Apparantly it causes a reflection that screws up the imaging. So they had to apply alchohol to each individual tooth to take the shine off and give them a matte finish ... and boy did that hurt on my upper and lower front gum area. Now I have a nice canker sore way up in my upper and lower gum area. Since I never get canker sores there, I'm quite certain it was from the alchohol.

Dr. L didn't change my wires, he kept the same ones on, but he did do a little more shaving and shaping on both my uppers and lowers. I couldn't believe what a difference it made on the lowers. There are still a couple of teeth on my lowers that sit high on the gum line, but the shaping really smoothed things out.

So, I'll get my Sure Smile wires on April 19th. Dr. L said I should call my OS's office in two o three months to get my surgery on the schedule. He said Dr. P will schedule a few months out because he knows that people have to plan things around it. So that answered my questions, he does not need to see my molds before he will let me schedule surgery. He will trust Dr. L's opinion on when I will be surgery ready.

Prior to surgery, they will take all of the new x-rays, molds, and digital images. It sounds like Dr. P performs the operation electronically. I have heard of OS's performing the operation on the molds, but not digitally. That is when I will know exactly what movements they will be making and the size of the movements.

I have a feeling that from this point forward I won't see a lot of change, it is more just fine tuning until my surgery. It is weird to think that I am only 6 months out from surgery ... only 3.5 months ago I was thinking it would be a year. That time has flown by, as I know the next 6 months will too.

3 comments:

Heather said...

Your teeth look really straight and the progress was very fast. I thought that I wouldn't see much more progress but I have. I used to have a much bigger open bite but they closed it alot with the braces. I didn't think it was possible. So, you still might see significant changes. Everybody's different though. Hope everything continues to go well for you.

Michelle said...

Wow, you're teeth look fantastic! What progress! Isn't it exciting seeing the before and after pictures?
I agree with Heather, I can't believe how much they have closed my open bite, I figured things would stay about the same until surgery, boy was I wrong.
Good luck and may time fly!

Harry Bronson said...

You're really making sure that your teeth are healthy, aren't you? The dentist did a great job cleaning, and you're doing a great job with the maintenance. Kudos!