What You Expect Isn't Always What You Get

September 26th, 2007- Today was retainer pick up day. :) I belong to a website called Archwired.com and I have been admiring the retainers of other people, expecting that mine would be similar in style. I was surprised. My top retainer has a bite plane built in to open my bite a tad more and it has a special spring in it too. There are small bends in the wire to do some minor adjustments, too. I was most surprised by the clear acrylic covering the front of the wire. My bottom retainer just sort of sits over my front 6 teeth. There is no anchor to the molars because they need to settle. I go back in 2 months and the doc was mumbling something about making new essix retainers for daytime. All in all, it was a great visit, and now I have the cool sparkly purple retainer with a cat on it...lol.

Before and After

Just a brief photo comparison. I will post more photos when the ortho takes his for the records. I will also post pictures of my retainers. :)

An Early Birthday Surprise

Monday, September 10, 2007- 31 Months.... I was scheduled today to get my wires cut and bite block taken out in preparation for getting my braces off on the 26th. So, I thought it was going to be a normal appointment. The doc came over to see me and he started cutting, or so I thought, until one of my brackets fell into my lap and I said "Liss bwachet few owt." (His fingers were in my mouth...lol. :) ) Then I realized that all of my brackets had come off. I suddenly felt slimy. To my surprise, the braces came off today, two weeks early! He said there is some minor tweaking to be done, but retainers will do that.

After the braces came off, the tech had to get the glue off, so she took out the drill and started polishing away. After that, I got to brush my teeth for the first time as a normal person since February of 2005. I smiled in the mirror and I thought my teeth looked huge. I was also relieved that there were no white marks on them- a reward for good hygiene for 2 1/2 years. My gums are rather tender though. Several of my brackets were jammed pretty close to the gumline, so I was not surprised that they looked a little inflamed and sore. The doc says that will go away in a week or two with good brushing.

After brushing, I sat through 4 impressions- Two top and two bottom. I am getting essix retainers for daytime and hawleys for night time. For those of you who don't know what they are... essix are clear like invisilign trays... hawleys are the typical retainers with the metal bar over the teeth. The impressions weren't so bad this time around. I didn't feel like I was going to gag. I raised a concern to the doc today about my playing the clarinet and having to wait two and a half weeks for my retainers. Playing puts a lot of pressure on the teeth. He is going to make temporary retainers for me and I pick them up on Wednesday. :)

So, after we were all done, the doc presented me with a bottle of champagne, gum and a certificate of completion...lol. That was pretty cool. My next appointment is on Wednesday to pick up my temporary retainers and then I go on the day was I was supposed to be debanded to pick up my real retainers. I am very happy and excited. :)

How Things Have Changed

As my debanding comes closer, I thought it would be cool to show photos of where I was this time last year and the year before. :)

June '05 and June '06

July '07

And the Countdown Begins!

July 30, 2007- Almost 30 months- My appointment today was a very quick one that the ortho took care of himself. He put on DOUBLE power chains to close a couple of small gaps and move my midline over a hair- and told me that at my next appointment we'd start the wind down. I asked him what that meant, and he said that my next visit they will finally take off my &$@^%$ bite block, cut wires and put in some vertical elastics (? don't quote me on that- I know it's vertical something). The week after that, he will check me and the week after that I will get the darn things off! WOO HOO! I'm so excited :) The next 2 months are going to take forever! Next Appointment 9/10/07. Debanding 9/26/07.

Double Shot

July 2, 2007- Twenty-Nine Months- Well, today was quite the adventure. Had an appointment today at 10:40 and when I went in the network for the xrays was down. It wasn't a panoramic that they wanted. It was something else. I can't remember the name. Anyway, Doc decided to put something called an arc wire on my top line today to straighten out the roots and keep the bottoms the same until the network came back up. The wire looked like a circle with little loops in it and it was springy. It hooked onto my exsisting wire somehow and was quite something to look at. At 2, I went back to the office to get the xray done, and when he saw the picture he told me to sit in a chair. Keep in mind that I didn't have a second appointment and it was just after their lunch, so they had people everywhere. He told me that the arc wire had to come out because my roots were fine and that I was actually looking really good. My bite is where he wants it and all that is left is fixing a tiny bit of overbite that is left. He told me that things would be coming off very soon. :) I'm exhausted...lol. He's a perfectionist, so I understand why things take as long as they do, and I'm grateful for that. So, after he tool the arc wire out, he put a new NiTi wire on and powerchains from the top 6 to 6. I have to continue to double up on my elastics on my right side and wear only one on the left. My next appointment is July 30. My posts have been lagging behind, but that is only because of recent drama in my life. The aunt that I was looking after passed away in May and my husband just lost his grandfather last Monday. The bit of good news about my braces being off soon was a much welcomed thing. Hopefully things will return to some kind of normalcy now. :)

Are We Done Yet??

April 11, 2007- Twenty Six Months- I had a short visit today for an activation. It was nothing special really, except that the ortho is very happy with the progress of my bite. He said that my next visit will be a long one as they are going to reposition a few brackets and maybe change a wire. He took an x-ray today to see if my roots are parallel and he said they look fantastic. There is only one tooth that needs to be dealth with, my number 3 on the top left. It still isn't fully rotated. I have powerchains again from 5 to 5 to close up a few small gaps. It seems to me that the presence of xrays and re-bonding of brackets means that he is tweaking things for the final few months. Boy, would be that great!

The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

March 21, 2007- 25 1/2 Months- Had an appointment today. Got to experience a newbie tech as well... She was much gentler than the old hands there. Took her a little longer, but that is how she will learn. :) Today, I had my wire activated and powerchains added to the top 6 to 6. He also wire-tied a couple of non-conformists and asked to see me back in 3 weeks. Noticing that my appointments are getting a little closer together, I asked him the dreaded question- "when are they coming off?!?" He said some time this summer! :) Now, I know that is still a pretty vague answer, but for my ortho that is a major event. It made me see a light at the end of the long tunnel, that's for sure. So I go back in 3 weeks for another activation and then again in May for a longer visit. :) I know it's been a while since I posted, but I have a lot going on right now and the visits I've had since November have been somewhat uneventful. I now have to double up my elastics- a pain that I didn't know exsisted....lol.
Next Appointment- April 11th... for Activation.
May 9th... for repositioning of a few brackets and whatever else he decides to do.