More Metal Mouth Pics

Aah, smoothies......

Metal Mouth

It's been two weeks since I last saw Dr. Stewart, and today -- 36 weeks after my treatment started -- I got the bottom braces.

Somewhere between the lip spreaders, drooling on my chin and the cold puffs of air on my sensitive teeth up top, I wondered why the hell I ever thought getting braces was a good idea. But then I had to stop and remind myself how great the top teeth look already and how it'll totally be worth it.

The brackets are on every tooth again, except for the very back one on each side. Again, it's just the teeny, tiny baby wire to start out. Dr. Stewart wants to see me back again in 4 weeks. He said he can probably move to the next wire then (as opposed to after 6 weeks with the top teeth). He said he doesn't want to delay anything longer than is necessary. Said he wants to move things along as fast as possible -- which sounds great to me.

Dr. Stewart did not use the Ormco bite turbos. He added a build-up of composite on one tooth on each side so I cannot close my mouth all the way. As long as I stick my top jaw out a bit, I can bite down and not bash the top teeth on the bottom ones. This doesn't give me much of a biting surface because none of the other molars touch. I guess I'll be limited to very soft foods or things that I can squash against the roof of my mouth using my tongue. I won't really be able to chew anything major.

It feels weird to have brackets on the bottom, but I imagine I'll get used to them, just like I did the top ones. It's just different now that I have them on all my teeth (save two). I guess I'm officially a full "metal mouth"

Pictures to follow:






The image above clearly shows the "bite turbos on the back molars


SMILE!!

Curry!!

I knew that eating a curry could/would stain rubber bands and power chains, but I didn't even think twice about eating curry last night when I went to dinner with some of the students in my photography class. Someone suggested Indian and I agreed without thinking.

The food was good.

After I got home, I wanted Andy to take a few pictures just in case Dr. Stewart took off the baby pink power chain at my appointment today. I wanted to be sure to have a photo of it since I missed taking a picture the first time. I went to clean up my teeth as Andy got the camera ready. When I opened my mouth, I was horrified to see that my baby pink power chain was yellow!



Oops. So I still do not have a photo of the baby pink power chain.

Here are two profile views, taken last night. I think they show ever so slightly how the top teeth are moving forward and how the bite is beginning to open.

Forsus Springs

While looking up information on the Bite Turbos, I decided I would also look into Forsus Springs since I know I'll be getting them on one side to fix goofy alignment of the teeth (they don't meet as they should, which I think is some sort of an occlusion)

The ortho had said the spring replaces the older rubber bands that kids in grade school had linking the top teeth to the bottom teeth -- you know, the ones that make it difficult to open your mouth. I had an image in my mind of something small and unobtrusive.

I don't know what you think, but the springs are way bigger than I imagined and they don't look very appealing to me at all.



The spring also comes in a flat version. Not sure which I'm getting, but neither looks appealing!



Ha-ha. Things to look forward to.... Let's hope this thing isn't in my mouth for very long!!

For more information about Forsus springs, check out this 3M website link:
http://www.3m.com/us/healthcare/unitek/class_correction/forsus_resistant.jhtml

Week 28 + 6 weeks = Week 34 Appointment

As the weeks roll by, it's getting more difficult to keep track of how many weeks it's been. The latest appointment was March 28, which by my reckoning is 34 weeks in.

The teeth are moving, but not as quickly as Dr. Stewart had hoped. Still have the reverse curve wire in on the top and he decided to replace the power chain. I'm back to baby pink. I asked the assistant for a pink power chain, but didn't specify which pink color I preferred. She elected to use the lighter one.

She struggled a little to get the power chain on at first. Stretched one all the way over and then broke the last link and had to start over. All that tugging on the brackets was a little uncomfortable, although I wouldn't say it hurt. It sure did prompt the teeth to move though. I could feel them moving for days afterwards.

Dr. Stewart said I'm not ready, but I'm ready anyway, for the bottom braces. YEAH!! He said the top ones haven't moved quite as much as he'd hoped for, but that he doesn't want to dely treatment for longer than is necessary. He said he would install them as soon as I could come in for a one hour appointment. The first thing I found that was early in the morning was almost 4 weeks out. After leaving the office and mulling things over, I called to reschedule. I took a morning appointment at 10am on the 11th. That's exactly two weeks out. I didn't want to wait longer than is necessary and I'll just have to miss a little work.

However, because the top teeth still haven't moved as much as they need to, I'll have to have bite turbos so I can still eat without bashing my top teeth on the bottom brackets. Dr. Stewart didn't really explain what a bite turbo is, so I did some of my own investigating on the web.

The official Bite Turbo® product from Ormco is a small metal "step," which is attached to the back of the front incisors. It prevents ones mouth from closing all the way and therefore prevents damage to the bottom brackets. The name turbo arises because the teeth (molars) no longer are touching, the molars can erupt faster and move into position. Fast = turbo. Here is a photo showing bite turbos on the teeth:



I also read that the ortho can put some sort of composite buildup on the molars to add height so there will still be a bite, albeit modified, without risking damage to the top teeth or bottom brackets. This isn't officially called a bite turbo, although it seems to commomly be referred to that way.

So, I'm not sure what type of bite turbo Dr. Stewart was referring to. I'll have to wait until Tuesday.....

Reverse Curve Wire Not So Bad

The reverse curve wire didn't really hurt any worse than any other wire I've had in so far. A little tenderness initially, but then nothing.

I can tell it is moving my teeth forward. I am getting a small gap between my back two molars on each side -- makes flossing back there much easier, but also allows more food debris to accumulate in the gap. I guess the gap is happening because the power chain isn't connected to the very back tooth?

The overbite is still pretty pronounced. The teeth are much straighter than when I started, but the front teeth still cover the majority of the bottom teeth.

I have an appointment on Tuesday -- 6 week check up. Hopefully they're be some news on the bottom braces.

Photo Update

Here are photos, taken by moi, just a few days after my week 28 appointment. They are a little blurry, but not bad considering I had to take them myself.