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.....