51 Weeks In: New Pics

At my appointment yesterday (51 weeks since the first brackets were installed), Dr. Stewart changed my bottom archwire to a counter force (or reverse curve wire). This is the same type of wire I currently have on the top. I also asked them to change the power chain because the poor baby pink polymer was all discolored and yukky looking. Too much red wine I'm afraid.

Six weeks or so ago, Dr. Stewart said the top arch was basically set. The teeth still need fine tuning with the custom-made Sure Smile wires, but the basic arch is set.

The following pictures illustrate how nice and straight the top is versus the bottom, which eventually will be straight too. Right now, the bottom teeth curve upwards and are much higher up in the front than in the back. The reverse curve wire will help to diminish this difference -- bringing the front teeth down some and the back teeth up a little to straighten the arch.

I was amazed when I drew the straight line under the top arch in photoshop to see just how straight the top arch is. Not bad. The bottom will get there!







And as a comparison, here are two older images. One before the treatment began and a second 16 weeks in. You can see from the straight line below the top arch that the teeth were far from straight.