Absolutely Done Waiting... - Houston, TX

Its been a while since my last post, so here goes....

As the 1 year in braces mark approaches for me (next month) I must say I am very pleased with my progress. I smile more with braces than I ever have. It's so weird how simply straightening out your teeth can give you such a boost of confidence and self-acceptance.

I have had 3 appointments between December, January and February.

During my December appointment my ortho explained that we are now in the phase of fine tuning. The power chain came off as most gaps were closed but a few remained. I wasn't really worried about them though. 2 brackets were repositioned and 1 was replaced. Surprising it only took 40 minutes.

During my January appointment I was told to wear rubber bands to start fixing my overall bite on both sides. No big changes made during this appointment.

During the appointment I had today my ortho said all was looking good. She also addressed my concerns over a few gaps at the top front and one bottom lateral incisor that was still a little crooked. Of course she already had planned to fix those issues :) So she placed a short power chain spanning three top teeth on the left side. I will go back in 2 week increments until all of the top front teeth have shifted so my mid-line can be corrected. Silly me, I was thinking I would have to get bonding or something to fill the gaps. I didn't realize that the spaces were going to be used to still correct and straighten out a few things.

I was hoping I could have the gotten the braces off by the summer, but I don't think that will happen, but overall I am happy.

So I was foolish enough to think that the pain from adding the power chain would be easy breezy. I was soooo wrong. There is a constant pain/ache that I expected. What I did not expect was the sensitivity to cold. I went to get a gulp of ice cold juice, and BAM! I almost spit it out, lol. I tried drinking room temp water, and still the slightest cool temp still caused a throbbing pain on my two central incisors (two front teeth). Thinking back, I don't remember a pain like this. Strangely enough, I tried a cup of warm coffee (I let it cool a little) and there was no pain. Oh well. I simply took some OTC meds for the constant ache and I might even slightly warm my water before drinking it. Whoever said "...beauty is pain..." was not joking!....but I know the pain is worth it :)

I had my check up appointment today. My ortho was very satisfied with my progress over the past two months. I was also working on was my right side bite. My ortho was very pleased and said I could stop wearing my rubber bands on that side. She also said that it won't be much longer until my completion. She did not want to speculate too much on the completion date, but she hinted at maybe just a few more months. At the beginning of my journey I was told my treatment time would be around 18 months. My ortho did say at my consultation that the 18 month timeline gave her time to battle any unforeseen issues, missed/pushed back appointment and to do any tweaking necessary for my satisfaction. For her to tell me today that after 6 months I don't have much time remaining, I could not stop "cheesing" :)

Now for the technical stuff...She changed my bottom arch wire to a stronger wire (I think it is stainless steel) and kept the nickel wire at the top. We are also closing all of the gaps that were created over the last 4 months. She added a power chain on both arches that spans the entire arch, which means they did not put the elastic ties on. I didn't feel much pain today except for the usual soreness/slight ache in my jaw/headache, which showed up about 3 hours after my appt and remained constant through out the day. I did have to eat soft foods for lunch and dinner because chewing was a little difficult from the soreness, but it was not too dramatic. I had soup and a baked potato topped with chili :)

I have been 99% compliant with using my AcceleDent these last two months and I believe it really has made my 6 months of treatment just fly by. My next appointment is in 4 weeks and I am super excited.

Final note...I love the progress my teeth have made, but I think my bite is still a little off on both sides. My ortho said that after all is said and done they will "shape" my teeth to get them to all fit together, but we shall see. Honestly, if my braces came off today, I would still be happy, considering where I started from, but any who...

Oh yeah...I think I notice a difference in the gaps on the left and right side after 12 hours of having my power chains on. It could be wishful thinking though...I posted pics