Week 37

All is going well, but still very small, very slow changes. I'm getting a bit worried that the braces were really going to take longer than the end of February (as the orthodontist had suggested in October/November), but looking at the pictures, they look better than I thought. I'm really happy with them, but looking forward to getting them off more and more!

There is a slight gap between two teeth on the lower jaw, so I'm expecting that next time the power chain will be moved to close this. Unfortunately, as the orthodontist remarked, one of the central teeth on the bottom row is slightly smaller than the others in the row, and it seems it may not always look so 'perfect'. I've heard they can file the teeth down to make them all even, but I'm not sure I want that done. So long as they're all straight, that's fine by me. I don't really want big, white Hollywood teeth!

From the front, the upper teeth look pretty much finished, but when you see the picture showing them from below, it still needs to move just a few more millimetres. If you look closely, you can see the kinks in the wire are still not straightened out - which I'm a bit surprised about, I thought maybe they would move a little by now. Next appointment - 29th January, I'm looking forward to seeing what they will do.

Week 33

Week 33

My latest check up was Monday and everything seems to be going well, although they weren't ready for removal yet. This time they took off the top wire, and replaced it with a slightly thinner wire. I can't actually quite tell if it is round or square though. Two kinks have been put into the wire. One is between the brackets on my two front teeth, the other is between the right front tooth and the one next to it. This wire should straighten out and also move that tooth by the two front teeth back just a little bit more and into its final position.

The two 'kinks' in the top wire

Before the appointment, I also had a small gap between two teeth on the bottom front row. They have put new power chains on to close this gap, and a white wire running around three of the brackets to prevent any more big gaps opening up. I still have one stubborn tooth in the bottom row that moves into its right position with the rubber bands, but moves back again when I take them off. So until my next appointment in February, I've been told to wear them as much as I possibly can.

Week 30

I realise it's been so long since I updated this, apologies if I have any regular readers! I lost my camera phone so I haven't been able to take regular progress pictures, but my parents were visiting me last weekend and luckily brought their camera.

Well the teeth are moving very, very slowly. It's so frustrating right now. I have had two check ups since my last update, and both times they didn't change the wire. The October check up, they simply cleaned away some tartar (hardened plaque, gross I know) from my bottom front teeth. The last check up was last week and they tightened the wire, and also added new power chains to one side on the bottom teeth, and on the opposite side on the top row of teeth. There's also a small power chain on my two front teeth. Although I can't eat so well for a few days when I have that done, it also feels like something is being done, and I could feel the teeth were a little loose.

I also had the news that they would probably be finished in February, which I was a little disappointed at. I thought possibly Christmas they could come off. But I can see and feel that they're not quite perfect yet. The upper tooth, to the right of the front teeth in the picture, is still not quite in line with the others, although it has moved a lot since treatment started. And of the bottom front four teeth, one is still stubbornly refusing to be guided to the right place. I still wear the elastic bands around these new hooks at night and I noticed this morning that the stubborn bottom tooth looks better after the bands have been on all night.

Next check up in three weeks time!

Week 17 (Progress picture)

Progress Picture from Week 17

Progress photo, taken 21st August 2013 (just over four months since I've had my braces put on - time flies so fast!). In this picture you can clearly see the other wires that I have top and bottom that thread around the brackets. You may also just be able to make out the small elastic power chains I have between my top two front teeth.

Week 15 - Third wire change and power chains!

Week 15 picture

I had my third check up appointment on Monday and they did quite a lot. The wires now run through all of the brackets. Previously it didn't reach the lower bottom teeth, but now those brackets are being used. One bracket on a top molar was re-aligned to a slightly different position. This is the tooth where there is not so much gum and they were blasting it with cold air. It was pretty painful but didn't last long.

I now have a white metal band threaded not only around the top six front brackets, but also the bottom six front brackets as well. Again, I was told these are to make sure that the teeth do not move so far apart from each other that they create gaps. I thought these were called power chains, but I guess I was wrong because this time, I actually did get power chains (like thin elastic bands) on my braces.

Misaligned tooth, top left; now with wire and power chain

In this second picture to the left, you can (just about) see that the back tooth is quite misaligned in comparison to the other teeth. The power chain stretches down from this bracket, down to one of the front bottom teeth. On the other side, the power chain doesn't stretch right to the back tooth, but the second to last. They ache quite a bit at first, but it's not so bad two days later.

I'm guessing this power chain will pull that crooked tooth into position as well.



My orthodontist also told me that this new wire would be my last 'round' wire, and the next wire I would get would be a 'square' wire. She also told me that I'd see a lot more change in the next few weeks and they'd start to look pretty much like they will once they take them off. From what I've heard, the square wire is used more to move the roots of the teeth - I found the info here, scroll down to 'Wires'.

I'm still wearing the elastics, although now with all the extra stuff on my teeth, I can't get the elastic to stay in place on my incisor/canine teeth. I've noticed my bite also feels odd and it looks as though there are many gaps. So I will go back soon and ask them what I should do about the elastics.