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 21 - Wire change to 'square' wire and new hooks

New 'square' shaped wires with new hooks

Last Sunday I flew back to Hamburg to have my check up, which was on Monday morning.
As you can see, the white wraparound wires from the bottom teeth have gone, but remain on the top. The plastic power chains have also been removed from the bottom teeth and the two top front teeth. And I also have extra hooks. Unlike the silver brackets, the clear/white brackets don't have room for hooks, so the orthodontist had to fashion these hooks using very fine wire. Sure, the braces don't look as asthetically pleasing with these new additions, but I'm so pleased with what they've done so far, I could hardly care less at this point.
If you look at a picture from last update, one tooth on the bottom row was sticking up a lot compared to the others. They repositioned the bracket a little higher to bring this tooth in line with the others.

Before I had the appointment, I was concerned that the teeth hadn't moved so much since the last check up. And on the left side of my mouth, the teeth weren't fitting together at all. But a day later they are already slightly better. Actually, because of the repositioned bracket, the new wire was slightly crooked at first. But when I checked a few hours later it had already straightened out and the tooth has moved down, so it gets to work very fast!

As usual they took out the other wire and this time replaced it with the new, sturdier 'square' (or sometimes called 'rectangular') wire. From other Blogs and Vlogs, I was never quite sure what was square or rectangular about the wire. For some reason, I wondered if it meant that it didn't curve around like the round wire did, but was in itself a more square, rectangular shape - kind of like putting something the shape of a ryvita in your mouth (that I thought this, might seem kind of stupid or improbable to people reading, but my defense most of my classmates at school didn't have braces, and I don't think I'd even ever seen someone with braces actually close up before). But anyway, in case you had also wondered what exactly is square about the wire, it's the wire itself that is square/rectangle shaped - for a better explanation visit this page, and scroll down to 'Wires'. It has a picture that you can see, as well as an explanation of what the square/rectangular wire actually does, compared to the round wire.

New hooks and new elastic band formation

I still have to wear elastic bands in a triangle shape to keep uppers and lowers fitting together. The difference is, I now have to wear them on these new hooks (see picture right) and I was told to wear them as much as possible, not just when I sleep at night.