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 23 - before and after pictures

Week 23 with the elastic bands

I didn't mean to leave it nearly two weeks before doing an update, but lately I've had a lot of stuff on my plate, sorry about that.
So I was expecting a lot more pain with this square wire, but actually, it really only hurts the first few days - exactly like the other wire changes really.
The teeth are moving very, very slowly at this point. I'm still wearing the elastics - although this week I have not been very disciplined about wearing them all the time, but I do wear them every night.

Apologies for the, again, rubbish photo quality. The past few weeks, I had access to a proper camera, and now I am back to taking pictures with my smartphone again, and the image quality of the pictures has really declined over the past 5 months.

So my top row of teeth are near perfect. Only one thing, the tooth to the right of my front teeth (in the photo) just needs to move a few more millimetres. But it is moving. I can now floss and see a bit of space, so it really just needs to edge in a little more to be perfectly in line with the others.

Damon Braces Before & After: Start of treatment to almost 6 months later.

On the bottom row of teeth, you might be able to make out in the picture there is a small gap just to the left of the centre teeth. It's not really too big of a gap, and from reading other Blogs this is quite normal. I expect next time I'm at the orthodontist they'll do something to close this.

To the right is a before and after picture from the first week to this week, so almost 6 months treatment time. Looking back at the time before I had braces, my teeth really were quite jumbled. They're looking so lovely now, I'm glad I had them done!

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.

Week 19

Week 19 - no significant improvements

Thinking about it, I've noticed since my last check up that my teeth have not actually moved so much. The bottom teeth are looking good, but the top teeth don't appear to have moved at all. Considering I'm supposedly going to be totally finished in 4 months, it's pretty worrying.

Chewing food on both sides of my mouth is a little bit problematic at the moment. I can't eat sugary things on the right side of my mouth, because every time something sugary gets near to the tooth with the receding gum and the exposed root, it hurts like hell. And on the other side it just hurts to chew hard, crunchy things.

Also worrying me is that I've still not been able to find an orthodontist to see me sooner than 3rd October and I'm trying to decide whether I should go back to Hamburg to have my next appointment, or just tell them I've found a new orthodontist that will treat me.

Week 18

Week 18 of braces

I haven't had too much to report the last few weeks. There haven't been too many aches or pains. My bottom teeth are now looking very straight (from the front anyway, from the picture below, you can still see there's a bit more work to be done). I'm really pleased with them all the same.
I've moved from Germany back to the UK, so now I'm in a dilemma about switching orthodontists in the middle of my treatment. I have an appointment for the 3rd October - about a month later than I should have had it back in Germany. My last appointment, I was told I should come in every month, but Damon Braces-trained orthodontists are apparently hard to come by in the north-west of England. I was told that the maximum you should have between appointments is 10 weeks. 8 weeks is cutting it a little fine to be honest. I think I should probably look for another who can see me a little sooner.

Bottom row of teeth, much straighter, but still with a few kinks

The other problem with this is the money issue. The appointment I have lined up is a free consultation, which is pretty good. Another place said they would charge me a fee of £150, that would only be re-funded if I signed up as a patient with them. This wouldn't be a problem, if I had even a hint of how much it would cost to continue treatment with them. But without that, I chose to look for somewhere else.

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.