New Posts

@ortho218 - Yes, she's one of the most open-minded women I've ever met, so I can tell her pretty much everything without a bit of embarrassment. She's always eager to accommodate me. And feel free to comment as often as you like. Carrie doesn't really post here, but she checks in on the thread from time to time.

@erin_wires - Thank you. Not sure how soon things will wind down, but some people have had "finishing wires" for a while. And there are always Hawley retainers after that!

I just put up a couple of videos on YouTube.

Carrie's sixth adjustment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mak761gt_Gg

The elastic struggle is real: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C64Ib5EqDy8 This one will probably bore the general public, but the folks here might enjoy it. I thought it was funny.

Your wife looks great with her braces! Too bad itll be over soon though lol

Wow that seems like the dream lol glad you got a good ortho!

seems like your orthodontist is very co-operative haha would be interested to hear an update!

Also I'm fairly new round here but have I missed a thread going over your general treatment?

Mike, hope you don't mind but I've been following your wife's story as a lurker for a while now, thought it was time to get in and contribute too! Hope everything is going well. Seems like you've been able to be very open with her about things which is rare, and great! All the best to you both!

I definitely will! And she's still making noises about ways to (moderately) extend her treatment, so we'll see what happens there. The soreness from the elastics might push her toward finishing up as soon as possible, though.

Wow, her treatment is going fast. Enjoy the elastics!

It was a very interesting adjustment! Let's break it down:

THE GOOD

She got new archwires top and bottom. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to determine the gauge. The top archwire looks more rectangular. I'll study that further. I was too excited yesterday for a really close inspection.

She stayed with silver ligatures, which she knows is my preference.

She got Class II elastics. They run from her upper canines to her rearmost brackets (the hooks on the buccals). She was issued "medium" strength, but the ortho promised heavier elastics next time. There was already commiseration from the ortho tech and the ortho about how sore the elastics are going to make her teeth.

The ortho tech was a very attractive young Latina with metal braces, pink ligs, and elastics. She mentioned she'd been in braces for over three years because she'd been non-compliant and skipped three months of appointments!

THE BAD

The ortho referred to these archwires as her "second to last." 

She's in more pain than she's been since she first got her braces, and took ibuprofen for the first time in months. Fortunately, this hasn't stopped her from performing interesting oral activities, both yesterday and this morning.  >

THE FUNNY

She had a heck of a time putting in the elastics the first time. It was pretty funny, and I captured it on video. I'm going to put it on YouTube as a separate bonus vid in addition to the normal adjustment video.

I had her take some selfies in the car right after her appointment, so she made some silly faces and snapped pics. The pics are in the Flickr album: http://anonym.to/?https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeinreallife/

After the appointment, we went home and celebrated with some champagne and other interesting activities.

Let us know  if the elastic part has begun !

Looking forward to seeing it!! Hopefully with elastics!

Carrie's next appointment is in a few hours. She's expected to get elastics at this one, and probably an archwire change. She expressed some nervousness about the elastics last night ("I don't want to get rubber bands!"), but I'm sure she'll be fine with them.

As usual, I'll capture some video and post it to YouTube.

Modified Twin blocks with telescopic bits and headgear! Quite a mouthful of plastic and metal!!

radian said:

It is not dangerous for your teeth to wear these kind of fake braces ?

Click to expand...

This is just a retainer, so no adjustments can be made that would change anything.

hi everybody !

i have:
-Active plates upper and lower
-Modified twin bock
-Retainer with braket upper and lower, and tongue crib on the upper
headgearr with all.

very hard to speak with the tongue crib ! and a lot of saliva !!!!

Mine came from a supplier in the uk who has since closed.
I have the activator in the picture. Also top and bottom Hawleys, Hawley with bite plate and top and bottom plates without front wires.
I like to wear different ones for different occasions.

What happened to the face mask in the shop?

Red for sure but I also like pink

It is not dangerous for your teeth to wear these kind of fake braces ?

If one set of teeth is fairly straight, I would think that the orthodontist could align the other set to match them. I don't think that they would be in ideal alignment, but they could be matched up to each other. When an orthodontist does both top and bottom, both sets of teeth are moved to what is considered best alignment.

My cousin and one of my friends back at school when we were kids only ever had upper fixed braces. I guess in some cases it might be sufficient or it might be a compromise cost-wise?