I just realized that I never updated you on my last appointment 7 weeks ago. As I'll have the next appointment tomorrow, I thought I'd give a quick update beforehand.
Last appointment the planned IPR was performed between my lower incisors. Due to that I wasn't in a separate room as was the case for all previous appointments. Instead, I was in the open treatment area with three chairs next to each other. Next to me was a teenager with fixed braces getting a wire change.
The ortho explained to me the stripping procedure. She said that it can be done either with a machine or by hand. For me she prefers by hand. She had two different strips of sort-of sand paper. She started with a coarse one and finished with a more finer one. It really felt weird. Even though it was exactly as I imagined having sandpaper between your teeth feels like, it still felt somewhat unexpected. I definitely didn't enjoy the feeling one bit. Luckily, it was over pretty quickly after only a few minutes. Afterwards, she applied some fluoride. She said that she took away very little and that the gaps should be barely visible. Looking in the mirror and pressing my tongue against the incisors, however, I was easily able to see tongue through the gaps. Though noone apart from me would be able to notice it.
The top plate wasn't adjusted, as she wanted to wait with that until the lower teeth have gone backwards. She did trim away some acrylic that was digging into my gums at the left wisdom tooth. Unfortunately, as a result that wisdom tooth moved inwards quite a bit in the last seven weeks, probably because there isn't anything holding it back anymore (as the plastic there was ground away). On the other side the wisdom tooth is where it was left as inward movement is prevented by the plate going back there. I'll mention it tomorrow and am interested in how that will be undone.
I asked her about the two additional springs that I noticed last time when all the springs were replaced. She said that those are maybe because the lab tech couldn't remember between which teeth the springs were exactly once they removed all the springs. They most likely decided to add them in both places where they thought they were. They won't be needed or used.
One thing that annoys me quite a lot, is that the spring between my left canine and incisor is pressing against the incisor. That resulted in both incisors on that site tilting quite a lot. The central incisor is trying to push in front of the right central incisor but is blocked by the labial bow. Thus, the right central incisor is pushed back, leaving me not able to bite properly at all. It's also extremely visible. In fact, I was asked by a colleague if the corner of my tooth broke off because it looks just like that. Additionally, that central incisor was already tilted slightly to begin with. During the initial consultation the ortho said that this kind of untilting can't be done with removable braces. I really hope that it can be fixed somehow.
On the bottom plate the ortho ground away a bit of the plastic behind my incisors, allowing them to move back and adjusted the labial bow to apply quite some pressure. Since the adjustment, those four incisors have moved back amazingly and I'm really starting to love how straight they are. There are still some very slight gaps between some of them, but they are barely noticeable even for me. I'm sure they'll be gone very quickly after the next adjustment. However, all four incisors are still pretty sensitive to pressure. When flossing, the gaps where IPR was performed feel pretty rough compared to how smooth it fells between all other teeth.
Finally, the ortho fastened the holding clasps, as the lower plate was sitting rather loosely. Unfortunately, that resulted in the space opening up between my right premolars yet again.
Once finished, she inserted my plates back in my mouth and said that she usually expects the braces to be worn at least 3-4 hours after IPR. Having had the adjustment in the morning hours, I'm pretty glad I didn't have any work meetings afterwards. Otherwise that wouldn't really have been possible.
retained said:
I have to be a little more careful to avoid excess saliva.
I definitely noticed myself spitting quite a bit more when talking since I've gotten the thick bite planes when I'm not careful with my saliva management. In general speech hasn't improved much since the last time. While my family says that they don't hear much of a difference, especially when wearing a mask, I still notice quite a difference. I can pronounce most words without much trouble intelligibly. Except for my last name. Already without braces I usually need to repeat it several times. But with braces it just feels like the worst combination of sounds ever. Spelling it out doesn't help either. And when I try to speak super clearly and think about every word (e.g. when asked to repeat something), talking becomes much harder. So being asked to repeat my last name results in even less understandable gibberish.
Embracer said:
If they had increased the acrylic coverage of your palate, they could probably have squeezed in a second expansion screw as well
Yeah, I still feel a bit bummed about that. But I'll try again for more acrylic coverage when it's time for retainers. Even if they did increase the acrylic, I wouldn't have expected a second expansion screw, since I don't expect them to ever be used. But one can always dream
Embracer said:
From an orthodontic perspective, your case would be managed much more easily with fixed braces, so kudos to your ortho for accepting your demand for removables. I can't imagine there has ever been a more complex set of removable braces. very impressive.
I'm also really glad that in the end I finally found an ortho willing to treat my case with removable plates. Otherwise I wouldn't have gone for any treatment at all. The plates are definitely quite complicated compared to most "normal" ones. Since years I've been thinking about what removable braces would look like for me. Most of the things I expected are actually there exactly as I thought (the modified upper labial bow, the springs to move the canines back, …). But then there are so many more springs all over the place that I would never have thought about. Definitely quite some metal in there!
Embracer said:
the amount of enamel removed is minimal and should not impact on the health of your teeth.
That's what my ortho told me and what I'm telling myself as well. But as an avid teeth grinder, I've already lost so much enamel that it just feels bad to have even more removed.
All in all some stuff is getting better while other stuff is getting worse. I really like the changes of the lower incisors and I'm sure that the upper teeth will be fixed in due time.
PS: "quick update" apparently equals over 1200 words…
to see an Ortho???
