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Author Topic: Double Braced  (Read 82061 times)

Offline Bracesx3

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #150 on: 24. July 2024, 05:56:28 AM »
My apologies for leaving everyone hanging. I was only home for a week before hitting the road again and time got away from me.
I had my orthodontist appointment last week. I’m still waiting on approval from my insurance for surgery. I found out that the wire I have on top is the one I will keep for surgery. On the bottom, they replaced a bracket that popped off during a previous appointment when they were trimming the wire. That second molar is twisted, so they had to revert to a NiTi wire to move it in proper alignment. Hopefully the wire can be changed back to stainless steel next time. My elastics have been doing their job, but I will still need to wear them in the same configuration. My next appointment is scheduled for September.
Before I left for camp 2 weeks ago, I received my 3rd Scolibrace. The fit is the best yet, but much more immobilizing than the previous 2. The thermoplastic of the brace is a bit thicker and much more rigid. The outriggers for the shoulders are not as big as the previous ones, but they are a little farther apart and completely rigid. They lay partially over my shoulder joints which prevent me from putting my arms all the way forward without tremendous effort. I feel like a T-Rex at times trying to do things. I’ve also had more chafing under my arms than I’ve previously experienced. Yesterday was particularly painful as I’m in Arizona for the week and the drive here with all the stops took 10 hours. We went to Sedona today. For context it was 102 degrees. We started at Slide Rock state park. Most of the walk to the rock slides are paved except for the last 1/3 of a mile. I successfully managed to make the trek down and back up the rocky hillside trail wearing my ankle braces and Scolibrace. I think one of the most difficult things about my back brace is the inability to take any deep breaths. I get winded so much easier when I exert myself while wearing it. It gets frustrating at times. Afterwards, we spent the afternoon in downtown Sedona. It’s such a beautiful town. Best of all, I had no ankle pain or swelling from the day. I took off my back brace when we got back to our AirBnB to shower. It’s been 5 hours and the undershirt I wore still hasn’t dried out. Tomorrow should be a nice relaxing day. https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/ygxrpPW https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/H6y8RtH

Offline anton08

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #151 on: 24. July 2024, 08:42:39 AM »
So congratulations to all your activities. I am sure that many people without any braces are not able to be so active than you are. And wearing your scolibrace should help to even get used to it better.

Offline napacaster

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #152 on: 24. July 2024, 14:10:37 PM »
I'm glad that despite what you are going through, you are getting out and doing things and enjoying life. 

Offline mr_90proof

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #153 on: 24. July 2024, 15:25:24 PM »
Holy cow!  A tree?  In Arizona?

I kid, I kid.

Offline Bracesx3

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #154 on: 30. July 2024, 07:31:37 AM »
Finally I’m home for the rest of the summer. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very thankful to have so many opportunities to travel and spend time with my family, but there’s no place like my own bed and home. The last time I had a schedule this full of travel was before I had kids. We got home on Friday afternoon to 104 degree weather, and got right back in the routine with my daughter playing 2 back to back games in a basketball tournament on Saturday. I spent Sunday picking up a new pew pew I had ordered back in June. She’s a beauty… a Kimber Ultra Carry ll. I can’t wait to take her to the range.
Back to my orthodontist appointment from 2 weeks ago, I’ve been very compliant with my elastics even though I struggle with them breaking. I asked what other alternatives there are (the same question I ask every appointment hoping for a different answer) because they break so quickly. I even asked if it was possible to go into a larger elastic that was thicker, but because of having to go down in wires on my bottom jaw it wasn’t an option. Non-latex elastics are just notorious for this problem. My orthodontist mentioned that I could become rich if I could figure out a better formula. Since I’m no chemist, I thought it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to try non-latex elastics from different manufacturers. I went on Amazon and found 3 other brands including colored ones. They came yesterday. I thought for kicks and giggles, I’d try the neon colored ones first thinking they have a different formula given the colorant and since I was home for the day and wasn’t going anywhere else. I kid you not, I haven’t broken one yet. I woke up this morning with them in the same configuration and without having swallowed either of them in my sleep. I put new ones in after breakfast to see how they would do with me moving my jaw around talking, they didn’t break. So now I have to ask myself am I willing to go out in public (already being a spectacle with a back and ankle braces) wearing them? I’m currently sitting at the park while my daughter is getting a  basketball  lesson with her coach. I’m wearing the most subtle of colored elastics, the purple ones. I haven’t gotten any different looks yet, I mean I’ve already got metal braces at my age, right?  I’ll probably wear blue and purple during the day and save the pink, orange, and green to light my way around my bedroom at night.
So I’m home now. Just finished a late evening dinner that I cooked of garlic butter baked blue fin tuna (caught by a friend), Caesar salad, olive oil and pesto garlic linguini along with some garlic sourdough bread. My kids devoured it. In addition to this evening’s basketball, my daughter also ran four miles this morning with her cross country team and my son had just come home from football practice. It’s a crazy time of year in our household. I’m not sure if I ate as much food as what got caught in my braces though. I just finished flossing, brushing and water picking and put in my nighttime elastics. They’re definitely bright. Here’s hoping for another night of nonbreaking elastics. https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/cRxzJNj

Offline napacaster

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #155 on: 30. July 2024, 15:39:53 PM »
The 1911 is perfection, and that Kimber will be a little handful of power. Enjoy!

Offline anton08

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #156 on: 30. July 2024, 23:59:54 PM »
Following your orthodontist you will become rich. You should think for some nice ideas to spent all your money...  :)

Offline Bracesx3

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #157 on: 08. August 2024, 03:50:10 AM »
Monday, I had a telephone follow up with the VA. They have decided to refer me to an orthopedic hand specialist. The soonest appointment is October 23rd. That will make it almost one year from the start of having my elbow problem. I know I probably should not have swam the mile or done as much kayaking last month, but if the therapy I have been trying was working those activities should not have been a problem, right?
Yesterday was a long day. It started with a 7:40AM orthodontist appointment to have my wires removed to get my teeth cleaned. The poor ortho tech was trying to figure out why my power chains were in so many pieces and overlapping on some brackets. While she didn’t say anything, I could see the questioning look on her face. I explained that I got the new ortho tech last time and he didn’t know the power chains were supposed to connect to all my brackets. He thought they only went on teeth 6 to 6 and not 7 to 7. Instead of removing them and redoing both chains, the person orientating him instructed him to add a segment of power chain that overlapped the existing one until the last tooth. It made it a bit more difficult to hook my elastics, but it wasn’t the end of the world. I couldn’t help but brush my teeth at the orthodontist before heading to my appointment with my back doctor. That appointment wasn’t anything special, just a check in to make sure I wasn’t having any problems and ensure my brace is fitting properly. After there, it was time to go to my dental cleaning. I gave them my updated insurance info when I checked in. Everything went well there. The hygienist was very happy with my upkeep. I need to brush behind my back teeth a little better as there was a little plaque, but no other issues. Additionally, my gum health is amazing. On my way out, the front desk informed me that my new insurance was an HMO plan (which they don’t take). I was caught off guard and pretty surprised because I knew we had signed up for the indemnity plan when my husband retired. I had a pit in my stomach. I spent sooooo many hours going through all the benefit options for medical and dental insurance to choose the best options for our family. I was trying to think where I went wrong. I went home and with my husband pulled out all the copies of the documents we had submitted back in March. Low and behold, I found the dental insurance selection form, and we had requested the indemnity plan. That required a call to the county retirement organization which took 30 minutes of waiting on hold. By the time a real person answered, my husband had to go pickup our daughter, while I had to go back to the orthodontist to have my wires put back in. I was able to talk with the representative who had to place me on hold again. She came back on the line and let me know she had found the forms, and she showed the indemnity plan as well. She submitted it for correction. My only hope is that it’s made retroactive to cover yesterday’s cleaning. Back at the orthodontist’s office, my wires were put back in and new power chains with a single piece for each top and bottom in silver were applied. By that time it was 2pm. In the short time of having my wires off, my bottom teeth separated as if they had just had the interproximal reductions done. I don’t know if it was a result of me tongue thrusting, or just the natural tendency of teeth shifting to where they want to be. I’ll try to remember to ask my orthodontist at my next appointment. Anyway, I got home and had to take my son to the doctor for his annual sports physical, then to his football practice. I got home and fed my daughter dinner then took her to scouts, immediately followed by basketball practice. I finally landed back home about 9pm.
This morning, I checked my social media - which I am not very active with at all, and came upon a post from my former civilian employer announcing the passing of a former coworker of mine. It hit me hard. He was a good 10 years younger than me with a wife and kids and had promoted to a supervisor. I broke down. I don’t know if it was only his loss, or also the loss of a coworker of my husband’s lay Thursday from the same employer (who had helped us with our backyard when we first moved in), or the fact that Monday was the 6th anniversary of my mom’s passing. I suspect it’s a combination of all 3. I was very tearful all morning, which isn’t like me at all. I’ve spent the rest of the day trying to keep myself distracted by staying busy around the house. It’s time for me to get dinner started, and then I can relax for the evening.

Offline mr_90proof

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #158 on: 08. August 2024, 07:31:21 AM »
I am sorry.  Sometimes life is a real motherfucker.  I am sorry for your losses.  I won’t try to rationalize them.  It just sucks.  I am sorry.

Offline Bracesx3

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #159 on: 04. September 2024, 07:15:11 AM »
I can’t believe it’s almost been a month since my last post. My dental insurance was changed to the proper plan retroactive to my husband’s retirement.  I stopped by my jaw doctor to give them the updated card and info, which turned into an impromptu appointment. It looks like I will definitely be having surgery this year. On the 11th, I should have my bottom wire returned to the stabilizing surgical wires with my last molar finally in alignment. We discussed the use of splints pre-operatively. He doesn’t like to use stabilizing splints but does like deprogrammed for at least three months. It’s not necessary, but is a preference so I have to bring that up at my appointment next week. The pre-authorization is actively in the works.  So at least things are moving forward.
For once, nothing else is really going on medically- things are either stable or in a holding pattern until future appointments. My kids are both back to school which is so much driving. My daughter is running cross country and my son is playing football. Their schedules are a juggling game of rock paper scissors between my husband and I to decide on who is taking who where. High school years go fast, so I’m very happy that they are making the most of them. I’ll post again next week.

Offline Bracesx3

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #160 on: 05. September 2024, 08:14:02 AM »
A question came up asking me what a Deprogrammer splint does, so I thought I could answer it here with some pictures. Essentially, a Deprogrammer splint gets the jaw muscles to relax and allows your jaw to put itself in a position of comfort that isn’t restrained by the malignant of the teeth or jaws. This helps the surgeon know how to best reposition the jaws during surgery that will ideally have the least amount stress on the TMJ afterwards. H I will explain how it could be helpful for me. My teeth don’t align along the midline when I bite- see here: https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/r9eKaXp
Yet when I move my lower jaw forward, my midline is even: https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/aefnk3G The problem arises when you look at each side of my bite when my midline is even. Notice how on my left side (right side of picture, my upper teeth have an appropriate overhang over my lower teeth: https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/0Lj3Ork yet on my right side (left side of the picture, you can see that with my midline even, the teeth of my upper jaw line up up evenly with my lower jaw, which is an improper bite; one could even call it a minor cross bite: https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/o3sOL4a This could very well be the underlying cause of my TMJ problems. I’ve tried to explain this misalignment previously to my orthodontist when she had me wearing the class 2 pattern elastic on my left side to try to even my midline, but I could not explain it at the time the way I have done here. I’m not sure all the elastics in the world could shift my midline without the space for it to move. When I go to my appointment next week, I will pass along the surgeon’s message (I’m sure they’ll also talk) and explain to her similarly to how I have presented it to you. Hope this provides some clarity. I’m sure many of you have looked at my previous photos and wondered why I am still in braces (or having surgery) when everything looks fine. Everything is not always as it appears. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Offline anton08

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #161 on: 05. September 2024, 15:02:02 PM »
It is not easy at all to understand this problem, but for sure I have to admire your braveness concerning all your treatments.

At the end may there be a condition of painless healthyness. You really have deserved it.

Offline Bracesx3

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #162 on: 14. September 2024, 05:22:18 AM »
I suppose this is the update many of you have been waiting for. I found out this afternoon that my surgery date is October 28th. In 2 1/2 weeks I go in and have new X-rays, CT and impressions taken. Two weeks later, I have my pre-op appointment with my primary care doctor, and one week after that, I go to my orthodontist and get my surgical wires with hooks placed.
I had my regular orthodontist appointment today. It was supposed to be on Wednesday, but I moved it because I was planning on having some quality husband time while our kids were supposed to be away at camp for the week, but a huge brushfire in the area of their camp changed everything. Anyway, my appointment went well. I didn’t have an exact surgery date at the time, but I learned earlier in the week that it would be at the end of October. I was able to have my bottom wire changed back to the stabilizing wire that was previously on. My ortho was behind schedule, so the tech decided to try to save some time and power chain my wires in before she saw me. She decided to do some refinement on my upper front incisor to level it with the other one, but didn’t want to remove the newly placed power chain and wire completely. She removed a couple of the PC loops and pulled the wire a little forward. When she used the refinement pliers to adjust the wire, she popped of a bracket. Still not wanting to take everything off, she had the tech do the rebonding under the wire and PC. It went great until the ortho came back to put the wire in the correct position with the refinement adjustment. She couldn’t get it into place without ending up taking everything out. Sigh. If it had been any other teeth, no problem; but my front teeth are super sensitive. I’m guessing due to my continued tongue thrust. This brings me to my next little nugget of news, my tongue tamers will stay on for my jaw surgery! She wants to keep me from tongue thrusting after surgery. I told her they haven't helped dissuade my habit. I’m not sure I’ll even feel them with the splint wired in, and I guess it’s highly unlikely they would be break off. Lastly, I have to keep wearing my elastics until surgery to maintain everything.
I will still have about 8 months of orthodontic treatment left after surgery.
My back brace is doing well. It was rough last week when we had a few 110+ degree days. I avoided spending too much time outside at any given time, and successfully managed to get all my hours in. It was so hot, my daughter’s cross country race was moved from the afternoon to early morning on a school day. The low that morning was in the 80s. After the race, she spent the rest of the day exhausted. I had a smoothie waiting for her when she got back to school to help cool her down and give her a little oomph for the rest of the day. Thankfully, it’s been cooler the last few days. Unfortunately, the smoke from the still burning brushfire has blown in every direction and the air has a constant campfire odor. It’s an unsettling smell when you live in a high fire threat area.
I still have my upcoming VA appointment for my elbow. I’m not sure what they will be able to do given my jaw surgery just a few days later. I’ll still go to the appointment and see what their thoughts are. I’ll probably post again after I get my surgical wires and provide some pictures. If you have questions, I’ll do my best to answer them.

Offline napacaster

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #163 on: 14. September 2024, 15:42:19 PM »
I know what you mean about fires. I'm in California, and I guess the whole state is a high fire danger area, and we listen to the CalFire radio all the time. At least if we get a whiff of smoke, and haven't heard a dispatch, it's blowing in form somewhere else. It's scary to hear a dispatch then go outside and see a column building.

Best wishes and good luck with everything you have coming up and know you have people you've never met who care about you praying for a positive outcome.

Offline Bracesx3

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #164 on: 29. September 2024, 08:15:16 AM »
So I had my first pre-op appointment on Wednesday. It went well. It started with getting my CBCT scan done, then I went back to an exam room and had photos taken facing forward and profile. My overjet was measured, and lastly the alginate molds were done. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t gag. Orthographic molds are done a little differently than regular dental molds. They aren’t supposed to be as deep, only being pushed down to the edge of my braces instead of as far as the teeth will sink in. Let me tell you though, pulling the molds out with even a small portion of my brackets in the mold felt like my teeth were being sucked out of my mouth. That was pretty much the extent of my appointment. My next jaw doc appointment is October 8 and my next orthodontist appointment to have my surgical hooks placed is on the 11th, less than 2 weeks away! Time seems to really be flying.
On a side note, today was crazy on the home front. My husband and I were installing new blinds in our family room, when out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a coyote running with one our ducks in his mouth. He and both kids ran outside. My daughter tried to catch the coyote to get the duck, but barely missed him as he jumped over the wall. My son jumped the back fence to look for it in the culvert, while I asked my daughter to look for the duck along the backside of the wall, as the coyote no longer had it when it ran off. We ended up finding her (Ritz Quakers) in the neighbors yard and took her into the house. She lost quite a few feathers. She has one puncture wound on her backside that seemed to miss anything important, and a good size gouge near her right leg but not deep enough for sutures. I cleaned Ritz up and put antibiotic ointment on the wounds. In the meantime, my husband and kids were in the side yard pulling out the large livestock water troug we used to brood the ducklings- only to come upon a rattlesnake. I’m very conscientious of wildlife except when it comes to rattlesnakes. Every year we get at least one in our yard. They just have to go. This one was pretty young, maybe only 10” long. My son was the one to ask if he could take care of it and for the first time I let him. He spent last year’s summer camping in the Sequoias and had a lot of practice dealing with them, so I felt he was ready to do so at home as well. With that done, Ritz has some pretty nice digs for the next week or so. Instead of wood shavings she gets towels, and she doesn’t have to share her food or water with the other ducks. She’s been eating and drinking, and pooping- she looks uncomfortable but not in distress. All good signs. Now we have to figure out how to keep the Coyote from coming back. I’m hoping it’s as simple as keeping our one shepherds outside when the ducks are out to be their livestock dog. She’s pretty much taken on that duty naturally, especially at night. She sits outside on the back patio and scans the hillsides looking for any predators and doesn’t hesitate to bark and charge toward them if the come to the fence. We also have bobcats and mountain lions in the area- occasionally a bear, but they usually get relocated by fish and game. There was way more excitement and stress today than I needed.
For any of you affected by Hurricane Helene, I hope you are safe and any damage you may have received is minimal. I’ll be keeping you in my prayers. My sister is in Georgia and got hit pretty hard. She lost 11 trees, though none hit the house or her well. She is without power and all the roads are blocked.
I’ll let you know how the next appointment goes.