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Author Topic: My Journey to Removable Braces  (Read 48698 times)

Offline foobar

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Re: My Journey to Removable Braces
« Reply #75 on: 28. March 2022, 18:54:17 PM »
After just 4 weeks of brackets, I'm already on a rectangular wire.

During my last appointment three weeks ago my round wire was replaced with a rectangular one. The ortho said that it's way easier to insert than two weeks earlier where she struggled a bit. She was satisfied with how my molars are moving even though I still don't have better contact as the bite seems to be closing little by little.

When checking the rest of my mouth, she said that she wants to strip away a bit more from my bottom incisors. I said that a space has started to open up behind my lower left canine as my lower incisors are starting to crowd again. She looked at it and I had the feeling that she isn't fully convinced if that's enough space, but decided not to perform IPR at that time. Since then, a small space also started to open up behind my lower right canine. I guess with the plan of first fixing the bite, then the bottom incisors, then the top incisors, we can pretty much start back at square one with my bottom incisors.

We had a discussion about my top left lateral incisor which is blocking the bite for which I'd been wearing the upper brace partially again. I had been wearing it 6 hours per day before going to bed. While sleeping my bite settled again. However, my incisor also went back rather quickly touching the bottom canine again. Wearing it through the night moves the incisor to be out of the way for most of the day but it takes my bite three hours to settle. She explained that this is all due to my suction which might be a variation on a tongue sucking habit. She's never seen it that strongly in any other patient. She presented several options:
First, she suggested that I could wear the plate during the night and come back the day after at which time she can place a permanent retainer in the top jaw. The teeth are sitting well and could be finished up that way. But I'm not satisfied yet. The spaces between the canines have started to open back up very slightly. I'm also a bit worried that when my bottom incisors are moved back again the contact in the front could be a bit off. Additionally, if possible I'd like the upper left canine to be moved lingually a bit more. This also sparked another discussion surrounding permanent retainers which I'm not too keen on.
The second option is that she could cut away the back part of the upper brace starting from the second premolar. That way the holding clasps wouldn't affect the molars anymore with my suction, only the premolars.
I asked if there was a third option of somehow breaking the tongue sucking habit. She said that usually when she notices such behaviour it's in way younger patients. In these cases she usually suggests trying to become aware of and trying to avoid it in addition to doing some muscle relaxation exercises. But she doesn't have much faith in me succeeding as the habit is very pronounced in my case. I still wanted to try this option. She said that I should try to wear it more during the day, closer to 12 hours or as much as I need for the incisor not to block my canine.

I've tried being more aware of it for two weeks but ultimately failed. Whenever I take out the upper plate after wearing it, my bite feels off. Even after just one hour. I wasn't able to bite properly during any meal as I wore the brace a lot during the day. In the end I decided to wear it during the night again. That way the incisor is under control and my bite settles until lunch such that I can at least properly bite during the rest of the meals.
If the habit results in problems later on (which I wasn't aware of before starting treatment; heck I wasn't even aware that I was doing anything unusual), I'd really like to get rid of it, but I'm not sure how.

The wire turning during every meal solved itself as that's just not possible anymore with the square wire. Funnily enough the wire now started to move forwards a few millimeters while I'm eating. At least that's easily fixed by just pushing it back with a finger instead of requiring tweezers and a mirror.

Tomorrow is my next adjustment and I have no idea what to expect. I'll definitely bring up the retainer topic again to finally reach a solution. I'll state my case that I don't see a need for permanent retainers as I'll wear my removable retainers diligently every single night due to needing a bite-plate anyway. But if she still insists on permanent retainers, I'll give in and at least try them for half a year or so.

Offline bdave

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Re: My Journey to Removable Braces
« Reply #76 on: 29. March 2022, 16:32:52 PM »


Just so you know, I have top and bottom permanent retainers and they're really cool!!!
Write in English, please! :)

Offline Person

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Re: My Journey to Removable Braces
« Reply #77 on: 01. April 2022, 04:05:44 AM »
Just so you know, I have top and bottom permanent retainers and they're really cool!!!

Not to derail foobar's thread, but out of curiosity why do you think that permanent retainers are cool? I've never been really thrilled about mine, though part of that might be that I was told I'd get it removed and replaced with a removable retainer after a handful of years but that never happened.

One one hand, I'm glad the six teeth it's attached to haven't moved, but on the other hand it did nothing to stop the teeth behind those (bicuspids and molars) from shifting some. If I were to ever get braces again, I'm not sure if I'd want permanent retainers or not.

Offline Sparky

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Re: My Journey to Removable Braces
« Reply #78 on: 02. April 2022, 20:49:08 PM »
The problem with having your teeth "straightened" is that for many people, that "straight" position isn't a stable position for the teeth (by which I mean that your teeth don't properly 'interlock').... so, without a retainer to regularly / constantly push the teeth back into their non-stable position, then the teeth will try and move into a more stable position (ie where the teeth interlock better).

Some people are lucky in that their new teeth positions ARE 'stable', so their teeth won't move (or won't move as much). (and I'm thinking that this will include people whose teeth get moved a long way, eg fixing a massive under / over-bite, where the jaws are moved such that the teeth 'take a step' forwards or backwards)

Offline foobar

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Re: My Journey to Removable Braces
« Reply #79 on: 23. April 2022, 12:49:58 PM »
Last appointment quite a lot happened. Initially the ortho said that she wants to remove the wire from the brackets, letting the molars settle by themselves. She doesn't want to remove the brackets just yet in case they'll be needed again later on.
I said that I feel like my bite is still quite a bit off on the left site. She got marking foil and inspected my bite and contact points. While the second molar uprighted well, the opposite force tilted my first molar a bit. Usually such force is distributed among all other teeth when all teeth have brackets. Due to the tilting, instead of removing the wire, she took it out, added a bend and reinserted it.
She asked how I got along with my top plate. I explained to her that I tried different wear times and finally settled on wearing it through the night for the reasons laid out in my last update. She seemed to be fine with it as an interim solution.

Next came the expected discussion about retainers. After stating my point of view I got the feeling that she hopes that I won't need removable retainers with the fixed retainers considering all the complications I had with my removable braces. When I mentioned that I'll need a bruxism guard anyway, she mentioned a possible compromise of having a fixed retainer in the bottom where people have less problems with it and the bruxism guard in the top jaw. However, so far in my bottom jar during treatment spaces developed between my canines and first premolars, and the first premolars and second premolars. Even if the permanent retainer would include all four premolars (which would be pretty extreme), there's no guarantee that no space between my premolars and molars would open up. I don't think the retainer discussion is finished yet…

Then came the lower plate. As discussed during the previous appointment, we are sticking to the plan of finishing up the bite, then the lower teeth and finally the upper ones. While the bite isn't fully fixed yet, we're getting close enough to start with the lower incisors and canines again. The ortho inserted the lower plate and checked how it fit. Surprisingly the triangle holding clasps didn't interfere with the brackets and wire at all. They fit perfectly in between. But I felt pressure everywhere. She decided to cut away everything going back further than the first molars on both sides. The wisdom teeth derotation springs aren't needed anymore and she feared that the holding clasps between my molars might wreck more havoc than they're worth at this point. After spending quite some time bending the holding clasps, letting me check, and bending again, the lower plate fit well enough. We tried minimizing the pressure from the holding clasps.
To move the canines distally, she applied inwards pressure with the labial bow. She explained that usually it also moves them distally if there's space. If that doesn't work in my case, the plate will need to be modified to add springs similar to the ones in my top plate to move the canines backwards.
I asked how long I should wear the lower plate. Her response was to wear them as long as possible without my bite becoming worse again. Similar to what I did with my top plate I need to figure out how long I can wear it and when I should keep it out to let my bite go back to normal. But 12 hours are needed at minimum to properly move the other teeth. In addition I should continue wearing the top plate as long as needed to keep the lower canine and top lateral incisor from interfering with each other.

And with that, I now have top and bottom removable braces and bottom brackets (albeit "only" 3) all at the same time. Probably a dream treatment for many here.

Already on the day after my appointment the gap between my lower canines and premolars was closed. With the lower left canine back, it stopped interfering with my upper incisor. While having all the braces and plates at the same time is quite an experience, I quickly stopped wearing the upper plate. It isn't necessary for its current purpose anymore but still changes my bite quite a bit.
The lower plate isn't perfect and has similar problems, but not nearly as strongly as the upper brace. When I take out the lower brace, it takes about an hour for my top and bottom premolars to fit together again. I'm wearing it for about 16 hours each day. The 8 hours off seem to be enough to keep the bite stable.
Interestingly, the small gap that reopened behind my upper left canine has closed completely.
Not having an anterior bite plate or posterior bite plane, my joints are aching a bit in the morning as I'm primarily biting down on the holding clasp wires when clenching / grinding. Also every morning I have pretty deep imprints in my cheeks from the brackets.

It's interesting how the mouth adapts to talking with braces. Some months ago when I had the long bottom plate and the thick upper bite plate, after a few weeks I was able to talk with them without too much of a noticeable lisp (although I feel like there'll always be a rest-lisp with a bite-plate). Not having any plate in my mouth for a few weeks completely reset everything that I'd learned about talking with them in. After getting back the top plate two appointments ago I was struggling to pronounce everything correctly again, even though the bite plate was shaved down significantly which should have helped significantly. But again, after a week or so I was able to talk with them in okayly. Now with just the bottom brace I've adapted to speak pretty much perfectly, so much so that even some family doesn't notice. But putting it the top plate again, I can barely be understood. Apparently it only takes few weeks to learn and unlearn everything.

My next appointment will be on Tuesday.

Just so you know, I have top and bottom permanent retainers and they're really cool!!!
That's interesting. What do you like about them? Don't they just interfere with everything? For example doesn't flossing take ages?

Offline JB_Brace_Lover

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Re: My Journey to Removable Braces
« Reply #80 on: 24. April 2022, 06:57:29 AM »
I am confused. Have you gone away from those removable braces to fixed ones?
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Offline foobar

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Re: My Journey to Removable Braces
« Reply #81 on: 25. April 2022, 10:07:22 AM »
I haven't moved away from removable braces. However, for one tooth to be fixed, my lower left wisdom tooth and molars needed brackets as that kind of movement isn't possible with removable braces. I'm still using removable upper and lower braces.

Offline Embracer

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Re: My Journey to Removable Braces
« Reply #82 on: 03. May 2022, 13:00:35 PM »
How did your appointment go?

Offline foobar

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Re: My Journey to Removable Braces
« Reply #83 on: 23. May 2022, 17:25:33 PM »
The last appointment wasn't too exciting. The wire was removed from the three brackets to see if the bite improves by itself again. The ortho wants to keep the brackets on for now. To prevent them digging into my cheeks during the night, she suggested to put elastic ligatures on them. They probably won't stay for long, but hopefully my cheeks will get used to the brackets until the. First she tried thick ligatures, but they didn't fit firmly. I was able to push them from the buccal tubes with my tongue. Then she tried thinner ones which did fit and made the brackets less sharp-edged helping quite a bit. Two of the ligatures fell off after 5 days. One is still in place but feels roughened compared to its smoothness directly after the appointment.
She stripped my lower teeth again and adjusted the labial bow and springs of the lower plate to derotate my 32 and 41 and push my 31 inwards.
And that was the whole adjustment.

During the first week I tried wearing the lower plate 12 hours per day as before. I didn't notice any improvements to my bite on the left. I went down to 8h/d for another week with the same results. Then I tried out 16 hours. The bite didn't improve but also didn't get worse. But the longer wear time helped the incisors significantly. Thus I wore the braces for 14-16 hours for the last two weeks.
My left second molars make good contact, but the premolars and first molar don't. For example in that area my teeth don't cut through pizza. On the right side everything is good enough.
I went to the office one day (usually I do home-office) and didn't wear the braces for about 14 continuous hours. I noticed that I clench quite strongly at work. In the evening all of my teeth felt pretty sore, but I did feel like my bite improved a bit. Unfortunately it didn't last when I wore the braces again.
The incisors got better, but don't feel stable. If I don't have the braces in for 8 hours, they are moving back to where they were quite a bit.

Regarding my bite, I'm interesting in what the ortho will recommend during my next appointment tomorrow. Personally I see two options. Add brackets to my lower and upper left molars and premolars and somehow try to close the bite with elastics (which will most likely result in yet some other complications considering how my treatment went so far). Or, fix the lower incisors, then the upper incisors, put in fixed retainers and then tackle the bite again. However, if the upper fixed retainer includes the first premolars to keep the gap between them and the canines from opening up again, this won't work. But as it is, I'm definitely not satisfied with the situation. I'll wait and see what the ortho suggests, but I may need to make up my mind about the possibility of something like that happening.

The situation with my TMJ without the bite plane / bite plate is worsening. I had two times where the joint clicked and hurt for a few minutes. I tried wearing the upper bite plate again during the night, but it doesn't fit well and affects my bite negatively. I'm going to ask the ortho to make it fit for the night again.

All in all I still enjoy the treatment, but am a bit torn. After over a year I had expected to be in the finishing touches phase and not have new problems to tackle every appointment.

Offline foobar

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Re: My Journey to Removable Braces
« Reply #84 on: 24. May 2022, 18:40:21 PM »
Not even one hour after the last post, where I wrote that two out of the three ligatures fell off, the third one also parted with its buccal tube onto exploring my intestines.

The appointment today started with me explaining everything that happened during the last weeks. For the strong clenching resulting in soreness the ortho ordered a gel splint as temporary solution which I should wear in situations where I find myself clenching. She is going to fit it in a week. Regarding the TMJ clicking and pain I experienced, the ortho is starting to get a bit worried. With me already having mentioned grinding and clenching related problems during the last few appointments the situation seems to be deteriorating.

I asked her if she could modify the upper plate to fit again to alleviate those problems. She said that with my habit of pulling so much negative pressure, there would be too much risk of it negatively affecting my bite even further.
I explained that I looked online through different resources regarding tongue sucking and found that something like a tongue crib helped in some cases. I thought about mentioning this during the last few appointments already, not only because a tongue crib would probably be quite an interesting feeling, but also because it might actually help. But until today I've always chickened out. She said that there are tongue cribs, spikes and the similar, but those are usually used for treating tongue thrusting. In my case they will most likely just cause extreme discomfort and pain.

The ortho looked at my occlusion and didn't notice any major improvements. She looked at the lower incisors and stated that they look pretty much done. If I'm satisfied with how they are aligned, she can put in the fixed retainer and we're done with the lower plate. I stated that I still feel bumps lingually, as if the lower left central incisor still leans a bit to the front. She explained that labially it's aligned, and that's what's most important. Even when all incisors are aligned perfectly, they may not align on the inside, which is normal. If it bothers me, she can move it back further, but then it won't be aligned in the front anymore. However, the left outer incisor can still be rotated a bit inwards toward the canine and outwards toward the central incisor.
She adjusted the springs and labial bow accordingly. As I noticed a small gap forming between the left premolars and molars, she losened that holding clasp a little as well. In four weeks I have another appointment, at which we're going to retire the lower plate and I'll be getting a fixed bottom retainer. She discussed that she would not like to make an essix retainer for the bottom teeth until my occlusion is fixed, as that will lock all teeth in place. But if my joint pain increases even with the lower plate gone, we could consider it as a temporary option.

She noticed that my lower left wisdom tooth rotated back outwards a bit since she removed the bracket wire last appointment. She put in a new wire. Once the wisdom tooth is back in place, she could add a fixed retainer to the outside to retain it, but it's likely to brake off. Or I could keep the brackets for now until everything is finished and I can get an essix retainer or a bruxism guard which will retain the teeth. I don't like either option, as already after a few hours since the wire has been put back, my second molars don't fit well anymore. And those were the only teeth that improved occlusion-wise during the last weeks.

Before we parted, I asked her what the plan regarding the occlusion is. She said that initially the plan was to first fix the bite, then the lower incisors, and finally the upper incisors. She hoped that just the three bracktes would be enough for the bite to fix itself, which doesn't seem to be the case. Therefore, the plan has changed slightly. Now, first the lower incisors will be finished. Once the fixed retainer is placed, she wants to give my teeth another few weeks without removable braces to see if the bite fixes itself. If it doesn't, there is the option of adding transparent buttons to the "problem teeth" and pulling them together with triangle elastics. Which would be exactly what I predicted.

Offline foobar

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Re: My Journey to Removable Braces
« Reply #85 on: 28. June 2022, 01:56:20 AM »
A week after the last appointment I went back to the ortho for the gel splint fitting. She ordered an AquaSplint, which doesn't really need much fitting. As such, it took only a few minutes. It had a sharp edge in one place which the ortho smoothened. She explained that I should wear it if I feel the need, but try to use it as little as possible to prevent further premolar intrusion as that's where the gel pads are located.
Afterwards, she checked the lower removable plate and adjusted the labial bow and springs a little. And with that I was on my way for 4 further weeks until my next appointment tomorrow.

I've worn the gel splint three times, each for 1-2 hours either when I woke up with jaw pain, or when I noticed that I clenched while doing stressful work. It helped in both occasions by relaxing my muscles.

Regarding tooth movement, the lower left outer incisor improved a bit, but isn't moved back quite enough yet. At the same time the lower left central incisor moved a bit outwards and the right central incisor moved inwards a bit. I think another round with slight adjustments will be needed. I feel like the lower left wisdom tooth moved back with the wire through the brackets again.

As it would be boring if that was it and there were no further complications, my lower left first molar intruded quite significantly, I'd guess about 1mm. I only noticed a few days ago because food was getting stuck between the elastic hook and my gum as the bracket is now lower, which didn't happen before. Before, it was always stuck between the hook and my tooth with a little more space for me to get it out with my tongue. I remember the ortho already saying that the wires resting on top of both lower first molars may result in some intrusion, but she hoped that won't happen. It also didn't happen when I didn't have the wire through the brackets (though I don't know if that's related).
When I ate some sticky stuff which sticks to the teeth, I noticed that quite a lot was stuck on the occlusal surfaces of my molars and premolars on both sides. As such I think the bite will need some fixing on both sides. Even though the right side feels okay, I think it could be improved quite a bit still. If we're tackling the bite, possibly on both sides, I want to ask the ortho if my wisdom teeth could also be moved into better occlusion. Currently they are on top of each other but with a gap between them, not touching properly. That was even worse before treatment, before the wisdom teeth were derotated and moved inwards more, but if it could be fixed easily, why not do it as well.

With all the side effects for my case I wonder when the ortho will be at wits end and just suggest full metal brackets on all teeth for a few months to finish everything. I hope that won't happen as I really don't want brackets on my social 12 (don't try to convince me otherwise, I have tried to convince myself and failed, that reluctance comes from way further down somewhere).
If I'd guess, I'd say that the ortho may carry out the option of putting buttons on my upper molars / premolars and pull the teeth together with triangle elastics starting from tomorrow already? Maybe she may also put brackets on the lower left premolars and try to pull it back up with a wire that way.

At this point I'm a bit torn. On one hand side, after 15 months of treatment I would have expected to be either finished already or at least in the finishing stages. Instead, every time we think we have a working plan, there is some complication pushing the treatment back a few weeks. On the other hand side, these complications let me experience lots of stuff I wouldn't have otherwise. First the anterior bite plate, then the three brackets, and now buttons and elastics (which I'm pretty sure I'll get at some point or another). Without the complications, I wouldn't have any of those. I'd also most likely already be done…

Let's see what tomorrow holds.

Offline foobar

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Re: My Journey to Removable Braces
« Reply #86 on: 17. July 2022, 13:00:53 PM »
During my appointment two weeks ago nothing of what I predicted happened. I told the ortho that my lower left first molar has intruded. She looked at it and said with a bit of disbelief that the tooth tilted forward mesially in the exact same way my second molar did previously. She thinks that the wire of the triangular holding clasp was pushing the molar down together with my clenching, grinding and suction. She bent the wire to not touch the tooth occlusally in the hopes that it'll upright by itself.
She made some finishing touches to the labial wire and springs to finish my lower incisors. With a new appointment three weeks later I was on my way.

During the next week I didn't see any positive changes, in fact my lower right central incisor was pushed further back instead of forward. I also noticed that my lower left lateral incisor was interfering with my upper left central incisor. Therefore, I scheduled an earlier appointment for Monday.
On Monday, the ortho checked my intruded molar and saw that nothing changed. She put a bend into the wire of my brackets, trying to upright the molar that way. Next, she modified the labial bow and springs of my lower brace until I felt equal pressure everywhere. She did some very slight IPR, less than 1/10th of a mm, to make space for the 32 to move back and away from the 21. She had me wait for 10 minutes with the brace in to make sure that I have the feeling that the contact between my lower and upper incisors improves. I didn't notice anything regarding that, so she made some more modifications. After waiting another ten minutes I felt slight improvements. We decided to keep it that way for now but keep the already scheduled appointment one week later. If there are still some imperfections she can adjust further. Otherwise, she might put in the fixed retainer.

The last modifications seem to have been it, as I'm fully satisfied with my lower incisors now when I remove my lower brace. The result isn't really stable yet as it only takes an hour or so until the teeth shift back a little once I remove the braces.
The good news is that this finally means progress. The bad news is that I'll probably be rid of the lower removable brace in 2 days.

The ortho seems to use lip bumpers a lot. During all of my last three appointments there was someone in the chair next to me getting braces and all of them got lower lip bumpers as well.

Offline Embracer

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Re: My Journey to Removable Braces
« Reply #87 on: 18. July 2022, 09:55:17 AM »
Exciting news that your bottom teeth are now corrected.  I understand that bottom incisors are particularly prone to relapse, so a bonded retainer will be essential.  But a bonded retainer is only likely to be on your front 6 teeth. Perhaps you could ask for a bottom hawley as well in order to keep the whole bottom arch aligned?

If your bite permits, you might also get a bonded retainer on your top 6 front teeth. Again, a hawley in addition would help maintain the whole upper arch and the hawleys in combination should maintain your bite.

This way, whilst you will have lost both your removable braces, you will have something similar in the hawleys on an indefinite basis. And perhaps you might have some input into the design and colour of the hawleys to make them interesting.

 Good luck at your next appointment.

Offline foobar

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Re: My Journey to Removable Braces
« Reply #88 on: 31. July 2022, 13:15:47 PM »
The last appointment went exactly as expected. The bottom incisors were pretty much perfect. The right central incisor is slightly tipped inwards, but less than 1/10th of a mm. The ortho said that she'll be able to push that teeth forward while the retainer is bonded to fix this (which didn't work that well, but I'm satisfied with the result and honestly think that these slight imperfections make it look more natural).
The bend that was added to the wire through the brackets didn't upright the 36 as hoped, at least not during one week. As the holding clasps of the removable brace had created a little space between my 35 and 36, the ortho removed the wire from the three brackets and wants to let my bite settle on its own again. Until the next appointment two weeks later I shall not wear my removable braces (well, the lower one won't fit anyway with the permanent retainer).

I had impressions made and the ortho started bending the retainer wire. About 20 minutes later they started bonding the permanent retainer from canine to canine. After instructions on how to brush and floss I was on my way.

I have to admit that the permanent retainer isn't nearly as bad as I expected. While on the first day my tongue chafed the wire, already on day three I started to forget it was there. I expected it to be way more present and even interfere with speech a little. I didn't observe any of that. I can definitely see how so many people prefer it over a removable retainer which you need to always remember to wear.
However, lots of food seems to get stuck between the wire and teeth. On several occasions something got stuck in a way that I was only able to remove it once I was home with floss. Considering that the primary goal of the treatment was to close the two gaps behind my upper canines where food got stuck every meal, instead, now I have five new places where food cat get stuck.
For now I'll be able to tolerate the bonded retainer for a year or so until the end of the treatment as it will make fixing my bite easier than trying to work around removable plates which are responsible for my molars' intrusion in the first place. When active treatment is over I still think I'd prefer to have the fixed retainer removed and rather use a removable appliance.

When the retainer was bonded, there was about a millimeter of horizontal space between the upper and lower incisors. When I asked the ortho about it she said that the incisors don't necessarily need to touch when I bite together. If it's something that bothers me we can tackle it later.
Luckily, only a few days later the problem fixed itself as my upper incisors have moved inwards on their own and are now perfectly touching the lower ones again.

Without wearing any removable plates, the first three days all of my molars were quite sensitive as the bite started settling. The gap between 35 and 36 is closed again and the 36 was able to extrude a bit. But there's still a vertical gap of ~1mm. The vertical space between the left premolars didn't change and is still about half a millimeter. Let's see what the next appointment brings.

If your bite permits, you might also get a bonded retainer on your top 6 front teeth.
The initial plan of the ortho was to do retention with both a lower and upper fixed retainer. The top one might even include the first premolars to keep the gap behind my canines closed.

Perhaps you could ask for a bottom hawley as well in order to keep the whole bottom arch aligned? [...] Again, a hawley in addition would help maintain the whole upper arch and the hawleys in combination should maintain your bite.
I'll need some form of bruxism guard anyway again after the active treatment phase. Already after half a year without grinding protection (since the bite planes were removed from my removable braces) my dentist noticed that the bruxism marks on my teeth got worse. This was also how I plan(ned) on convincing the ortho to just use removable retainers. If I need to wear a bruxism guard diligently every night for the foreseeable future anyway, why not use it as retainer and add a second plate for the other jaw as well.

Offline Embracer

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Re: My Journey to Removable Braces
« Reply #89 on: 10. September 2022, 11:56:51 AM »
Just looked at pictures of your braces again. They really are epic. How are you getting on with them? You have not posted for a while.