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Author Topic: Wife's braces journey  (Read 86376 times)

Offline MikeB

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Re: Wife's braces journey
« Reply #210 on: 06. September 2018, 04:32:41 AM »
I think she'd keep them indefinitely at this point, if it wouldn't arouse some major suspicion!

Offline ortho218

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Re: Wife's braces journey
« Reply #211 on: 06. September 2018, 20:27:20 PM »
I think she'd keep them indefinitely at this point, if it wouldn't arouse some major suspicion!

what an interesting outcome. I guess you may have to settle for fakes but your journey has been a fun one for you (both) no doubt!!

Offline MikeB

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Re: Wife's braces journey
« Reply #212 on: 07. September 2018, 01:39:49 AM »
Part of me is actually looking forward to Hawley retainers, which have their own fun aspects. Heh, the other day she said, "If I fall asleep and forget my retainers, you'll have to put them in for me..."

She knows that she'll be wearing Hawleys the vast majority of the time, and for the rest of her life. I will give her special dispensation to wear Essix for dressy occasions, though.

And yes, I'll also need to make her a new set of fakes for occasional use. But right now I'm just living in the moment and enjoying it as much as I can.

Offline MikeB

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Re: Wife's braces journey
« Reply #213 on: 10. October 2018, 18:46:45 PM »
I posted a new video of Carrie talking about her struggles adapting to the asymmetric triangle elastic configuration: https://dereferer.me/?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGTK7vU2GB8.

Hope you enjoy.

Offline bradhov

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Re: Wife's braces journey
« Reply #214 on: 12. October 2018, 04:35:39 AM »
Thanks always for keeping us updated and doing the videos

Offline MikeB

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Re: Wife's braces journey
« Reply #215 on: 29. October 2018, 21:54:59 PM »
Carrie had another adjustment (her tenth) on the evening of Friday the 26th. Not a whole lot of changes, but some interesting things happened.

-   The ortho made some more tweaks and bends to her archwires, but kept the same sturdy rectangular stainless wires.
-   He told her to continue wearing her elastics in the current asymmetric pattern (Class 2 on the right and a triangle on the left) to continue work on midline and overbite.
-   He did some initial shaping and polishing of her upper front teeth, with more to come once her braces are removed, to get her closer to the “Hollywood smile” ideal.
-   He estimated a mid-January removal date.
-   We discussed retainers. He prefers to use Essix, so I told him I wanted to get Carrie a set of both Essix and Hawleys. He thought it was weird, but of course anything is possible with money!
-   She went with silver ligs.

So we have a tentative removal date, which causes mixed emotions for me. While I’d obviously prefer she stay in braces longer, I can tell that her smile is going to be absolutely deadly when the braces come off and the ortho does the final shaping. I am oddly excited about seeing that killer brace-less smile.

I’m also looking forward to playing with Hawley retainers! She already understands that she’ll need to wear her Hawleys at all times when I am around, though I will give her special dispensation to wear the Essix on dressy occasions (like the symphony, for example).

I did the usual video, but we took a trip to Flagstaff over the weekend and I haven’t had a chance to edit it just yet. I hope to get to it tomorrow. I’ll post here when I upload it to YouTube!

Offline MikeB

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Re: Wife's braces journey
« Reply #216 on: 01. November 2018, 18:36:09 PM »
Video of tenth adjustment now available on YouTube: https://dereferer.me/?https://youtu.be/A19MjP9Homk

Warning - it's almost 30 minutes long!

Offline otticars

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Re: Wife's braces journey
« Reply #217 on: 03. November 2018, 11:10:39 AM »
Thank You very much for the new Video!

Offline MikeB

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Re: Wife's braces journey
« Reply #218 on: 19. December 2018, 18:05:53 PM »
A little late on an update, but Carrie had an appointment the evening of Friday 12/14. We took off for a trip into the mountains early the next day, so I haven't had much of a chance to update between that and the usual holiday craziness. Anyway:

- Her teeth were 3D scanned for retainers.
- No changes to her archwires.
- She was put back in an upper power chain (silver at my choice).
- She is continuing with the same elastic configuration (Class II on the right, triangle left).
- Braces removal date is January 31.

I ordered both Essix and Hawley retainers for her. Her ortho recommends Essix, but of course Hawleys are preferred! She understands that she's required to wear the Hawleys whenever I'm around, but with special dispensation to wear the Essix when we do something "dressy" like the symphony or a wedding.

I took the customary video, but it will probably be a few days before I have time to edit it down, due to the aforementioned holiday craziness. I'll post as soon as it's done and uploaded to YouTube.

Offline MikeB

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Re: Wife's braces journey
« Reply #219 on: 27. December 2018, 00:58:53 AM »
I finally got the video edited (my usual trash quality, haha) and uploaded to YouTube: https://dereferer.me/?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nTR98p0A6U

Sorry for the delay, fellas. Hope you enjoy.

Offline bradhov

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Re: Wife's braces journey
« Reply #220 on: 05. January 2019, 03:56:45 AM »
another fine video post - thanks for sharing!

Offline MikeB

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Re: Wife's braces journey
« Reply #221 on: 29. January 2019, 19:50:28 PM »
Just a quick update. We've been traveling a lot this month, with trips to Prescott and Flagstaff (Arizona) and Las Vegas. Had a little braces hitch in Flagstaff. We were having dinner with some friends Saturday night after a beer festival and Carrie's rearmost right-side lower bracket popped off. This is the one she uses for her Class II elastic. She had to wait until Tuesday to get it fixed as a walk-in, which took about 90 minutes (most of which was waiting).

That's her third popped bracket, but luckily her ortho gives three "freebies" before charging to replace them!

We're now very close to her removal date, which is Thursday the 31st. I've ordered her both Essix and Hawley retainers. I'll do a video of the removal process, teeth shaping that her ortho has promised, and retainer delivery. She's also doing a whitening immediately, at home with a dental hygienist friend (also in braces!) who will just bring the supplies home from her office.

I think I'll also do a video where she can reflect on her whole braces experience and give the good and bad -- at least for normies.

Offline ortho218

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Re: Wife's braces journey
« Reply #222 on: 30. January 2019, 14:05:18 PM »
sounds like she'll have a busy mouth for a few days!
what are your thoughts/feelings about finally having her braces removed?

Offline MikeB

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Re: Wife's braces journey
« Reply #223 on: 30. January 2019, 20:53:36 PM »
My feelings are mixed. On the one hand, I'm sad that the active-treatment part of the "journey" is ending. On the other hand, I'm excited to explore the Hawley retainer aspect. I'm glad that Carrie can breathe a sigh of relief that the braces are finally coming off and she can feel she looks her best again. But mostly I'm profoundly grateful that I was able to experience this, and that I have a giant record of photos and videos documenting it all.

Offline MikeB

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Re: Wife's braces journey
« Reply #224 on: 01. February 2019, 20:42:47 PM »
And the journey is complete! Carrie got her braces off yesterday after 22 months. A few details:

- She got both Hawley and Essix retainers.
- We kept her braces, which I may use to make a new set of fakes for her.
- They didn't even charge us for the second set of retainers!
- Her new Hollywood smile looks FANTASTIC! (https://dereferer.me/?https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeinreallife/32008703987/in/dateposted/)

Video is here: https://dereferer.me/?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGAXLo4842E

And now we go forth with lots and lots of retainer fun!