Coil Spring

Note: if there's a name of tooth that you're not familiar of, please refer to the picture at the bottom of this entry.

On my left side of the mouth, I don't have a third molar and first molar of my lower teeth anymore. The only tooth left is the second molar (from the molars family), I still have my premolar too. However the gap between the second molar and the premolar is so far apart that the second molar is tipped. During my visit for my tooth cleaning, my hygienist took an x-ray of my mouth because she needed the most recent x-ray she could use as a reference, and the result showed that my second molar had been uprighted significantly.. which came to me as a surprise because I wasn't aware that my orthodontist had been doing treatment on that area, because I had never felt any movement or pain in that area... — that is, until my last visit to my orthodontist.

He told the assistant to put a coil spring between my second molar and premolar. When I run my tongue over it, I can feel its texture is similar like of a body of a screw. It took about the first two weeks after the visit that my second molar ached really bad. Specially when I accidentally bit my teeth together and my upper molar would bump against the lower second molar, I instantly had to shut my eyes close while waiting until the pain subsided. Also on the second day, I couldn't bite on potato chips and a lot of stuff. I had to go back eating soft food that didn't require biting and chewing. It felt like I was back to the first few weeks of having braces on. :) I was also awaken during my sleep at night whenever I accidentally bit my teeth together. Other than that, after the first 2 weeks, everything is back to normal again. I can bite and chew again.

If this is the same spring coil that the orthodontist meant to put on me because I had a problem wearing rubber band 24/7, then the pain isn't worth the 'forgetting to wear it'. Although, probably the progress will be much faster wearing a coil spring than rubber band. The thing that confuses me is that when I look it up on the internet, people are referring coil spring as a tool device to create more gap instead of closing it. So after all, maybe this is not the same spring that the orthodontist referred as a substitute for the rubber band.

sorry the flash light was a bit too bright, but at least
it shows clearly how the coil spring looks

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picture courtesy of: navsaridental.

December Update

Note: for the rest of this entry, if there's a name of tooth that you're not familiar of, please refer to the picture at the bottom of this entry.

I'm still wearing the rubber band! Ta-Da!

I went in for an adjustment on Nov 30th. I had been wearing the rubber band almost 24/7 everyday, except when I'm brushing my teeth or when I'm having my meals. But even sometimes I will keep my rubber band on when I'm eating. On Thanksgiving, though, after I brushed my teeth in the morning, I forgot to put the rubber band on until pretty late at night (around 8pm). I was worried that I would get into trouble because of it. There was another day that I forgot to put the rubber band on, specially on Sundays.. So when I went in for the adjustment, I was very sure that they would tell me, "I'm sorry, we gave it a try but it's better for you to wear the spring instead." When I was waiting on the chair for my turn, there were 3 other people and they were also asked if they had been wearing their rubber band religiously. And I was glad to hear that I wasn't the only one who had disciplinary problem of putting the rubber band back on!

I couldn't feel the progress of the gap closing. I didn't feel that it was moving at all, to be honest. I would slide my tongue in between the two teeth just to check if the gap is getting smaller and hoping there would be one day soon that my tongue would not fit into the gap anymore. I honestly feel the gap is still the same like the last time I slid it there. :(

Hopefully my orthodontist didn't tell me that the rubber band was working only because when he asked me how the rubber band, and I told him I had been wearing it all the time. I hope it's been working! I put together one picture for comparison (September vs December). In deed, the gap has been closing pretty quickly. But I still feel the progress is very, very, very slow.

can you see that the gap is closing?

Last but not least, here's the picture of my whole mouth that I took today. As you can see in the other pictures, I chose the white pearl again for the chains instead of festive colors that corresponds with the holiday season. I just want to go low so my braces won't stand out in the holiday pictures. Haha.

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picture courtesy of: navsaridental.

White Mark (Scar?)

Note: if there's a name of tooth that you're not familiar of, please refer to the picture at the bottom of this entry.

So since a few months ago, I have been noticing on my teeth there are two white marks on both left and right lateral incisor on my upper teeth. My first thought when I saw this left mark was "Oh I got food stuck in my teeth!" But no matter how hard I tried to clean it, the white spots wouldn't budge. I brushed hard with regular toothbrush and the proximal, I flossed, I tried everything. The white stuff just wouldn't disappear.

When I came in for my adjustment, I asked the assistant what that was. And she said that it's some kind of scar. At first she told me I needed to take a better care of my teeth, but then I asked if those scars could be because before it they were tilted. Before I got braces both my lateral incisor were tilted below my central incisors because I had overcrowding. (Refer to picture below). She said that those scars are most probably because of that problem.

When I went in for my teeth cleaning, I also asked my dentist about it and he told me he would take care of this problem once I'm off my braces next year! I'm guessing it would probably be teeth bleaching. But we'll see if he has other solution for it.

Before: A picture showing that my lateral incisors are tilted below the central incisors

After: Braces corrected the tilting problem, but this picture shows that
the lateral incisor has a white mark caused by former tilted tooth problem.

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picture courtesy of: navsaridental.

my progress

Progress after 14 months (lower braces) - August 17, 2010
7 months (upper braces) - March 07, 2011

October appointment

Went in for another appointment for my braces. I think they were disappointed with my progress regarding the rubber band that was supposed to help close the gap. The assistant told me the progress was very little. And maybe for that reason they weren't able to move with the next step to correct my bite. My orthodontist asked me how I was with the rubber band. I said I forgot to put the rubber band back in everytime I ate, because I took it off before eating and planned to put a new rubber band after meal. But always ended up forgetting to put either back on, because I usually eat lunch and dinner while doing something else too. Like working in the office (lunch), or watching TV (dinner).. so even after meal, I was still distracted with the other activity that I was doing :(

Since I'm an Asian, I eat rice with spoon instead of sandwich. I'm not really a fan of sandwich, burgers, etc. 99% of the time I usually eat everything that requires chopsticks, spoon, or fork.. so I find it easy to eat even with the rubber band on. So I asked if it would work if I could just keep the rubber band even when I'm eating. My ortho said it would work, but just replace a new rubber band afterwards. The assistant added, anytime at all just put the old one in if there's not a new one around me.

Before I decided to try the rubber band again for another month, the ortho suggested another alternative which was putting on spring instead.. which I wouldn't be able to take off. He noted that it might cause my mouth to get pushed because of the spring, and it would poke too.. Because of these reasons, I felt it would cause a lot of hassles, so I made up my mind that I'd be more 'discipline' with the elastic band. Plus, last month I misunderstood the assistant when she said I could take it off but she didn't want me to go 5 days without it.. so I thought I could be without the band for 3-5 hours.. so I tended to put off putting it back on.

So the rubber band is always on almost 24/7.. however, in the morning, I found my jaw and mouth are sore. Every morning. The first few morning I even got headaches too. Because I could feel the pressure or the 'tight' muscles in my jaw.. because something was being pushed/pulled in my mouth. So in the morning, I brush my teeth and get ready to work and have my breakfast.. I usually don't have the rubber band in my mouth until I'm in the car heading to work.. This can take 1-2 hours.. but I need that 'break' from the rubber band so my jaw can relax a bit. It's very tight.

Anyway, this time I made sure I told the assistant I wanted the light pink color. I got 2 different assistant working on me before and after the orthodontist checked on me.. The first one didn't ask me what color I wanted and she just went ahead prepare the clear color for me again while I went flossing at the back.. but luckily just before the second assistant was about to put it on me, I stopped her and said, "No I want pink instead!" Haha..

Rubber band

Went in for my orthodontic appointment again a few weeks ago. I got my teeth cleaning done too. I got a different hygienist today because my regular hygienist was not available. There was no probing though but as usual the cleaning session wasn't that pleasant :( But at the end, the hygienist told me that my teeth are healthy.. and the titled wisdom tooth on my lower left side was far straightened up. And that was when I learned that the wire was attached to that tooth also! I didn't know that, I thought we were going to leave that tooth alone and would be straightened up later on when I got an implant that would help fix the position of the tooth. I asked if the gap on my lower right side was closing because I felt the progress was very slow. She (the assistant) told me that it did because there was poking wire that indicated there was movement. But I think she consulted with my orthodontist and he suggested rubber band. So today I had the rubber band to help close the gap. She asked me to hold a mirror while she showed me how to put the rubber band and on which teeth. During the first week it was very painful. I couldn't stand it, all I wanted to do was to take out the elastic and not wear them at all. My teeth and gum were also sore. I didn't feel like talking. It took at least one week before I got used to it. I was told that I need to wear this elastic all the time, I can take it out for brushing my teeth and eating, but need to put it back on afterwards. And also I need to change to a new elastic 2-3 times a day. She gave me a bag full of rubber bands, contains 100 of them! And this time I was prepared to tell her I wanted to try soft pink color, but she already put on the pearl white before I got the chance to tell her that. So maybe next time.

 

rubber band will help move the teeth to close the gap

Products I use

I'm not sure about the other towns/states, but where I live, there's no specialty store that sells orthodontic items. I can find regular wax at some grocery stores, but never other things like toothbrushes. I find that perplexing. However, in this post I'll make the list of items that I use ever since I have my braces. I buy most of these online because I can't find them at the stores.

First, this is the floss that I'm using. You can find this at most grocery stores out there. It's very easy to use. It has a stiff end that makes it easier for you to control during flossing. I also love the soft spongy floss that's thick enough for wide gaps.

Next is silicone wax. The one that I use is called OrthoSil. Your teeth/braces needs to be dry and you also need to use dry fingers to apply this wax onto the affected area. It gets tricky sometimes, but I find them stay put better than regular wax. I always buy Orthosil from dentakit.com

Last but not least, this is the toothbrush that I use. Its brand is GUM. The V-cut bristles are soft and I love holding on the thick rubber grip while brushing my teeth. Most orthodontic toothbrushes out there that I find normally have really thin 'body' and without rubber grip or anything causing it a little uncomfortable to hold and have bigger chance of slipping off my palm - I had to take a good grip with any other toothbrushes. Again, I always buy the GUM orthodontic toothbrushes from their websites. I also have the travel size toothbrush with the same brand name.

Having said that, the first time I got my braces on.. my orthodontist gave me this set of orthodontic items that I would need and it included a Plak Smacker toothbrushes which I like to. But you can only buy Plak Smacker's products in large quantity (min 144 pieces), and I highly doubt I will ever use up all 144 by myself. I suppose I can always buy them, take what I need, and resell them on eBay or something.

A year!

Progress after 12 months (lower braces)
6 months (upper braces).

Teeth are aligned better, progress of closing gap is quite slow. But every month when I come in for my braces tightening appointment, I can tell that it's moving because just within 1-2 weeks, the wires (both upper and lower braces) start poking my cheek again. The poking wire gets quite painful and uncomfortable at times. I can always come in to get the poking wires trimmed, but I never did because of my busy schedule :(

As for the color of the chains I usually go for the pearl color. But sometimes I forgot and eat curry, then the chains will get yellow stains, very unattractive. So this time I go for bold color: silver! Ha. I went for bright pink color before too, worked pretty great and didn't get stains - from what I can remember.

the gap that still needs to close
(extraction date of this tooth: August 26, 2010)

Upper braces on!

I had my upper braces on yesterday.. I had to wake up pretty early and leave by 8am because I had to drop off my car at the dealership to get my free repair of the power steering recall..

After I dropped off my car yesterday, I took the bus to downtown where my orthodontist and my dentist located. I arrived in Downtown around 9:15am.. no stores open yet, only coffeeshops. I went in to the mall to stay warm.. tried to find seats where I could wait until 10am when the mall was gonna open. My braces appointment was at 10:50am. I guess it went pretty well although it kinda hurt a lot when they were having troubles putting the brackets on at the far back of my mouth.. I got out of the orthodontist office around 12:30pm. I went to Barnes and Nobles book store and looked at books for 2 hours.. Until I finally starved myself..

I ordered from a Thai restaurant, a Spicy Chili fried rice substituting the meat with tofu. It was so good.