Hating the transparent power chain

Yes I hate it, I am very detailed in my mouth hygiene, brushing very often as well. It has been barely a week since the rubbery transparent power chain was (re)newed on my upper jaw and it already looks yellowy (disgusting!!!). The reason: I ate a Thai chicken with curry at Crepes & Waffles :(

I serioulsy thing the "transparent" power chain is counterproductive, you are better off with a strongly coloured one like red or blue, I don´t think those will get stained that easily. Anyway, just my experience.

Another painful experience :´(

Today after 14 months and 5 days since getting braces I had my follow up at the orthodontist. This is what happened today on my early (8AM) visit (tooth numbering chart here):

First both archwires were removed and on the lower archwire a binding wire had to be removed as well because due to the position of my two lower central incisors it was not possible to completely pass the archwire. The removal of this binding caused some pain. Opening the locks of the demon brackets was not painful this time, on my previous appt. (June 2009) a few were painful,especially the two lower central incisors.

Second to that was the removal of two brackets, one from my upper jaw tooth #11 (left canine/cuspid) the bracket needed to be repositioned. The removal of both bracket and glue was not a big deal. However, on the lower jaw tooth #25 (lower left central incisor) after the bracket was removed (a bit painful) he had to remove the remaining glue and THAT was very very painful! I was wriggling in the chair and would not like to go through that ever again! I thought the tooth was going to break or come out. In the end he had to use the grinder/drill to remove the rest. Both brackets were installed again but in a new position to adjust the teeth once the archwires are placed.

The third task was to grind some of the side that lower central incisor (#25) so that there is space to move around with less pain. That was not a big deal luckily.

Fourth came the placing of the archwires. The upper one was placed and brackets closed (daemon self-fixation) the same was done on the lower one. Unfortunately again there was some problem passing the whole archwire into position due to the new position of the lower central incisor bracket :( again a binding wire was used and that caused some pain on the sore tooth.

Last thing was the placing of another rubber power chain (unfortunately transparent so after some time it will get stained and look ugly) on the upper jaw to replace the one I removed a week ago. This one however is not as tight so that we can see if teeth move back to much or what. It is supposed to last there for a couple of months until my next visit.

So yes, a painful visit, no wonder a few weeks ago I had a nightmare (more like a premotion) that one of my lower central incisors had come out! Other than that all is good, still with a sore tooth but ok.

A new follow up

Just had my first follow up of the year after 6 months. Supposedly my lower wire was going to be changed and other things checked.

The outcome was the dental hygiene was very good (yeehaa!) and I had my teeth cleaned after the upper wire was temporarly loosened. All is looking good but surgery is not yet planned, but I may choose not to go for surgery.

He decided my lower archwire will remain as it is but some grinding will be done to let the brackets do the rest of the alignment. This will happen with the two front teeth of the lower jaw. The molar that has been bothering me (with crown) will probably be sanded down while we monitor what it is happening there.

On the upper jaw all is looking fantastic, all teeth aligned and retracted enough. Last week I removed myself the rubbery power chain that was supposed to have fallen off months ago. The teeth felt a bit painful (just faintly) for a few days because there was not chain traction.

Tomorrow the upper archwire will be replaced for another (I thought it was the last and thickest one). A new rubber power chain will be applied though I hope it is not transparent. Transparent is fine because in the beginning it is barely seen but as time passes it gets stained and in my opinion looks quite horrible! I hope he puts one with a color or something, better that than a horrible stained power chain.

He ordered a new panoramic XRay and a peri-something XRay of the molar with the crown that is bothering me every now and then. I had it done right away (paid about $14 for both!).

Other than that nothing else to report. I shall see tomorrow.

Not the crown! and other news

Well, back in October I apparently slept clenching my teeth sooooo hard that when I woke up I had pain my my 2nd to last molar of the lower jaw. Both of those last 2 molars have crowns but only the last one has a root canal. The one experiencing the pain was the 2nd crown (luckily I only have two which is more than enough).

I thought it was fractured and only kept together by the crown. A couple of days of very uncomfortable pain. I had to take some pain killers and typical of Dutch medical care I had to wait a couple of weeks before I could be seen by a dentist. This one was specialized in "fearful patients" and endodonthics (root canal).

She looked at it and told me the pulp at the end of the root was not infected but irritated but so far no need for a root canal. I was supposed to have a follow up 4 weeks after prior to my trip but by then I was so busy that I had to cancel. The pain had gone away.

A few days ago (already abroad) I decided to bite some peanuts (not hard) on that side and since then the crowned molar is acting up. I don't think I will have time to visit my orthodontist any time soon so I will probably have to deal with it here.

As for the jaw surgery I am doubting whether I should proceed with it. Now I have a calcium and vitamin D deficiency caused so I wouldn't want my bones to be hammered and cut when I have a calcium deficiency. I just hope my teeth don't break when they remove the braces. Oh yes, I am also thinking of just having them removed and go on the rest of my life as I am so far.

An inspiring jaw surgery video

To this date I had only seen jaw surgery videos that while they portraited the positive sides they also freaked me out big time!

Well while facebooking in the jaw surgery FB groups I was pointed out to this video. Really reassuring.

Post jaw surgery video

Now one of my remaining problems is that my insurance in the country where I will have the surgery sees it as a “precondition” and therefore opted for not covering this surgery!!! whereas my insurance abroad was willing to cover with a letter from the orthodontist but I don’t think they would cover this surgery abroad :(

So, no insurance coverage, no surgery for me that is decided. At this moment it depends on that plus the fact that I have already had 5 months of misery due to a back pain problem which I am just getting through.

Looking good so far!

It has been about 1.5 months since my last visit to the orthodontist and I am still abroad. He told me the elastic power chain would fall off by itself (or I could cut it off myself) between 1 to 1.5 months since it was installed.

The power chain hasn’t fallen but it does not bother me at all, it keeps my teeth in better shape and they are transparent. Well, they have colored a bit (stain) due to the coffee but are mostly transparent.

By now the molar that was out of place in my lower jaw is now perfectly aligned. The new archwire on the lower jaw is still doing its work (I feel movement) and even that same day I was able to pass a flossing thread between the two lower front teeth, something I couldn’t do since nov. 2008! In other words the lower front teeth are rotating and realigning.

I also noticed that the archwire on my lower jaw is now straighter than before! previously it was arhed upward on the six (three on each side) lower frontal teeth. It isn’t totally straightened/leveled but getting there. These teeth also have to lower themselves so that they are not hidden behind my upper front teeth.

And this picture shows a historical animation (made by me) of the progress made on my (over)bite since the beginning on the various follow ups. The first frame (19 nov 2008) is just before the brackets but after the 4 upper front teeth had been “restored” to their initial grace by some aesthetic reconstruction because they were worn out due to the malocclusion.

PS. This silly blogger does not support animated GIFs, the file is transformed to show only the 1st frame. Shame on you blogspot!

Power chain and new archwires

With renewed teeth and some happiness (I never feel happy to go to the dentist!) I went with my future wife to the clinic of Dr. Ibarra for the big appointment. In my previous visit a few days ago I had my teeth cleaned and a visual inspection of the progress.

By now the two brackets that were on my two crowns (back molars of lower jaw) had fallen over the past months. I live abroad so I could not visit him to have that taken care of.

The 2 fallen brackets posed no problem for the treatment because my lower jaw molars and teeth were almost totally aligned and with sufficient space. He chose to simply replace my lower archwire to a thicker wire (more force now) and cut the archwire so that the two crowns remained without brackets. Brackets don’t bond well with (porcelain) crowns even with more powerful glue as he had used.

The replacement of my lower archwire was very painful, pfew! stressful too! in the past months the two lower front teeth had rotated slightly, in fact for a few months I had not been able to pass floss between them due to their tightness. It was impossible to completely place the wire through the bracket so in the end to save my some pain he had to tie them. Looks as if it is through but well, saved me more discomfort.

My upper archwire was also replaced with a thicker one. This one is the last (and thickest) to be placed there while my lower jaw will still require a thicker one on the next follow up (December).

In order to close down the gap between the upper front teeth and align them Dr. Ibarra put on a “power chain” on my upper jaw. The “power chain” (see video below) is an elastic chain with loops that are put around each bracket to close space/gaps, they apply extra force. That first day was a bit uncomfortable but bearable and I noticed results that same day (the gap was closed!).

My power chain is transparent to make it discrete so for the purpose of this blog I am showing somebody else’s chains (in pink, see (a)). There is also a video of the application of a power chain (again another person).