Monday, November 12, 2012

Treatment resumed... State of affairs

My treatment had no progress for 2 years (my fault) but I finally made the decision to continue it and finalize it. For that I have a new orthodontist (local) but I had to go also to get my upper brackets & powerchain removed.

I wanted it so because a couple of months ago I bit a piece of bacon that had a bone (I didn't know) and that stroke the wire. It caused the wire to misadjust and it was changing my bite. As a result I was getting some pains in my teeth and jaw.

So the orthodontist temporarily removed them, as it turned out I also had 2 loose brackets. The pain is now gone.

So, I had a new set of Panoramic and Cephalo-something XRays done ($40) to reassess my current situation. Also had my teeth cleaned ($30) which as usual was a bit painful but it is over with. For a week already I have been enjoying a partial sense of freedom, no brackets on my upper teeth!!! it feels wonderful! it feels so smooth! it is sooooo easy to clean and brush! it is just amazing!!!!

But that won't last long, as I mentioned it was only a temporary measure. I am resuming treatment this week ($900 downpayment) because:


  • My upper teeth are not yet properly aligned with the bottom teeth (see photo)
  • The space left by the premolar (2) extractions needs to be closed.
  • My periodontist needs my lower teeth to also be pulled back a little bit so that I can have yet another gum implant to cover the root of one of my front lower teeth which is very much exposed (can see on the photo as well).
So, I think that in the next appointment they will probably be removing the lower brackets, clean up the left over glue and make a model of my mouth to play with. Then as part of the new treatment the orthodontist will do something I hoped would never happen: I will have two (2) micro screws installed between the two molars behind the premolars so that it serves as anchor to pull the front teeth back without moving the back molars forwards. The purpose is that I would end up with with Class 1 bite instead of a Class 2.

Micro screws? yes, horrible!!! a couple of years ago I saw videos of it on YouTube and considered myself lucky that was not part of my treatment. WRONG!!!! well, probably because I opted NOT to have orthognatic surgery. BTW this orthodontist says I don't need that, that I could have a good bite without the trauma of such surgery.

I will also get a whole new set of brackets installed, my old Damon system is going down the toilet because they don't use that here. So now I will have to deal with rubbers and the like. The treatment is going to cost me $3,000 (three thousand!!!) so there goes some of the things I wanted to have because now the orthodontic budget had to be expanded :-(

I haven't been the luckiest guy with orthodontics I must say....

  • Several of the orthodontists I saw said I needed orthognatic surgery.
  • According to Damon system information premolar extractions are almost never required. Well, wrong! I had to have two removed two years ago. I was not happy about that.
  • I needed some surgery on my mouth to remove some gum that was separating my upper two front teeth. Very painful but at least now my teeth are together and kind of straight,
  • I blew up some of my gum at the root of my lower front tooth, needing periodontic treatment ($400) and awaiting another to cover the exposed root.
  • So far 5 loose brackets. 
  • Now the micro screws!
As for the screws, for what I read they do that so that the pulling is done from within the mouth instead of using the external headgear. Yes, headgear looks ridiculous and annoying to wear in public but dental treatment is traumatic to me, quite frankly I would rather be ashamed of having to wear a headgear than have to go through the trauma, pain and extra care needed by having two micro screws perforating my gum and jaw.