This morning was the 5 month adjustment. I was excited for this appointment since Dr. Black and Shelly have been discussing power chains for a couple of appointments already.
1. The dental assistant (Shelly) had Dr. Black (my orthodontist) review my teeth with the usual "open/close/open/close..." Once he reveiwed my teeth, he noted that my arch is looking very good and he is so proud of the progress my teeth are making.
2. Dr. Black asked where it seemed my teeth were hitting when I bit down. He noticed that my teeth were hitting in the back, not allowing my molars toward the front to touch properly. He used this fancy paper and had me bite down on it several times. This paper leaves a red mark on where my teeth are hitting, so he could "sand" them down with his hi-speed dental tool. Once they sanded down the trouble spots, he had me bite down on that fancy paper some more. I can actually bite down on I would say 90% of my right molars and 10% on my left molars. I wonder if he is going to correct this in the near future of my treatment? Hmmmm......
3. Once my bite was improved, he went back and forth in his mind on rather to move me up to the next wire (18) or leave me in the current wires (16). He informed Shelly that he would like to apply chains to my teeth when I move up to the 18 wire, but would like to leave me in the 16 for now, and continue the wire ligatures on my two stubborn bottom teeth, since he felt they could move a little bit more. He also checked my records to see how long I have had wire ligatures on those two teeth. It appears going a weekend with a broken ligature wire in early June really affected my tooth progress.
4. Shelly removed my wire ligatures and replaced them with new ligature wires on teeth # 23 and # 26
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She then replaced all the rubber ligatures on the remaining brackets with the same color I had (silver). I really liked the silver and the bands appeared to be stronger than the colored bands, which broke more often and seemed to be stretched way past their elasticity... creating less movement in the 4 week time frames.
*Note: The blog post on teeth numbers, including an illustrated diagram is available under the posting "My Teeth in Numbers"
My next appointment is on August 9, 2011... where hopefully I will finally be moved into my next wire and also should have my upper and lower power chains. Stay Tuned!!!
I know I said I would not post, except monthly, but I felt I would share my annoyances right now. My uppers, especially the front four teeth, are aching, similar to the way they did when I originally got my braces over 5 months ago. I haven't really had any pain up until recently. I wonder if my teeth hurt due to clenching recently. I have noticed that my TMJ has once again been acting up, and I have been clenching my jaw more, which temporarily relieves the pain of the TMJ, but I know in the long run, it is actually worsening my TMJ. About a week ago, my right jaw felt like it was "catching" and sure enough, it locked up, but I was able to release it, unlike the last time it locked up. The last time it locked, was Sept. 2009, and it locked up immediately following my wisdom teeth removal surgery. My jaw was locked shut for about 6 weeks! I guess it is better to be locked in the closed position, than in the open position.
