I am feeling kind of annoyed on your behalf about the delay due to the wrong brackets, especially since you knew you were right all along. I would get so antsy waiting 8 whole weeks between appointments too, that seems so long but I guess that is normal these days!!! I guess the newer braces are more efficient like that, but also unfortunately if anything isn’t right it doesn’t get resolved for eight whole weeks, which is long. I’m glad they decided to just replace the brackets either way.

It was annoying knowing it wasn’t right but waiting so long for it to be addressed. Hopefully, though, it doesn’t set me back too far because my teeth were only moving in the wrong direction for about 4 weeks. The initial round wire wasn’t doing any torquing, and the pre-torqued SET wire did move then very slightly in the correct direction with the wrong brackets on (they mostly offset each other, though, I think).

Setting aside the wrong brackets, the 8 week interval does make me feel impatient. I notice change mostly over those first couple weeks, and the. I get impatient for the next appointment to see the next change.

It does take time for the wire to do everything it can do, though. The assistant this last time did tell me that my current wire would be active for a long time. I get the sense that the torquing movement that I need right now is a lot slower than other movements (which would kinda make sense when you consider the size of the “lever” used to apply the force only being the 0.0275 inches that is the depth of this wire as opposed to the distance between two teeth for other simpler movements; at least that’s my guess).

Given how little movement I’ve seen over two weeks so far (and I think there has been some positive movement), I wouldn’t be surprised if my teeth aren’t in position for the Carriere appliance until February. Still hoping for December, though!

It’s funny your teeth look so straight in your pics but you’ve got a pretty great list of different things you will get to experience, whereas someone with crooked teeth could very well go through a whole treatment with just brackets and maybe elastics.

Yeah, it made it feel really weird telling my wife that I thought I needed to see an orthodontist, and setting up those consults and going to them. I’ve been happy with my smile (minus the one tooth that was slightly out of line), and I’ve received compliments about my smile. But the functionality of your bite is so much more important, and it takes longer to fix and more appliances to fix (minimum of elastics, but sometimes more). And it was annoying, being able to feel that my teeth weren’t (and still aren’t) hitting right each time I bite down. So far my treatment is just in preparation for correcting that, which is something I’m looking forward to.

Starting to think about what color ligatures I would want to ask for at my next appointment, but I'm not sure yet. Maybe green (for Christmas)? I don't think I'd want to do red and green because I expect to have them until some time in February (assuming the same 8 weeks between appointments).

Totally in the same boat. I also have 8 weeks between appointments with an appointment in December. I was thinking about doing red for the top and green for the bottom, because the bottom doesn’t show very well. I don’t know how that would work though.

Totally in the same boat. I also have 8 weeks between appointments with an appointment in December. I was thinking about doing red for the top and green for the bottom, because the bottom doesn’t show very well. I don’t know how that would work though.

With the right shades of red and green, I bet it could look really good! Let us know what you do end up picking!

It’s definitely a downside of 8 week appointment intervals that I hadn’t thought about before getting braces this time, that you would have seasonal or holiday ligatures for longer, well before or after the holiday. When I had braces as a kid, I think my appointments were 5-6 weeks apart.

I don’t have my bottom braces now, but even if I did I wouldn’t be able to do a top/bottom color combo like you’re considering, because my ortho’s office only puts colored ligatures on the six front upper brackets.

I’m not sure yet if they do colored powerchains, though. In all of my ortho’s social media posts, I could only see one photo of a patient with a powerchain; it was an adult with clear brackets, and the powerchain was white or off-white and behind the wire (picture only shows the top teeth, too).

I haven't heard of that before! So your orthodontist gave you one of those boxes/devices, and you have to use it every so often or something? Are your appointments scheduled based on the results from it?

In my case, I have self-ligating braces (Damon specifically), and the 8 week interval seems pretty common for them. They don't have to worry about the elastic ligatures losing tightness, and with thermal memory wires the archwires can stay active longer than plain old stainless steel.

I'm guessing my ortho's office only offers colored ligatures on those six teeth partially as a cost-saving thing and partially as a time-saving thing (since one of the advertised benefits of self-ligating braces is less chair time at appointments because the assistants don't have to take the time to get ligatures onto every bracket).

One week until my next appointment (though, my daughter was exposed to Covid at school, so I might reschedule it if we get sick).

I want to be ready to move on to getting my Carriere appliance, but don’t think my incisors have tilted forward enough. I can feel a small difference, but don’t really see a difference. I think it’s more likely they give me a stronger and/or pre-torqued archwire to get those teeth to more more, but we’ll see.

For colored ligatures, I’ll probably try some shade of green. If they don’t have a good green, I’m not sure what I want to do. If they say I’m about ready for the Carriere and put the spacers in for the lower lingual holding arch (LLHA), I did have the idea that I could get red and green alternating. Then, when I come back two weeks later to get the Carriere installed, I would then switch to just green or something else. (They told me that when it happens, I’d get the spacers, one week later have an impression of my lower teeth for the LLHA, and then one week after that get the Carriere and LLHA installed.)

Here’s a picture from yesterday:

https://dereferer.me/?https://www.flickr.com/gp/189082961@N04/h09p8WU74k

It’s probably not quite as sharp/clear as the others I’ve posted, but it was easier and quicker to just take a photo with my phone than to get a photo off of my camera and uploaded and everything.

Edit: fixed link

Here's a picture of my spacers:
https://dereferer.me/?https://www.flickr.com/gp/189082961@N04/71Z99GFC9i

They weren’t as bad as I remember having as a kid as far as soreness goes, but maybe that’s just because I was good about taking Tylenol for the first two days after this time?



At the beginning of this week, I had the ortho appointment to get the impression for the lower lingual holding arch (LLHA).

First thing they did, actually, is remove the brackets from my upper canines and first premolars. My guess as to why they did it at that appointment and not the appointment where the Carriere is placed is just to not take up that time at that appointment. Brackets popped off easily, but the grinding off the glue was even worse than when they replaced my front four brackets, despite the teeth not being as sore this time. They then just trimmed the existing archwire to fit just the front four teeth. I chose teal for the ligatures behind the wire.

After that, the assistant test-fit some bands on my lower first molars. Once a band was seated on each of those molars, she took an impression of my lower teeth. This will be used for a lab to make the LLHA that I'll be getting next week (it will be anchorage for the Carriere). They use digital iTero scans for records and creating retainers, but use impressions for these kinds of lab-made appliances because they are more accurate, I guess. My ortho's office has a whole list of flavors for this, where it seems like the assistant adds some drops of flavoring to the impression material as it's being mixed. I chose chocolate, but it was so slight I could barely notice it, and it was that fake chocolate flavor/smell that Tootsie Rolls have. The assistant let be rinse out my mouth really quick after the impression, to rinse out any bits of impression material left behind. I got to see the bands on my molars (but didn't think at the time to take a quick picture), and and it was a little weird seeing bands on my molars again (I had molar bands on all of my first molars when I had braces the first time). I could also tell that the part on the cheek-side of the bands that has the hook will irritate my cheeks, and I'll probably need to use wax for a while once I actually have the bands on.

The assistant then removed the bands and put spacers back in, and I was on my way.

The archwire didn’t get quite centered in the same place as before, so my front teeth were fairly sore for the first couple days after this appointment. Those teeth also don’t have the canines and premolars anchoring them, so pretty quickly I noticed them starting to tilt back inward (even though my ortho said the wire would keep the torque on them). We’ll see goes much that really matters next week or after.

It has looked weird to me to see just the front four teeth in braces. I’m glad it’ll just be for a week, because it’s a little awkward explaining to someone that I have fewer brackets on now because we’re getting ready for the next step of my treatment (I admit, it’s not intuitive to me).

Here’s a picture of what they look like this week, with the teal ligatures:
https://dereferer.me/?https://www.flickr.com/gp/189082961@N04/C7s3H1zp73



My appointment to get the Carriere and LLHA is next week; I will be sure to post about it and post some photos.

I have the Carriere and lower lingual holding arch (LLHA)! I had the appointment to have it placed this past week.

At the appointment, they first started with placing the LLHA. The assistant had a hard time getting the bands to fit on my molars, despite having test-fit them the week before. She said the issue was that the lab used a lot of solder attaching the arch, and that made them not fit easily (maybe the bands needed to flex a little to fit, and the solder was preventing that?). Eventually she got it seated enough, though I don't think quite as far down on the teeth as when they were test-fit. The assistant ground down some of the metal a little because my upper molars were hitting it. I could tell that the hooks on the molar bands would irritate my cheeks easily, so the assistant bent them inwards a little bit, but I don't know if it made a difference.

The assistant then prepped my upper canines and first molars, and then the orthodontist came over to bond the bars of the Carriere to those teeth.. This was pretty simple and straightforward (they had already measured what size they needed the week before). Then the assistant had me watch her place an elastic on one side and place the other myself (hooked from the lower first molar (hook on molar band) to the upper canine (hook on front of Carriere bar) on each side. I am to wear Ormco "Zebra" (5/16' 4.5oz) elastics for the first two weeks, and then Carriere Force 1 (1/4" 6oz) elastics after that (at least until my next appointment; there are also Force 2 elastics, which are 3/16" 8oz, and I suspect I'll have to wear those on the right side at some point, as the other ortho I got a consult from even said that as part of his treatment plan).

They left the brackets on my upper incisors and the wire that runs through them alone.

After the appointment, it felt like there was so much in my mouth compared to right before. I had one of those "What did I get myself into?" moments.

The LLHA is higher up and further away from my teeth than I expected, so my tongue is constantly hitting it while talking. Luckily, it doesn't seem to give me a lisp in spite of this. Food gets stuck between it and my teeth fairly easily. When the elastics are on, the hooks don't bother me, but when I take them off the molar band hooks poke my cheeks while eating. Unfortunately, wax on them doesn't work great while eating since those are the teeth I'm chewing with, so the wax gets knocked off almost immediately. I'm just doing without using any wax on them. I don't think it's visible when I talk.

The bars of the Carriere have been really comfortable. They are very smoothed, and the hook on the front is very low-profile. Food does get stuck between them and my teeth. They kind of help make it look like I have braces across all my upper teeth.

The elastics aren't too difficult to put on, but it takes a little practice to do easily without a mirror. I was told by the assistant at the appointment to change them twice a day (morning and bedtime), but the info sheet said four times a day (after each meal and bedtime), which is also what I was told at my consultation. I emailed them after a couple days to check which is correct, and it's four times a day. When I take the elastics off, it almost feels like there is a slight force on my teeth in the opposite direction that the elastic pulls. After just a couple days, I can tell when flossing between my canines and lateral incisors that there's already been a very small amount of movement.

I didn't have any soreness for the first several hours after the appointment. Even with taking Tylenol, though, my teeth were pretty sore the next day and somewhat into the day after that. There's been more soreness on the left side than the right (I find this a little interesting, because the left side doesn't have to move as much to reach class 1).

It's nice having something going on that is going to produce more significant results. And, in a way, it's nice having a more in my mouth and stuff both on top and bottom. Makes the braces feel more complete and full.

Here's a photo from the front where you can see the Carriere and the elastics:
https://dereferer.me/?https://www.flickr.com/gp/189082961@N04/ip936a1r56

And here's a photo of the LLHA (and elastics):
https://dereferer.me/?https://www.flickr.com/gp/189082961@N04/0329ZFk0u0

Feel free to ask me any questions about the appliances! I may have left something out, and I know the Carriere is not as common as some appliances. I'll probably take a photo where one of the bars of the Carriere is more fully visible later.

I suspect my next appointment in several weeks will just be the ortho checking my progress and potentially changing what size/strength elastics I'm wearing.