Carrie had her seventh braces adjustment yesterday. As usual, I took a half-day off work to take her to the appointment in a neighboring suburb. It was a surprisingly eventful adjustment, from an orthodontic perspective! Changes this time:
- A new, heavier lower archwire (.19x.25 steel).
- Wire ties on her upper canines with standard ligatures over the ties.
- Much heavier elastics (6.5 ounce, up from 4.0).
The heavier lower wire, the ortho explained, is to continue “leveling” on her lower teeth.
The ortho did not explain the wire ties, but the assistant explained that they’ll grasp more tightly and move the canines quicker.
The ortho commented that the heavier elastics were to continue working on her overbite.
The ortho originally thought he’d reduce her bite stops, but changed his mind once he saw how worn down they are. He elected to leave them alone.
No word on a removal timeframe, but the ortho definitely didn’t act like it was anytime soon. It seems like he thinks there’s quite a bit of work left correcting her bite.
On the way to the appointment, Carrie once again mentioned figuring out ways to extend her treatment besides postponing appointments. I was actually able to push back her next appointment by a week, but that was simply because my father will be visiting from the east coast and I didn’t want to take time away from his visit.
Carrie instantly felt the heavy pressure from the new elastics. I’m sure she’ll also start feeling that heavier lower archwire, if she hasn’t already. We’ll see how she responds to the wire ties.
I mentioned to her this morning that, when she first seriously considered braces, I assumed her treatment would be very simple. Not that her braces are SUPER complicated or anything, but I didn’t anticipate bite stoppers, wire ties and extra-heavy elastics. This is even more fun than I expected!
YouTube video to come, as always.
