Braces tightening - what happened at my 6th tightening

Posted on 7:31am Wednesday 14th Dec 2016

This tightening whizzed round as it’s only been four weeks since my last. My orthodontist wanted to get me in before Christmas and the New Year madness!

Changes since last appointment:

Left lateral incisor gap has opened up too much, so 7mm now, but needs to be 6mm.
Right lateral incisor gap is now 5mm, but needs to my 6mm. This is taking longer as it catches on a bottom tooth (hence the biting blocks!)
Bottom teeth are beginning to align. They’re not there yet though as it was only the 2^ndout of 4 wires.

What they’ve done this appointment:

Tightened the top wire
Changed the bottom wire for the 3^rd thickest (only one more after this one)
Elastics to the top left to pull my peg tooth into the middle of the lateral incisor gap. This is where my dentist wants it positioned for a veneer.
Elastics to top right to pull my canine back one more millimetre to create 6mm lateral incisor gap ready for eventual false tooth on a bridge.
First set of elastics at the bottom to pull my front teeth together to close all the gaps – the most noticeable being about a 3mm gap between the bottom front teeth.
Build up the biting blocks as they’d worn down. Now I feel like my teeth are about 1cm apart and it’s hard to close my lips. I have to really force my mouth closed! They will stop the teeth catching on each other though and speed it up, so it’s worth it.

Plans for next appointment:

Elastics going from top to bottom teeth! Oh my! I believe this is to start closing ALL the gaps and I assume it’s a more effective way of doing it as it sounds really awkward! The orthodontist said she’ll wait until after Christmas for this one, so it sounds like it will be tricky to eat/talk?!
Take an impression of my huge right lateral incisor gap for a temporary false tooth! Woohoo! This gap should be 6mm by the next appointment and she asked if I was self-conscious about it. I wasn’t expecting a false tooth until the retainer stage, so if I can have something sooner that will be amazing. It will also help me to imagine the final results as I can’t picture them in my head at all with so many gaps at the front!
Change bottom wire for the thickest and final wire which is a steel wire to finalise the alignment and keep them there.

It’s all going well and any pain is worth it. I could even have the brace off by the end of 2017 if I’m lucky!