I Took Off All Elastics & Let Arch Wire Do Its Job

It's been five days

since I installed my the arch wire onto my ceramic brackets using .010" stainless steel wires as ligatures. I was using different size elastics to pull in certain teeth even after I installed the arch wire.

Now I have taken off all of the elastics(rubber bands). I can tell that the arch wire, ligatures and brackets are exerting some force on my teeth, but I have been impatient. I think I have prematurely tried to tighten up my ligatures and I had two brackets come off. As an experiment in re-attaching my brackets I used the standard uv cured ortho cement on one tooth and I used Loctite super glue on the other tooth. I'll let you know which one stands the test of time. The only reason I even considered using super glue in my mouth is because I've read some info about it being used in emergency home dental situations. Any ways I have decided to let the arch wire do its job by correcting the arch of my upper grill then I'll pull in the gaps with some power chain elastics.

At this point I'm just happy to feel the braces pulling out my crowded and crooked upper teeth. As far as pain goes, its not much. I only feel pain when I'm eating and some food makes it's way to my front teeth. Other than that, I'm cool. One thing I've realized throughout this process is that I haven't placed all my brackets perfectly on point. So at some point I will have to re-position some of my brackets as pointed out in the material that I studied.

I did make a tool a couple hours ago to help me place the brackets correctly.It's a homemade tool that will let me place brackets at 4mm or 4.5mm. I wish I had this tool in the beginning, I could have placed my brackets much more accurately. This is very important! Since some of my brackets are not placed perfectly on the tooth, I will have to reposition them and it's no fun. The point is if I could do it again I would make this tool first then use it to get my brackets perfect from jumpstreet. I would have ordered round niti wire also. From what I've learned so far, othodontists use round niti wire at first because it bends to the shape of crooked teeth easier than most other wires. I only have rectagular wire >016" x .022" upper wire.

Introduction:

I've needed braces for my teeth since I was very young, but my Mom never could afford it. Over the years I guess I've learned to deal with it. Recently I came across youtube videos that showed people closing the gaps in their teeth using small rubber bands. That eventually led to me watching countless videos showing the process of installing real braces and understanding how each component works. So naturally, after finding out that I could order the brackets, cement, arch wire, etc online, I couldn't resist the chance to finally begin straightening my teeth. What makes me most self-conscious are my top teeth since they are the most prominent when I smile. So I decided to put braces on my top teeth first.

Closing Simple Gaps Is Easy To Do:

My ceramic brackets, orthodontic cement & rubber bands arrived first, so I began the process of bonding the brackets to my freshly etched teeth and light curing the cement with a cheap led pen style flashlight.



I decided to install rubber bands on the brackets to close some gaps while waiting for my arch wire to arrive. This is the progress after only five days! 

Arch Wire Finally Installed:

So my arch wire finally came in the mail and I was very excited to say the least. I used stainless steel wire that is .010" thick as ligatures to tie the arch wire into the ceramic bracket. As the ligatures are twisted or tightened, I began to feel the pressure especially from the most crooked teeth. So far the pain hasn't been much at all except for when I eat. I had far more pain using the rubber bands to close my gaps for the five previous days. At this point I'm just trying to allow the arch wire to correct the crowding on the right side of my upper row. The gaps on the left side are pretty much gone. 

I still do place rubber bands strategically connecting certain brackets to apply force on certain teeth. I'm hoping that the arch wire doesn't take forever to correct the crookedness and crowding. So far so good. After 3-4 days of having my arch wire installed my teeth fell a little tender, but no severe pain. I can tell the teeth are being pulled and moved because of the discomfort. These braces were installed on Monday November 3rd 2014.

Disclaimer:

None of the information on this site should be taken as medical or dental advice. This is for educational purposes only. Tracking the progress from beginning to end straightening my teeth at home.