getting used to my Harmony Lingual braces

It's been a couple weeks since my last post so I thought I'd do a quick update - not much exciting or new happening really, my teeth are still moving slowly but surely and don't hurt, even after getting new power threads today so that's good. Also Dr. Cliff was pleased that my upper extraction gap on the left had closed enough that we needed to file down the pontics (fake tooth) to make more room. I actually opted to have them both removed as I find them irritating with food getting stuck etc. and I don't have any more weddings so I'm not too concerned about it. I can see how much the lower left has closed too which is awesome, especially since that's the one that's been missing for over 10 years (we didn't have to remove it). For some reason one of my front teeth has been insanely sensitive lately - to cold, or even room temperature drinks, and even just the air at times. That sucks but I've been using prescription strength fluoride toothpaste which has been helping. It's the same one that used to do this in the past so not really to do with the braces but still extremely irritating. Still using my AcceleDent and it still seems to be working so all in all good progress and I'll keep you posted.

Links

it occurred to me that I should probably post a link to learn more about Harmony Lingual self-ligating braces. Check out Alexander & Alexander in Coppell and Dallas at www.alexanderortho.com or go to www.myharmonysmile.com My next appointment is next week so I'll update after that :)

New power threads on my Harmony braces

Thought I'd do a quick update - I had another appointment with Dr. Cliff at Alexander & Alexander Orthodontics yesterday. I'd been having problems on the right side, with something hurting my tongue and causing a blister. It was driving me crazy because I couldn't figure out which bracket it was. Turns out I had a broken wire! We ended up taking out the broken piece, because it was at the back on the right and we're working on the left right now so it won't affect the treatment and when we put the next wire in it will be fixed. I also had a wire poking me at the back on top and they bent it back so it doesn't bother me anymore. My teeth have definitely been moving, we had to put in a new set of power threads on the left because the first ones were loose, so that means the gaps are closing which is awesome! Negative side is my teeth were REALLY sore yesterday, and still a bit tender today (although way better). So I can tell the threads are doing their job lol. Getting the new threads (they're like elastics) is kind of irritating at first, just because my tongue gets stuck in them, but since it only lasts a day or two I can live with it. That's about it for now, will keep updating as things change :)

One month with my Harmony lingual braces!!!

Well I've had my harmony lingual braces for just over a month now and been using my acceledent for a few weeks - although I have to admit I was on vacation for 10 days and didn't exactly keep up with it : s I do believe the acceledent is working though because it seems like when I wasn't using it my teeth didn't feel like they were moving as much. So it's time to get back on track! I still find the teeth on either side of the extractions to be quite tender when biting down but other than eating my teeth don't hurt at all any more. Also, happy news - today a coworker told me she is starting to see a difference in my smile!! That's awesome because I was feeling like there was no difference at all lol. I have an appt next week so will update again after that.

Harmony Lingual Braces - 1st official visit

I had my official follow up visit today, to check the wires and positioning and to get pontics (fake teeth to fill the extraction gaps) and also get power chains. Those are to help close the gap. I actually got power threads instead, they're like little stretchy elastics, Dr. Alexander thought they would work better with the lingual braces. I felt them right away so hopefully that means they're working already! I have a wedding Saturday, so I'm pretty happy about the fake teeth because I've been really self conscious about smiling, and getting pictures taken, because you can see them if my head is turned to the side at all. Dr. Cliff put them in really quick and I couldn't even feel anything while he was building them up which was great. Basically the fake teeth are for cosmetics only, I can't eat with them and they don't actually reach if I bite down, but they hide the gaps and look amazingly real. I'm not sure how long I'll keep them after the wedding, just because I feel like it's an extra place for food to get stuck etc. but we'll see I've been using the Acceledent, not every day as intended (I missed a couple days on the long weekend) but trying hard. It seems to be less powerful now and I'm not sure if that's because I'm getting used to it or if it actually is doing less vibration but either way it's super easy and doesn't hurt at all. My teeth are pretty much fine now, it seems like they rotate aching lol, one tooth will be sore for a couple days, then a different one, etc. and sometimes when I chew on the right side it feels like one is loose, but I'm just careful and it's fine. I am still careful about what I eat, nothing hard or difficult to chew, but I've had pasta, chicken, shrimp, rice, eggs, bacon, even pizza. I'm still having trouble with my "S"'s but everything else seems to have improved a lot so I'm happy about that as well. That's it for now, will keep you posted :)

Pics with harmony braces

almost forgot, they gave me the pics from right after I got my harmony braces on - I'm almost embarrassed to post these but that's the point right? Notice what a huge difference there is in my bite, you can actually see my bottom teeth now

Braces are ok

Just wanted to give y'all a quick update - I went to Dr. Cliff today (Alexander & Alexander Orthodontics) and he checked all my brackets for me to check if any more were loose. He said all is well, and thankfully the bracket I had reattached in PR is also good to go - a side benefit of these custom Harmony braces is that they really only fit in one place! If I had regular braces I would have had to have him re-attach it in the proper position, of course only if I didn't lose it when it came off :s So whie I was there they also fixed the wire that was poking up and cutting my tongue, so that feels a million times better, and I got a new supply of gishy goo since I used up the last one protecting my tongue from said wire lol. They also gave me a new appliance to try, called "AcceleDent" which is supposed to help accelerate the movement of my teeth so the treatment time is shorter. I have to plug it in overnight so I'll try it tomorrow and let you know what it's like. That's all for now, ttys