After having spacers in place for 16 days, one could imagine my level of enthusiasm for heading to the orthodontist today, to have them removed. However, enthusiasm is not the word that I would use to describe my day, today...
As you can see in the pictures, I have quite the posterior cross bite. This little sucker developed after a tooth (second bicuspid) was extracted in 2005. Since then, my first molar, first bicuspid, and my first cuspid have slowly been moving inwards, due to the free space that they were given to roam. Since my orthodontist and I have decided against oral surgery (maxillary expansion), in hopes that the self-ligating braces can do the trick (come on 5mm of movement.. come to papa!), one important step of my treatment is maintain the width of my lower arch. From what I can tell, during the expansion phase of the upper arch, the lower arch may expand as well as the forces between the teeth change. For this reason, I am being placed in a "lingual arch" that will be in place for the next ~four months.
Is this fun? Not so far! Here are a few pictures to shed light on what I have going on in my mouth.
Enjoy the black and white pictures. I apologize for the high saliva content (hard to get my tongue to work!)
Lingual Arch
Upper Arch
Right Side (Notice the collapsing bite)
Left side (my good side!)
Straight at ya'!
No comments:
Post a Comment