9 days down...

[Mikelaw84]

Hello! Im a 23 year old male who just had his braces put on a week ago wed.

The first couple of days were rough adjusting to eating, I still cannot eat many things I ate before. The biggest obstacle I have so far is my underbite. To compensate so I wouldnt bite off my 2 front teeth braces, my ortho put gobs of the plastic cement on the tops of my back molars inhibiting me to bite down all the way (this keeping the front braces safe).

This has made it near impossible to chew much, but I am managing. There was the standard pain for about 4-5 days but it has since subsided.

Is it normal to not have your first adjustment appointment for 2 months? As i said before my braces were put on the end of February and I dont go back again until April 24...Thought that was a bit odd.

How long does it take for most people to see noticeable improvements?

Mike

[Sunny]

Great your treatment has started Mike.

It's good that you've found having braces is not tough, as it shouldn't be. The molar buildup can be challenging for a few days (or weeks), but if you really want to get on with your life as usual, most people work out ways to eat with the buildup and therefore not put their brackets at risk.

Time between adjustments can vary from the 'old' style of once a month, to once every 6, 8, 10, 12 or more weeks. I work for my ortho, and he sets his appointments to suit his patients. My appointments have varied from as close as five weeks, to over 16 weeks. My average time is around 10 weeks.

The modern archwires will continue to move your teeth, until they'e in a pefect arch. This is the shape the archwire was in before it was put in your brackets. If your teeth aren't this perfect shape, then it won't matter how long between appointments, as work is still happening. Most ortho's like to check progress though, and help the archwire along when necessary.

How long before you see movement? This appears to be a very individual thing, and depends on what needs doing to your teeth. People with the most crowding usually see progress quite quickly, as the archwire moves these teeth to sort alignment. If your work is more about correcting the bite and less about alignment issues, then progrss is less obvious.

We recommend our patients take photos once a month. Photos of their smile, left and right sides, upper and lower arch. This is a great way to compare your progress.

Hope you see some progress soon!

[Mikelaw84]

So next time i go to the ortho do they change the wire or just the linguatures? The ortho assistant I had told me the smalled gauge wire they put on would move the teeth faster than the thicker would (I am assuming this is true?).

[Sunny]

Totally true Mike, the smaller the guage, the more flexible the wire and the more progess that will be made to sort out alignment.

What happens at your appointments will depend on what is needed by your teeth. I've only had one archwire change in over 2 1/2 years, and that was at seven months ... and if you check out my blog, you'll see I've had loads of movement.

Some patients, need archwire changes more often, due to needing to change from round to square, back to round, or to a different type, eg from memory wire to stainless steel. Also there are braided wires that have different uses, wires with posts and so on.

Most ortho's will change the ligs and/or powerchains at all appointments, but not all.

Good luck with seeing progress soon!