Just had 3rd adjustment and have a question. :)

[newsboysgrl777]

Reminder: I have ceramic braces only on the top for right now. Got them July 30, 2008.

Let me start off by briefly talking about my second adjustment. When I went in, the girl (what are the assistants called?) looked at my teeth and said something like "oh, you're not as straight (or maybe she used the word aligned? or something similar) as I want" and she said that she was putting my same wire back in. After talking with her briefly, it turns out that the wire I have isn't the heaviest guage wire I'll ever be getting, and so I can only assume that she thought she was going to be putting another guage in.

When the ortho came over, she told the girl to put a power chain on my four front-most teeth. Then the girl told me to come back in 4 weeks and that was it. Now, I usually always come back in 6 weeks, so I assumed that based on what she mentioned, about my teeth not being straight or whatever, that they were going to give my teeth 4 more weeks to get where they ought to be, then by my next adjustment they would put that heavier wire in??

Okay, so yesterday I went in for that next adjustment and the girl said "let's me see what I need to do for you" or something and then looked at my chart, then she said she'd go get the doctor. (In the mean time, I asked her if I could brush my teeth with the wire out...I had done that the last time, too..and she let me..and so I did - with my electric toothbrush!! It was awesome!! I brushed for SO long in EVERY crevice I could!! LOL. It's a rare treat to not have to contend with the wire )

So then the doctor came in and she had me bite and looked at my teeth and she didn't say all that much except she, too, mentioned that they weren't all aligned right (or something??) and then she told the girl what to do. Soooo...what that ended up being was to put the copper wire back in (I found out that that is what I've had) and to put steel wire ties on the front four teeth instead of the powerchains.

Now, I've mentioned ALL of that to ask this simple question: what are the wire ties for? I've googled it, and it seems like just an alternative to ligs, but I have to think there is a REASON she had them put those on those specific teeth instead of ligs. And the fact that it's the same teeth that had the powerchain must mean something, too, right??

The last time, I came back and googled what powerchains do and it said that they close spaces. Personally, I didn't see any spaces that needed closing. My front 4 teeth don't have gaps or anything, and there are actually spaces on either end of that set of 4 teeth..so I'm clueless?? What do you think she's doing? What do you think the power chains were for and what do you think the wire ties were for??

For reference, I'm going to TRY to post photos, if I can figure out how.

Thanks so much!! And I'm SOO sorry for how long this post is

[newsboysgrl777]

oops! posted twice! sorry!

[newsboysgrl777]

With the power chain - (pic taken Week 13)

With the wire ties - (pic taken Week 16 (which is today 11.20.08))

And a collage of Day Before braces through Week 16 (not as good as Karen's (aka Sunny), of course )

[Sunny]

Newsboysgrl I think your collage is great and wow you've had heaps of improvement in such a short time ... you should be very proud of your teeth!

Powerchains do many things, although one of their main jobs is to close gaps and another is to keep teeth together while they're moving.

Wire ties can be used instead of ligs and are great for this job with ceramic brackets, as they blend in and never stain. They can also be used to put pressure on certain parts of the archwire, to help gain a specific type of movement ... which sounds like what is being done in your case.

Good luck with your teeth continuing to do so well!

[Zoso]

Not exactly. It would be more accurate to say that wire ties can be used to engage the archwire more firmly in the bracket slot, and by doing so they enable the forces from the archwire to be transferred more effectively to the teeth. So they help the archwire do its job better - hopefully this means you'll get that long-anticipated new wire next time round