Every cloud has a silver lining!

Well, there I was brushing my teeth on Friday night, after my appointment on Friday afternoon, and I noticed that 4 bands from the top row were missing! So frustrating, they had been on less than 6 hours and already I had lost them.

So I send word to the dentist to get them put back on, they told me to go back on the Saturday as the orthodontist had a free appointment. Bit of luck I thought.

Well I got there and told him my predicament of not being able to go for a few months, and he looked at my teeth. He replaced the top bands I lost, and then changed the bottom arch wire back to the previous one, put back on the Hannibal hooks and sent me on my way with another bag of bands to wear at night!

Proper happy, it now looks as though I have only really lost a month of progress, so happy that he did that. I was surprised that my bottom teeth had pulled back straight practically overnight, so he was able to change it all.

I am now very very wary about loosing bands though, I have an almost OCD relationship with it now, I am determined that nothing is going to set my progress back again, as they could be off next month, and that would be a dream come true.

So with hourly inspections of my teeth and cutting food up really small, and most defiantly not biting anything, at all, for the next month, we will keep our fingers crossed!

I did also get some information about what happens after the fixed brace is removed, which I will save for a later date as I am just too happy and excited at this news for now!!!

Worst fears confirmed

Well, today was my orthodontist appointment and he confirmed my worse fears.

After looking at my uneven teeth in the bottom row, that I caused with loosing the bands and not checking, he has put me back to an arch wire to pull them in line again. He removed the metal hooks for the night time elastics and put normal ones back on.

He says that it has probably cost 2 months as it will take one month to pull them back and the next to do the Hannibal closing again, so I am totally kicking myself.

Also to make matters worse, I can only make it to my next appointment, then all of the orthodontist visits happen when I am out of the country, so I cannot see him until September this year. They said to talk over the options with him next time I see him, but 3 weeks ago I was expecting to have these off within a month, and now I am looking at Christmas again!

I am so disappointed and frustrated by this....it was all going so well.

Again I reiterate, if you think there is something out of the ordinary or something missing, sort it out straight away, as little setbacks can turn into huge ones very quickly. :-(

Aaagh...so annoyed!

So, after the last visit I noticed that the bottom 4 front teeth had no bands on them. I just assumed the orthodontist didn't put any on as I didn't think I could have lost them so quick.

I should have checked with the dentist, and this is a lesson to everyone out there, if in doubt check, because they should have been there and I have probably just set myself back at least a month on my progress.

The bands have 'jumped' is the professional term, meaning because of the metal things that hold the Hannibal bands on, they can come off easier, and they have. Now the arch wire is too far away from the teeth because the have moved so much that I have to go back a step and have them realigned.

The only reason I went and checked was because one of them had been really pushed back, and I though this isn't right, my next appointment is in 2 days time so was going to wait. I am so frustrated with myself that I waited this long and thought it was normal.

So moral of the story, if in doubt, check, as otherwise you may prolong the treatment.