Saturday, January 28, 2012

Another expander?

The title tells the whole story. It's possible and very likely that I am going to get fitted for another RPA. The reason is because my teeth have not moved as far as was initially hoped. Although they have moved approximately 10 mm so far, it is not far enough. This is especially relevant to my left side, which you can see from previous pictures that its movement are much slower than that of the right side.

Currently, I'm still turning my RPA but I should be done soon. I'm not sure how I'll know when to stop. I'm hypothesizing that either there won't be a hole for me to insert the stick or the stick will get stuck when I try to turn.

I was feeling a little bummed out when I was first told the news. I don't know after a few months I was kind of anticipating braces. Maybe I'm dorky but I was excited to know that I was getting braced. Oh well. I will be braced eventually.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Happiness for change.

Happy 2012 everyone! Just thought I get that out of the way first. Now onto the teeth.


Turn #2

Turn #34

Above are pictures showing the distance that my RPA has moved so far. It's approximately >7mm at the moment. As I've mentioned before, the average maximum distance is approximately 10 mm. My guess at this point is that I will finish turning the full 10 mm in early February. Hopefully by then I will finally be braced.

Nevertheless before the braces I'm going to have to get both my bottom two first pre-molars removed. This is because I need to create the appropriate space for my crowded canine teeth to turn back into their positions. I heard that canines are the hardest type of teeth to move due to their long roots. This is interesting because during my initial consultation with the orthodontist he commented on how long all the roots on my teeth were. At the time, I wasn't sure if it was a compliment or not so I just smiled back at him. For those who may be curious, the picture on top of the blue x ray are not of my teeth. I found that on google. 

So far, my experiences feel as if I'm taking a small road trip just before I venture on a grand journey. Five months with the RPA before I can finally get braces. However, time is flying by. To get by I have the habit of always imagining the end result (having a Hollywood smile hehe), which always gives me the motivation to keep turning my RPE. For those who are currently using an RPE or have been lucky enough to have used one (sarcasm), you probably know what I mean. Every other week or so when I turn it and notice the very little movement that has occurred I can't help but smile to myself. I don't think this type of happiness can be replicated often --- happiness for change.