Month 13 and an orthodontist appointment

So another month, another picture. I'm not actually sure if there's any real point to me doing the week by week and month by month anymore, seeing as there's been no big changes between the weeks and months anymore...but I'll figure that out later. For now I'll stick to it, as that's what I've been doing for the past year.

Month 13

All I can say for month 13 is that things are getting finalized and that I can feel my back molars touching each other. No major changes from the one year mark, nor do I expect there to be.

Now, as for the orthodontist appointment that I had today...

It was probably one of the fastest, if not the fastest, appointment I've had so far. I was literally in and out of the office in 20 minutes. That usually doesn't happen. I'm usually out in 30-40 minutes, on average. But I guess that's another sign that things are starting to come together...the lack of major adjustments and changes in each appointment. Which in a way, is good, but in another way, makes for really boring updates and progress. But I do want to be done sooner rather than later, so I guess this lack of excitement is what I'm signing up for now.

The orthodontist assessed my bite, as that is what we're working currently, and declared that my bite is just about perfect. I suspect that the molars are literally the only thing preventing me from having a perfect bite at this time. Which you know, makes sense, considering the fact that I am to continue on the box configuration for elastics on my molars. Which, is still an annoyance, but at least I've figured out how to apply them efficiently and quickly now. Including the elastic for my right side.

I got IPR done today on my top four front teeth. According to the orthodontist, my central incisors on the top are flaring (I didn't notice it, to be honest), so to make room, he shaved a bit of teeth off each of my top four incisors. IPR feels...funny. The tech described it as super flossing, but it really isn't. It's more like....well, you just feel vibrations between the teeth that's being IPR'd. Not unlike a dental cleaning where the dentist uses the...polishing thing to polish your teeth. It feels a bit funny, but it doesn't hurt, isn't uncomfortable (beyond the fact your mouth is dry from being held opened). It's really just grinding a bit of teeth away to make room. 1/3 of a 1mm is what I was told. Which is to say, tiny. So now I've got some tiny gaps in between my four top incisors, which should hopefully help to bring the central incisors in to fix the flaring. With the powerchain, I'm sure that's not an issue.

I also mentioned that I noticed my top left canine is a bit tilted inwards when compared to my top right canine, and the orthodontist said that after the central incisors thing is fixed, it'll just be a simple thing to tilt the left canine out.

So that's my orthodontist appointment today. Some IPR, and to continue on the elastics. (I really am hoping that by my next appointment in July, I wouldn't be needing any more elastics.) Hopefully we're getting closer and closer to the end!

It's really hard to see, but there are gaps in between my top incisors.