Week 77, 78 and Month 18

So it's officially been 1.5 years in braces...and I don't think I'm getting them off before the end of this year. But that's okay. I don't really mind that I would be in braces for a bit longer...I've had these on for 1.5 years already, what's another few months in the grand scheme of things? And I've totally gotten used to life in braces, so it's not like it would be anything foreign that I have no experience with. Though it would be nice if I could get these things off before the end of the year. It would be a nice Christmas present indeed.

The reason that I don't think I'll get these off before the end of the year (despite my orthodontist's plan to make molds for retainers on my next appointment--which is tomorrow--and to debrace the appointment following that) is simply because the gaps created by the latest round of IPR have no closed. Particularly, the gap between my upper right central and lateral incisor haven't budged since the last appointment. And I'm pretty sure the gap between my upper left lateral incisor and canine haven't moved either. So until those gaps are closed, braces won't be off. I'm confident that those gaps will close...but it will take some more time.

I have my appointment tomorrow, and the one thing that I'm hoping to get out of this appointment is no more elastics use. I'm just so tired of the box configuration for my molars. Even if it's just night time wear. I've been in this configuration for seven months now, which is the longest time I've been in any elastics configuration...and couple with the fact that it's just not easy to put the elastics on (due to one of the hooks not being a hook but the back of curve hook!), it's just annoying. There's been more times than I care to count where the elastic snap off on the right side (always the right side!) in the middle of the night and I'd have to get up to fix it...if I'm aware of it as it happened. If not, then I try to squeeze in a few hours during the day on nights where the elastic have snapped. It's just a big annoyance. I'm thankful that it's been only nighttime wear for the past few months...but I'm ready to not have to deal with them.

I suppose my orthodontist will try to close the two gaps that I have during tomorrow's appointment. Probably with more powerchains, or by placing the powerchain underneath the brackets instead of over them. I know the end is near, and these are just small things that needs to be tweaked out before the braces can go off. I still think that this was easily one of the better decisions that I've made, and I'm pretty happy with the results so far. I'm not looking for perfect Hollywood teeth, but I do like what I have so far. Big improvement from what I started with!

Week 77

Week 78, Month 18