Hello everyone!
I hope you’ve all enjoyed starting the new school year. We loved seeing all of you for ice cream and receiving your postcards this summer. I had a great summer here, watching my teeth move and change has been especially cool for me!
With that in mind, I wanted to update you on how my treatment is going and talk a little bit about the importance of elastics. Here’s a picture of my progress just to give you an idea of what elastics can do:
Pretty cool, huh? I could hardly believe the changes myself. It’s very exciting to watch my bite get better and better. What you’re seeing here is correction of my deep bite or the way my teeth fit together vertically. Because of the way my teeth fit together vertically I needed bite turbos, which I talked about in my first post. In order for me to no longer need my bite turbos, Dr. Judah had to correct my deep bite. As you can see from my photos, my bite turbos were opening my bite so I wouldn’t break my brackets off. Since I’ve given my elastics a 100% effort my deep bite is starting to correct and my deep bite is starting to resolve. Here are a couple of other reasons we use elastics:
- To correct too much or too little overjet (I’ll need to wear elastics to correct my overjet next)
- To correct too much or too little overbite
- To help certain teeth move
- To close an open bite
Here are a couple of definitions for you, courtesy of the American Association of Orthodontists:
Elastics: Rubber bands. During certain stages of treatment, small elastics or rubber bands are worn to provide individual tooth movement or jaw alignment.
Deep bite: Also known as deep overbite, this occurs when the upper front teeth overlap the bottom front teeth an excessive amount.
Overjet: The horizontal distance between the front surface of the upper incisors and the front surface of the lower incisors. (source)
The most important thing you need to know about elastics is how important it is that you wear them exactly as instructed. The elastics move your teeth in ways that your braces and your doctor usually cannot. Dr. Judah likes to say that elastics are like an orthodontic gas pedal, if you wear them 100% of the time you have been instructed to, you are well on your way to getting your braces off!
Filed under: Braces, Braces friendly food, Class II, Deepbite, Food, Overbite, Recipes
Hello!
Before I get started telling you about food, I wanted to show you guys an updated photo of my teeth. They’ve moved a lot! See those little red circles? They’re there to point out to you the hooks I use for my elastics. I started wearing elastics to help correct my class II deep bite. I can already feel the changes! Some of you may be able to see the changes in my teeth compared to my last photos. 
In my last post I mentioned some foods that I’ve found easy to eat with braces. I thought it would be nice if I went over food in a little more detail. Here we go:
- Your teeth are not tools! You should never use your teeth to open packages or to bite into anything that isn’t food. With that in mind you should eat your food delicately with braces. Tearing bread, bagels, or pizza crusts is a surefire way to break a bracket. The best way to go about eating foods like that is to break them into small pieces and chew gently with your back teeth. Same goes for raw fruits and veggies. Cutting them into small pieces versus biting into them whole is your best bet.
- Sometimes it’s not what you chew, but how you chew it… Sounds funny, but it’s true. I’ve known patients who have broken brackets on hot dogs! For example, if you are chewing on your right side and notice that when you bite down you feel pressure on your brackets, try chewing your food on the other side. Brackets don’t break themselves off so pay attention to what you’re munching on!
- Avoid sugary foods! We all love a good sweet treat once in a while. Unfortunately with braces your teeth become harder to keep clean. If you consume lots of sugary foods and have poor oral hygiene habits, you run the risk of getting decalcification (white tooth scarring that is permanent!) No one wants to go through months and months of orthodontic treatment to end up with their teeth looking like this:
Here are a couple links that are helpful:
American Association of Orthodontics Recipes
Again, our Food for Orthodontic Thought guide.
Keep an eye out for my next post, I’ll be talking about the pros and cons of elastics!
Wow! What an awesome experience. Most of you reading this know that I help put braces on, so it was great to be the patient and see what it’s like! Here is a picture of Whitney and me before she got started with my bonding:
The bonding process was pretty easy. It doesn’t hurt, but it’s very important to sit still and I thought that was a little difficult. The weirdest part by far was when the cheek retractors came out and I felt my braces for the first time. The rest of my appointment was a cinch.
You might remember in my last post I mentioned my deep bite. Well because of my deep bite I had to get bite turbos. Bite turbos are small composite pads that are bonded to the tongue side of the upper front teeth or the chewing surface of the molars. They are a temporary addition to my treatment, and are used to correct excessive deep bites and overbites. At first I didn’t really like my turbos as they made it a little bit harder to chew and to speak. After a couple days though, I noticed that my upper teeth would be knocking off my lower brackets without the turbos in place.
The kind of food I eat now is different too. I tend to go for softer foods that I know are easy to chew and are safe for my braces. Some of my favorite braces foods are cheese, pasta, frozen yogurt, fruit and cooked vegetables. Here are some other food guidelines that we have our patients follow: Food for Orthodontic Thought
That’s all for today! Next time I’ll update you on my first week in braces and what it’s like to have elastics!
P.S. Here’s a picture of my teeth with braces…
Hey G.O. Fans, Rachelle here!
I can’t believe I’m going to get braces! I’ve always been self-conscious about my teeth and a little jealous of everyone walking around here with braces on. Dr. Judah took a look at my teeth and told me I had some minor crowding with a Class II deep bite malocclusion. Here is a good link to some information about the different malocclusions we treat in our office. After Dr. Judah looked at my teeth it was time for the next step: Records!
I had x-rays, photos, and impressions taken just like everyone else does! I thought the x-ray machine was pretty interesting, I can definitely understand now when our patients say it feels like its preparing you to go into outer space 
Then it was time for photos of my teeth and impressions. Those of you with braces can empathize with me here, it wasn’t my favorite part but it was so cool to see my teeth on the computer and as a set of models.
Here’s a picture of my teeth before braces:
My teeth are a little crowded, but my biggest problem is my bite. It’s hard to believe that the way your teeth come together could effect what your smile looks like, but after seeing my pictures and models I understand what Dr. Judah was talking about.
I am so excited to update you all on my progress, so stay tuned!
