Progress at Nine Weeks

First of all, let me mention that if you are new to this blog, or are just skimming, there were a couple questions relating to the expense and comfort of the treatment that can be found in the "Comments" section of the previous blog entry. I will suggest reading them there rather than my repeating my replies here.

I have by now been back to see the dentist for brief appointments several times, sometimes at one week intervals, other times two week intervals. No problems have occurred, but she likes to check and recheck the appliance for comfortable and proper fit. She had slightly ground or polished areas of the appliance several times now, trying to perfect the fit and bite alignment according to her goals. Other than that things have gone uneventfully.

When the appliance was first given to me, it was two weeks before she made the next mechanical adjustment to start spreading the appliance. Later this was stepped up to weekly intervals. Then she allowed me to make the adjustments myself, after tutoring me what to do. How often the adjustments are made depends to an extent on how many hours a day one wears the appliance. I strive for a minimum of 12 hours a day, and usually end up achieving 14 hours or even a little more. The more I can wear it, the earlier the treatment can end.

As you can see by comparing to the picture in the previous blog entry, the appliance has clearly expanded, an indication of the bone growth that is occurring.


I don't have a proper way to gauge the gaps in the appliance, but it looks to me like they have increased in the 1-2 mm range. You can clearly see through the gaps now, whereas you could not when the appliance was new.

As to changes in my teeth, I believe I am seeing subtle changes. I do feel the overall arch of the uppers has widened a bit, as gauged by the way my tongue fits between the teeth. I also believe that my front teeth are coming forward- but just slightly. Almost impossible to see in a photo. I feel like my face is filling out just a bit. One might guess I have gained weight, though I haven't.  But again, it is very subtle, and difficult to see in a photo, especially with the poor photo quality of this webcam. But I will post the photos for readers to view and compare with the previous entries.

As to the lower teeth, I see no change at all as of yet- however this is supposed to be normal.

Changes in the relative alignment of the upper teeth are still quite subtle at this point. Can you see a difference compared to the "Fugly Truth" pictures?

I tried to make this photo as similar as possible to my blog profile photo which was taken November 2010. I think my face has slightly more filled out appearance now, though again, it is quite subtle. I wonder if it is detectable to readers?