Amanda's facebow and braces
Amanda knew the day was coming, and knew she would regret it. In two weeks she would have to get her braces put on. The impressions had been taken, and she was prepared for treatment. Worse, Amanda had a great overbite, causing her top lip to stick out. She was in for a treatment.
Amanda was 17 years old. Her dentist suggested she see an orthodontist. The orthodontist, Dr. Black, determined she needed braces immediately. Amanda thought she was too old to be getting braces, but her parents insisted, and she had no choice. Her top front teeth stuck out quite a bit, and her lower teeth were crooked. However, deep down inside, she had always liked how braces looked on other kids, and wanted them.
The day finally came, and Amanda was really nervous. She sat in the office shivering at the thought of her treatment. Dr. Black had told her that she would be getting regular braces with rubber bands, with headgear, a herbst, and expanders to be added later. When Amanda sat down in the orthodontist’s chair, the assistant went right to work inserting a lip spreader into her mouth to keep her lips off her teeth. Next she inserted the spacers for the back bands. She was lucky; she would only have to wear brackets instead of the old fashioned bands.
After a while, the spacers began to hurt, and about that time, Dr. Black came to see her. He went to work gluing the brackets onto her top teeth. He put on several types of brackets, most of them having small hooks on top. These hooks were for the elastics she would later wear. When Dr. Black had finished the top teeth, he removed the back spacers on her upper jaw, and had Amanda bite down on the bands to put them onto her back four teeth. While he was preparing to begin the lower jaw, Amanda felt the front of her teeth with her tounge and couldn’t believe how she was getting braces at age 17. Most of her friends were getting them off, or were soon finishing their treatments.
Dr. Black soon went right back to work on the lower jaw, putting many of the hooked brackets on her teeth, and putting on 4 more bands on the bottom back teeth. He had Amanda look in a mirror to let her see what he had done. She was shocked, but liked the look. He retrieved some wire to connect her braces together, and went right to work. He bent it around and inserted it into the brackets. Dr. Black asked Amanda what color ligatures she wanted, and thinking for a second, she answered “I want baby blue.” When this was complete, he let Amanda see the completed work. Dr. Black finished her braces, which hurt a little, and then got a small bag of multi-colored elastics and showed them to Amanda. “You have to wear 4 of these every day, all day. I will show you how to attach them now.” He got out a chair-mounted mirror, and removed several of the elastics from the bag, along with a small tool for applying them. He hooked one elastic on her lateral incisor and stretched it to the corresponding tooth below. He did the same with the next tooth back, and the same 2 teeth on the other side of her mouth. When Amanda tried opening her mouth, she felt a spring-like action, but it didn’t affect her speech too much. She could talk well enough, and Dr. Black sent her home with some wax for soreness, feeling confident she would do great.
For the rest of the night, Amanda was in pain from her orthodontic work. She didn’t eat dinner, and only ate very soft foods the rest of the night. Worse, she had to go to school the next day, which she proclaimed was unfair. When she went to school, people noticed and commented nicely. Amanda didn’t think the comments were right; her braces caused her upper lip to bulge out, showing her teeth and braces, and her lower jaw was a metal mass when she talked. Her lower jaw continued to hurt the worst though, and she had to use a lot of wax where her braces irritated her cheek. However, Amanda continued to get used to the braces for the next 4 weeks, but she had another appointment soon after…
Amanda went back to see Dr. Black again. He went right to work removing the old ligatures from her braces, and removed the old archwires. This relieved some pressure on Amanda’s jaw, but it would soon return. Dr. Black got a bit thicker wire this time, and worked it into Amanda’s brackets. This time Amanda chose black, choosing to be rebellious since girls normally don’t get black.
As it turns out, the 4 elastics were hard to keep up with. She had to change them every 4 hours, and doing this at school was a challenge. Every day at lunch, Amanda had to put up with the embarrassment of removing 4 elastics from her mouth, and then put the small green and pink colored elastics on her tray. After lunch, she went to the restroom and refitted all 4. She didn’t complain, however, because the worst would come in a few weeks…
At her next appointment, Amanda would receive her headgear. She has seen headgear on some of her friends when she stayed at their houses, but they never wore theirs to school. The day came to go see Dr. Black, and Amanda was nerve-racked. She couldn’t believe that she was being forced to wear such a contraption. Dr. Black began by doing the usual routine, tightening her braces, and this time Amanda got hot pink on top and green on bottom. Reaching into a drawer behind him, Dr. Black pulled out a mirror, a facebow and a neck strap. After setting up the mirror for Amanda to watch his work, he inserted the facebow into the tubes on the bands of Amanda’s upper molars. He then connected the neck strap to the facebow on the hooks on the side. Amanda immediately felt tension on her upper jaw, and couldn’t close her lips completely. “You must wear this as I’ve shown you for 14 hours a day. If you don’t wear it as I say, it will take much longer for you to complete treatment,” Dr. Black stated. Amanda thought “great.”
Amanda looked in the mirror at home. Her teeth were metal covered, and now she had a metal bar sticking out of her mouth and going around her head. “How great.” She couldn’t imagine what her friends would think of her smile now. Amanda wore her headgear for about 14 hours a day at home, sometimes more, sometimes less. Her friends commented on how straight her teeth were becoming. She was finally glad that she had gotten braces put on, but that was soon to change.
When Amanda sat down in the orthodontist chair next, Dr. Black looked at her and told her that he had some new appliances for her instead of her headgear. Amanda was joyed that she no longer had to wear the headgear, and told him to go ahead. Dr. Black first started by removing her wires and ligatures and putting in new wires. He then tied each bracket with wire, and then installed a tight green powerchain over top of this. He grabbed a palatal expander from the drawer behind him and sized it to the roof of her mouth. He installed the expander and turned it once. He then reached for an expander for her lower jaw. By this time, Amanda was getting very nervous and scared of what he was doing. To top it all off, Dr. Black then installed a Herbst on each side of Amanda’s mouth. This limited her from opening her mouth very far and allowed no side to side movement. He then installed two elastics, from her upper canines to her outer lower incisors. When Amanda looked in the mirror, she almost fainted at what she saw. “Dr. Black, I can’t believe you did all of this to me!” Amanda said. Dr. Black looked at her and said “You wanted straight teeth, now youre going to get it. I want you to change those elastics daily, turn the expander with the key Ľ turn once in the morning and once at night and make sure you keep everything perfectly clean. I’ll see you back here in a month!” With that, Amanda left, not sure of what would happen next time at the office of Evil Dr. Black…
Amanda was 17 years old. Her dentist suggested she see an orthodontist. The orthodontist, Dr. Black, determined she needed braces immediately. Amanda thought she was too old to be getting braces, but her parents insisted, and she had no choice. Her top front teeth stuck out quite a bit, and her lower teeth were crooked. However, deep down inside, she had always liked how braces looked on other kids, and wanted them.
The day finally came, and Amanda was really nervous. She sat in the office shivering at the thought of her treatment. Dr. Black had told her that she would be getting regular braces with rubber bands, with headgear, a herbst, and expanders to be added later. When Amanda sat down in the orthodontist’s chair, the assistant went right to work inserting a lip spreader into her mouth to keep her lips off her teeth. Next she inserted the spacers for the back bands. She was lucky; she would only have to wear brackets instead of the old fashioned bands.
After a while, the spacers began to hurt, and about that time, Dr. Black came to see her. He went to work gluing the brackets onto her top teeth. He put on several types of brackets, most of them having small hooks on top. These hooks were for the elastics she would later wear. When Dr. Black had finished the top teeth, he removed the back spacers on her upper jaw, and had Amanda bite down on the bands to put them onto her back four teeth. While he was preparing to begin the lower jaw, Amanda felt the front of her teeth with her tounge and couldn’t believe how she was getting braces at age 17. Most of her friends were getting them off, or were soon finishing their treatments.
Dr. Black soon went right back to work on the lower jaw, putting many of the hooked brackets on her teeth, and putting on 4 more bands on the bottom back teeth. He had Amanda look in a mirror to let her see what he had done. She was shocked, but liked the look. He retrieved some wire to connect her braces together, and went right to work. He bent it around and inserted it into the brackets. Dr. Black asked Amanda what color ligatures she wanted, and thinking for a second, she answered “I want baby blue.” When this was complete, he let Amanda see the completed work. Dr. Black finished her braces, which hurt a little, and then got a small bag of multi-colored elastics and showed them to Amanda. “You have to wear 4 of these every day, all day. I will show you how to attach them now.” He got out a chair-mounted mirror, and removed several of the elastics from the bag, along with a small tool for applying them. He hooked one elastic on her lateral incisor and stretched it to the corresponding tooth below. He did the same with the next tooth back, and the same 2 teeth on the other side of her mouth. When Amanda tried opening her mouth, she felt a spring-like action, but it didn’t affect her speech too much. She could talk well enough, and Dr. Black sent her home with some wax for soreness, feeling confident she would do great.
For the rest of the night, Amanda was in pain from her orthodontic work. She didn’t eat dinner, and only ate very soft foods the rest of the night. Worse, she had to go to school the next day, which she proclaimed was unfair. When she went to school, people noticed and commented nicely. Amanda didn’t think the comments were right; her braces caused her upper lip to bulge out, showing her teeth and braces, and her lower jaw was a metal mass when she talked. Her lower jaw continued to hurt the worst though, and she had to use a lot of wax where her braces irritated her cheek. However, Amanda continued to get used to the braces for the next 4 weeks, but she had another appointment soon after…
Amanda went back to see Dr. Black again. He went right to work removing the old ligatures from her braces, and removed the old archwires. This relieved some pressure on Amanda’s jaw, but it would soon return. Dr. Black got a bit thicker wire this time, and worked it into Amanda’s brackets. This time Amanda chose black, choosing to be rebellious since girls normally don’t get black.
As it turns out, the 4 elastics were hard to keep up with. She had to change them every 4 hours, and doing this at school was a challenge. Every day at lunch, Amanda had to put up with the embarrassment of removing 4 elastics from her mouth, and then put the small green and pink colored elastics on her tray. After lunch, she went to the restroom and refitted all 4. She didn’t complain, however, because the worst would come in a few weeks…
At her next appointment, Amanda would receive her headgear. She has seen headgear on some of her friends when she stayed at their houses, but they never wore theirs to school. The day came to go see Dr. Black, and Amanda was nerve-racked. She couldn’t believe that she was being forced to wear such a contraption. Dr. Black began by doing the usual routine, tightening her braces, and this time Amanda got hot pink on top and green on bottom. Reaching into a drawer behind him, Dr. Black pulled out a mirror, a facebow and a neck strap. After setting up the mirror for Amanda to watch his work, he inserted the facebow into the tubes on the bands of Amanda’s upper molars. He then connected the neck strap to the facebow on the hooks on the side. Amanda immediately felt tension on her upper jaw, and couldn’t close her lips completely. “You must wear this as I’ve shown you for 14 hours a day. If you don’t wear it as I say, it will take much longer for you to complete treatment,” Dr. Black stated. Amanda thought “great.”
Amanda looked in the mirror at home. Her teeth were metal covered, and now she had a metal bar sticking out of her mouth and going around her head. “How great.” She couldn’t imagine what her friends would think of her smile now. Amanda wore her headgear for about 14 hours a day at home, sometimes more, sometimes less. Her friends commented on how straight her teeth were becoming. She was finally glad that she had gotten braces put on, but that was soon to change.
When Amanda sat down in the orthodontist chair next, Dr. Black looked at her and told her that he had some new appliances for her instead of her headgear. Amanda was joyed that she no longer had to wear the headgear, and told him to go ahead. Dr. Black first started by removing her wires and ligatures and putting in new wires. He then tied each bracket with wire, and then installed a tight green powerchain over top of this. He grabbed a palatal expander from the drawer behind him and sized it to the roof of her mouth. He installed the expander and turned it once. He then reached for an expander for her lower jaw. By this time, Amanda was getting very nervous and scared of what he was doing. To top it all off, Dr. Black then installed a Herbst on each side of Amanda’s mouth. This limited her from opening her mouth very far and allowed no side to side movement. He then installed two elastics, from her upper canines to her outer lower incisors. When Amanda looked in the mirror, she almost fainted at what she saw. “Dr. Black, I can’t believe you did all of this to me!” Amanda said. Dr. Black looked at her and said “You wanted straight teeth, now youre going to get it. I want you to change those elastics daily, turn the expander with the key Ľ turn once in the morning and once at night and make sure you keep everything perfectly clean. I’ll see you back here in a month!” With that, Amanda left, not sure of what would happen next time at the office of Evil Dr. Black…