You'll notice that there is additional wire that 'cross-link' my upper incisors, and what you didn't notice is that there are white elastic bands (or power chain) that hold my lateral incisors and canine teeth. Notice also my lips become very dry and 'burnt'? I need to apply lip balm every now and then to prevent it from hurting. My previous laziness of not doing so caused some little 'cracks' in my lips. (T_T)
Another accessory added, power chains or elastics linking my upper canines and lower molars are added. I need to change the elastics everyday myself to maintain the necessary force.
And some corrections to my previous entries:
-the little elastic bands that hold the arch wires to the brackets are termed 'ligatures' or also 'O rings'.
-the rest of elastics that are used that come in different sizes are all termed 'elastics' or 'power chains'
Some of my friends have been asking me how do braces work? I wasn't that clear also and used to explain to them according to what ZP told me. But here I discovered a good basic explanation for readers to read up (if you are interested, haha) --> http://www.archwired.com/how_braces_work.htm It comes with simple explanation with a clear figure to show the basics of braces. Enjoy!
3 comments:
seem improve a lot liau... No pain no gain ah, lulu~~~
nana: easy to say. try few nights not being able to sleep soundly. eating only porridge or mashed potatoes after adjustments. the 'force' that makes u feel like pulling all ur teeth out. imagine that. i told the dentist 'i regret' during my latest braces adjustment after he tried to put the powerchains on
I know what U feels, as a student I did research in different wire attached to my own teeth. I can't sleep as well, remember need 2 wear a machine night and day 2 measure the expansn and contractn, it's painful. U should feel lucky, wt current tech. brackets are smaller and wire is lighter so much less pain compare wt old time. GOODLUCK.
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