I’m kind of curious about how the ortho decides when to change the elastic pattern. Is it based on how fast the teeth are moving, or do they just have a set schedule for these adjustments? My nephew’s got braces for an overbite and he mentioned his elastics switched from a triangle to a box pattern, which confused him (and me). Do you know if the type of bite—like buck teeth vs deep bite—affects what kind of elastic setup they use?
Do you know if the type of bite—like buck teeth vs deep bite—affects what kind of elastic setup they use?
My ortho switched my elastics every other visit, and honestly, I never quite knew why. Sometimes it was triangles, then suddenly “let’s try a box.” I asked once and he just grinned and said, “depends on how your teeth are behaving.” My overbite got the triangle setup for a while, but my cousin had a deep bite and her elastics were totally different. Guess it’s really a case-by-case thing... teeth have minds of their own, apparently.
Haha, I swear my teeth were stubborn too—one week it was triangles, then suddenly “let’s go for a box.” I used to wonder if my ortho just liked keeping me on my toes. Did your cousin’s setup look super intense? Deep bites always seemed trickier to me.
My cousin’s deep bite setup looked wild—like, more metal than teeth at one point. I get anxious just thinking about all those elastics. My ortho keeps promising mine won’t be as intense, but I’m still bracing myself (pun intended). Deep bites do seem like a whole different level...
My kid’s ortho mentioned deep bites can need more hardware, especially if the teeth are really overlapping. It looked overwhelming to me at first, but they actually broke it down step by step—first some spacers, then the brackets, and later those elastics you mentioned. Each stage felt manageable on its own. Did your cousin have to wear a bite plate or anything like that? That’s something our doc brought up as a possibility, but we haven’t needed it yet.