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Alyssa Luck

Alyssa Luck

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Quitting Controlled-Arch Braces [AGGA 2.5-year update]

Alyssa Luck · Jan 11, 2022 · 5 Comments

Hi friends! Today I bring you the news that after 1.5 years in controlled-arch braces (CAB), and over 2.5 years since beginning my AGGA journey, I have decided to quit CAB.

It’s not quite as dramatic as it sounds – I do have to finish up treatment somehow, after all – but this decision did come about in concert with a decline in confidence with the CAB process in general, so I want to share my rationale and current thoughts.

If you’d rather watch/listen to my updates, you can check out the two videos at the bottom of the post. (As a reminder, I do try to post updates to YouTube regularly, and I’m usually a bit delayed posting them to the blog, so subscribe on YouTube if you want to see updates right away.) I also linked all my AGGA update posts/videos to date at the bottom of this post.

Here’s a quick recap of my AGGA experience up to this point for those of you who may not want to read back through almost 3 years of update posts:

  • I started AGGA May 22, 2019, and finished (and moved onto CAB) on June 9, 2020
  • My first AGGA broke around November 2019, so I was in a retainer for a month while they made me a new one, which means I averaged just under 1mm of expansion per month
  • Final measurements were 10mm gaps on both sides
  • We finished pulling the premolars forward (the first step in CAB) in August 2021, so that process took just over a year
  • My gaps after that process were about 7mm on both sides, so I lost about 3mm of space somewhere along the line. One of the things that made me lose confidence in my dentist a bit was that he just kind of stepped over that observation, and they wouldn’t have even measured my gaps if I hadn’t asked. So I wonder whether there’s a bit of tactical ignorance/denial as far as relapse/expansion loss during the CAB phase.
  • Finally, as I shared in my last post, a CBCT scan showed that I did not have enough room for implants below the surface of the gaps, since the roots of the teeth on either side were in the way. This was a huge shock and disappointment, since I had been banking on doing implants, but my dentist was very confident in his recommendation to simply complete treatment by pulling the molars forward. I decided to trust him, and we started the process of pulling the molars forward.

The below two videos pick up from there. To summarize what I talk about:

  • Almost immediately, my upper front teeth felt like they were being pulled back. My front teeth started hitting end-to-end* when I would bite or talk. I felt like I was losing all my hard-won AGGA progress.
  • I also had some concerns about my midline and felt like all my front teeth had been slowly shifting to the right, but my dentist did not seem concerned.
  • After posting the “Moving Molars” video sharing these concerns, a helpful commenter shared that he had quit CAB for similar reasons, and was now planning to finish treatment with an orthodontist using TADs (temporary anchorage devices – screws in the bone) to pull the molars forward rather than using the front teeth as anchors.
  • This prompted me to get a second opinion from an orthodontist, who immediately agreed that my front teeth would likely retract significantly if I continued using them to pull the molars forward.
  • When asked, he said he could use TADs to move my molars forward, but that his recommendation would be to do implants in the gaps like I was initially planning.
  • He seemed totally confident in his ability to move the roots out of the way and open the gaps a bit more if necessary, and agreed to take on my case.
  • We cut the power chains to my molars right there in the office the day of my consultation.
  • I shared my decision with my dentist, and he was totally cool about it. It remains to be seen whether he’s fair in refunding me for the part of the treatment we did not complete together.
  • I went back to my new orthodontist to have my old braces removed, and new ones put on. He uses Damon braces, which supposedly somehow have expansion/torqueing forces built into the wires. He explained that these forces would replace the ART (anterior root torqueing spring) that I had in before, which was supposed to tilt my front teeth outwards (giving me more space and improving aesthetics).
  • He put the brackets on my teeth at appropriate angles such that as they straighten out under the forces of the wire, the roots will pivot out of the way of the gaps.
  • Almost immediately, my teeth felt better in the new braces. Not only are the braces smoother and lower profile (so more comfortable), my front teeth stopped hitting end-to-end, and I felt like I regained some of the space I had lost. Obviously this change couldn’t have reflected any true expansion that quickly, but I’m taking it as a good sign that we’re now moving in the right direction, instead of the wrong one.

And that brings us to today! Overall, I feel very optimistic (and quite relieved) about this change of plan, and my orthodontist and I seem to be on exactly the same page. He’s adamant about not retracting me in any direction, and giving me as much expansion as he can manage, including some lateral expansion for a broader smile (with the aid of the Damon braces).

One thing that I found very interesting was that he actually sees a fair few AGGA patients come to him for consults, and he turns many of them away because he doesn’t feel comfortable with the state of their teeth (most notably, many from New York AGGA dentists). But he said that my dentist had done good work and he thinks I’m in good shape, so he was happy to take on my case and help me out.

The downsides? He estimates I’ll probably be in braces for another year (which will mean this whole process will have taken 3.5 years…), and I’ll be out significantly more money finishing up this way (with the additional treatment expenses, plus the cost of the implants) vs. if I’d stayed with my dentist (no additional cost).

But time and money have lost all meaning during this hellish vortex of ongoing orthodontic torture, so who cares?

(Kidding. But time and money do have a way of becoming less of a concern once you reach the level of sunk costs that I’ve now reached, so I’ve simply accepted these new hits and trust that one day, I will in fact be finished.)

*Of interest – I randomly stumbled upon this video on YouTube of another girl around my age who seems to also have experienced her front teeth beginning to hit end-to-end after starting to pull molars forward. As of this writing on 11 Jan 2022, it sounds like her remaining CAB treatment is on hold, so I’ll be interested to see how she progresses once she starts attempting to move molars forward again.

My AGGA Experience (all posts, in chronological order)

  • Why I Decided to Try AGGA (plus some lingering concerns)
  • 9-month AGGA updateVideo: AGGA update, pandemic edition
  • Video: Why I chose AGGA over mewing alone
  • Video: Controlled-arch braces day 2 report – lisp city
  • Video: Is AGGA dangerous? My thoughts on tooth instability and bone loss
  • AGGA Before & After – 10mm Expansion
  • Controlled Arch Braces: 5 Month Update
  • Controlled arch braces progress + timeline update
  • AGGA/Controlled Arch Braces Progress Update (9 months in braces, 22 months total)
  • AGGA/Controlled Arch Braces Progress Update (12 months in braces, 25 months total)
  • AGGA/Controlled Arch Braces Progress Update (13 months in braces, 26 months total)
  • CBCT Results: An Update on Implants [AGGA/CAB Update]
  • Related

    Functional Orthodontics & Orthotropics

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Gummybearsmile says

      August 14, 2022 at 2:38 am

      hi Alyssa,

      Just want to know how you’re doing with your treatment, could you do an update soon please 🙂 and also tell you a bit of my story. I have gone through AGGA as well and my case was an infortunate one. My practionneer pushed me too far and I didn’t know how to say no (so it’s part my fault) because I trusted her and the process. But then COVID hit and I couldnt see her for over a year and stayed in AGGA the whole time. Then, since I could never see her again because of border restrictions (and she was removed from the dentist board for malpractice) I decided to remove the AGGA because I was starting to have pain and let it recede. As a result my bite was kinda ok but a bit off and two maxillary incisors are now wobbly (prolly class 1 of tooth mobility) and roots are really short (they were short to begin with but no one noticed it before, but now that i look at old xrays I can see it – which worsen everything, i think if i had normal root length the wobblyness wouldnt have happened).
      Anyways, I wanted to ask you for advice. Would you recommend me getting an opinion for bone graft for the wobblyness? i don’t really know where to start, i guess i should ask my ortho since I am currently doing an ortho treatment to try to fix my bite and gummy smile that has worsen with agga and my ortho has been very nice and doing things slowly with light forces. So i am hoping for front teeth stability to happen with it but i don’t know if that can happen. Anyways, i’m talking too much, i just hope everything is ok for you and hope to read an update soon! also don’t hesitate to visit my blog where i tell more of my story, if you’re interested in it ofc 🙂 have a nice day!

      Reply
      • Alyssa Luck says

        August 14, 2022 at 3:41 pm

        Hi! Thanks for your comment! You’re right, I’m way behind on updates – I’ll try to do one soon, but briefly, things are going well with the Damon braces and my orthodontist is pleased with my progress! But the real test will be in a couple months when we do a CBCT scan and refer me for implants. I’ll definitely relax once it’s confirmed that I have plenty of room and bone for that.

        So sorry to hear about your AGGA experience! I can’t believe you weren’t able to see her for a whole year while undergoing treatment!! That’s insane – I’m so sorry you had to go through that. Unfortunately I don’t have any advice to offer, but when in doubt, seeking various opinions from professionals is usually a good place to start!

        And thank you for linking your blog – did you write up your AGGA experience on there? I didn’t see it in your “backstory” posts, but maybe I missed it! If you do write about it on there, I’d love to link it from the page on my website where I list all the resources/blogs I know of.

        Reply
        • Gummybearsmile says

          August 18, 2022 at 3:27 am

          Hi Alyssa! Thank you for replying to me!! I feel you when you say that you will be relaxed once you see the CBCT scan! It’s also how I feel each time I go for an xray, praying that my roots haven’t gone through more resorption!
          Also, thanks for checking out my blog!!! So sorry you had to look through it! I didn’t write anything about my AGGA journey… basically, I have to admit that each time I talk about my AGGA experience I have a little bit of sadness and regrets coming out… I haven’t found the courage yet to write that backstory of mine yet… and rather wanted to focus on my current treatment and my current hopes on my blog!!! If that makes sense! maybe one day I’ll write about it, it can maybe help someone, but we are all different and have different practitionneer so!!!
          Anyways, I am glad that things are going well for you! I am looking forward to read your update and see pictures 🙂 I really hope you’re going to be able to achieve your goal! See you around the web 🙂

          Reply
    2. Shannon says

      October 6, 2022 at 9:23 pm

      Hi Alyssa!

      Thank you sharing your journey! I’d like to know if you had a fixed orthotic prior to going into AGGA/CAB and ask if your molars are now touching again. I’m freshly out of a fixed orthotic and wary of going into AGGA but my molars don’t touch and idk what is supposed to correct that. Also, can you share the name of your orthodontist? Thanks so much!!

      Reply
      • Alyssa Luck says

        October 15, 2022 at 8:36 am

        Hi Shannon! I did not have a fixed orthotic, but I did have “bite pads” placed on my molars to keep my molars from touching throughout the AGGA process. My molars currently touch on the right side; less on the left, but still touch some. My bite was like that pre-AGGA though, so that isn’t a result of the bite pads. My current orthodontist (Dr. Bovenizer) will fix that before I’m out of braces. And the dentist who did the AGGA and the controlled arch braces was Dr. Suh!

        Reply

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    Primary Sidebar

     

    Hi! I’m Alyssa. I like thunderstorms and cats, hate wearing shoes, and enjoy devising extensive research projects for myself in my free time. This is me in Bali with a monkey on my shoulder. And this is my blog, where I muse about health-related topics and document my relentless self-guinea pigging. If you want to know more about me, click here!

    alyssa.luck

    alyssa.luck
    Photo dump from the last year. Thanks to everyone Photo dump from the last year. Thanks to everyone who made 28 the best yet - excited for 29🥰

(PS. In case anyone wants to know what it’s like in my head, I was going to write something like “year 28” or “my 28th year” but then I realized that the year between your 28th and 29th birthdays is not your 28th year of life, it’s your 29th year. I am turning 29 because I have been alive for 29 years. So then I had a whole thing about how to word it without being inaccurate and ended up going with what you see above which is vague and weird but the point is it was a good year and I love all the people in my life dearly)
    Biology of Belief (2005) was written by Bruce Lipt Biology of Belief (2005) was written by Bruce Lipton, who earned a PhD in developmental biology in 1971 and was an anatomy professor and academic researcher in the 70s and 80s. Despite the book's presentation and Lipton's background, this is not a science book. It is an exposition of an ideology, supported by haphazard and poorly contextualized nuggets of evidence, rhetorical leaps, and a mind-boggling overuse of analogies. 

The book largely failed to deliver on its promised content. What it does is argue for the primacy of the environment over DNA in controlling life; propose that the cell membrane rather than the nucleus is the "brain" of the cell; invoke quantum physics to explain why modern medicine fails; explain that our behavior is largely controlled by our subconscious mind; inform parents that they therefore have a great deal of control over the destiny of their children; and conclude that humans must become nonviolent protectors of the environment and of humanity because Everything Is Connected.

It’s not that these points aren’t relevant to the topic at hand - they are. But they were not connected in a coherent way that would explain how “belief” actually works (like…biologically), and the treatment of scientific concepts throughout was careless, or perhaps disingenuous.

I think he's correct about many things, some of them being common knowledge. For instance, the "new" science of epigenetics is now old news, as is the critical role of parenting and early environment in shaping a child’s future. But however important these and attendant concepts may be, the book did not do a good job explaining, supporting, or connecting them. 

As far as practical guidance, he refers the reader to a list of resources on his website, which is fine, but I expected some scientific insight into how/why those modalities work. None was given. 

On the plus side, the book was quite thought-provoking, and I came away with loads of references and topics to follow up on. My favorite line? "There cannot be exceptions to a theory; exceptions simply mean that a theory is not fully correct."
    Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science (section 382) Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science (section 382), as quoted in the introduction to Thus Spoke Zarathustra because I like the translation better.
    This paper totally changed the way I think about e This paper totally changed the way I think about early nervous system development and the relationship between physiology and sociality. 

The authors propose that newborn babies are not inherently social, and have just one goal in life: physiological homeostasis. I.e. staying alive. This means nutrients, warmth, and regulation of breath and heart rate, i.e. autonomic arousal (it’s well-accepted that newborns sync their breathing and heart rate with caregivers through skin to skin contact). 

All these things are traditionally provided by a loving caregiver. So what the baby experiences during the first weeks of life, over and over, is a shift from physiological perturbation to homeostasis (a highly rewarding event inherently) REPEATEDLY PAIRED with things like the sound of a caregiver’s voice and seeing their face. Thus, over time, the face/voice stimuli become rewarding as well. 

The authors argue that THIS is the beginning of humans’ wiring for sociality, and may explain why loving social interactions can have such a profound regulating effect on physiology throughout life: because the brain was trained for it at an early age. 

This framework holds all kinds of fascinating implications for what happens if that initial “training” isn’t so ideal. What if the return to nutritional homeostasis via feeding is paired with negative expressions and vocalizations rather than loving ones, perhaps as could occur with PPD? What happens if the caregiver has poor autonomic regulation, such that social stimuli become paired with cardiorespiratory overexcitement in the baby? Could that have potential for influencing later introversion vs extroversion? (Because if social interaction is paired with autonomic overexcitement, that could lead to social interaction literally being more energetically draining, which is what introverts experience. Thoughts?)

For my energy metabolism enthusiasts: Table 1 in the paper draws a link between metabolic rate and sociality across species. Swipe for a screenshot. 

Anyway, check out the paper! It’s free, just google “growing a social brain pdf.”
    I’ll be under general anesthesia in a couple day I’ll be under general anesthesia in a couple days to have two tooth implants placed, and I think I’ll take the opportunity to have a little heart-to-heart with my subconscious mind. A bit of medically-assisted self-hypnosis, if you will. 

I randomly stumbled upon these papers a couple months ago - an RCT showing reduced post-op pain in patients who listened to recorded positive messages while under general anesthesia, plus a post-hoc analysis of the same data that found reduced post-op nausea and vomiting in a subset of high-risk patients. 

The full review paper from the first slide is unfortunately in German, but it has long been recognized that even when unconscious, the patient is listening (for better or for worse). 

It boggles my mind that it isn’t standard of care to have patients listen to recordings like this while under sedation, considering that almost nothing could be easier, safer, or cheaper, and we have at least some evidence of significant efficacy. I mean c’mon, what more could you want from an intervention? 

(Yeah, I know. Profit. If anyone still thinks that our medical system operates with patient well-being as the foremost goal, you’re deluding yourself.)

“There should be a fundamental change in the way patients are treated in the operating room and intensive care unit, and background noise and careless conversations should be eliminated.”

“Perhaps it is now time to finally heed this call and to use communication with unconscious patients that goes beyond the most necessary announcement of interventions and is therapeutically effective through positive suggestions. When in doubt, assume that the patient is listening.”
    If you've seen "vagus nerve exercises" that have y If you've seen "vagus nerve exercises" that have you moving your eyes or tilting your head, you've probably encountered the work of Stanley Rosenberg. The exercises he created and introduced in his 2017 book now appear in instructional videos all over the internet. 
 
The book itself has much to recommend it: it's accessible, it's practical, it's inspiring. But it has one major flaw: the solid practical and informational content regarding the cranial nerves is framed in terms of the scientifically dubious polyvagal theory. 
 
I particularly enjoyed the book as an introduction to the therapeutic arena of bodywork, of which Rosenberg is a skilled practitioner. His book is full of case reports that demonstrate how immensely powerful extremely subtle movements and physical manipulations can be. These do need to be kept in perspective: it's a small sample size of the most remarkable cases, and the results were achieved within the supportive clinical environment of a skilled practitioner. You can tell from his descriptions how refined his technique is. But nevertheless, it was a paradigm-shifting read for me, and the exercises give you something concrete to play around with. 
 
The book also brought the cranial nerves and the concept of “social engagement” to the fore as arbiters of health. Rosenberg has a solid background in cranial nerve anatomy and shares many interesting tidbits and considerations that you don’t typically hear; for instance, the potential impact of dental and orthodontic work on cranial nerve function.
 
So, is it worth reading? If any of the above piques your interest, go for it! Just read my post on polyvagal theory first – you can use the book to practice separating the wheat (solid informational content) from the chaff (pseudoscientific framing). If nothing else, the book is a nice reminder that genuine healers who get lasting results for their patients do exist.

But if you just want to try the exercises, you can easily find them all on YouTube. 

“You learn techniques to understand principles. When you understand the principles, you will create your own techniques.” -Stanley Rosenberg
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