As somebody that had braces for over two and a half years and endured two extractions, I was extremely excited to get my braces off.

At my last appointment I asked my Orthodontist if I was nearing the end. He told me my braces was nearly ready to be taken off. Because my Orthodontist was so booked up, the earliest removal date was 7 weeks away. But much to my surprise once I got home, I received a phone call that said I could have my braces removed in 2 days if I wanted to. Of course I said yes.

So the big day arrives and a couple of assistants asked me if I was excited to get them removed. Once again of course I said yes. The next step was to sit down in the chair and to get the braces removed. This whole process took about 50 minutes. They removed the brackets, glue, and shaved some of my teeth to make them look straighter. There was some pain involved as the braces were on pretty tight. I then was instructed to rinse my mouth with water.

My first reaction to seeing my teeth naked was that they looked huge. Oh yeah my teeth also felt really slimy. The next step was for them to create my retainer. I had to bite down on some blue gunk. The Orthodontist explained how important it was to wear my retainer and explained all the instructions I should follow. They also took some “mug shots” of me. I came back later in the afternoon to pick up my retainer. I gave the staff a thank you card. I had a clear Essix retainer created for the top teeth and I have a bonded retainer for my lower teeth.

I didn’t enjoy the process of my mouth being stretched out so they could put the bonded retainer in. This whole process was about 40-45 minutes. I was finally finished. I received a parting gift. A coffee mug filled with candy and gum. I was thrilled that it was all over. When I went in for my initial consultation in January 2003, my teeth and bite were so messed up, I was skeptical if even braces were going to be able to fix it. Well here I am, almost 3 years later and I’m thrilled at how perfect my bite is. My teeth are also vastly straighter. I can honestly say all the negative issues associated with braces (i.e. cankers sores, sore teeth, avoiding crunchy foods, staining of braces, difficulty of flossing, having to use a proxy brush to clean my teeth after every time I ate something, bracket pooping loose, wearing elastics, having 2 teeth extracted, etc….) was all worth it now I’m at the end of the journey. I have no regrets whatsoever in deciding to get braces.