C's story - braces at 32

[ca214]

My trip to braces at 32 started a while back - I think at around age 12, I was asked by my pediatric dentist (who also did ortho) if i 'wanted' braces. I quickly said no, and I remember him telling my mother later that if I wasn't going to cooperate, then they probably shouldn't bother with braces. There was no real indication that I needed them too badly, and my teeth, from most people's perspective looked fine. I think I was initially glad to not need braces, but when my friends all started getting them, I started to want them too. Then, by the time I got into my mid-teens, I figured I was too old ('no way I was wearing those in high school...'), and sort of forgot about it, as my teeth were mostly fine.

As I got into the college years, peers in braces were fairly few and far between, but I'd occasionally consider doing braces - as I had started to become unhappy with some aspects of my teeth/smile. I'd always make up an excuse why I shouldn't do it then, and talk myself out of it.

More recently, I've realized that it's something that I've wanted to do for 15 years, and there was really no reason not to do it. Sure it'll be a hassle, but it's a short period of time in the grand scheme of things. I kept thinking - 'If I had done this at 25, I would've been done years ago'. So finally, after a mention from my general dentist in May '12 that some of my teeth seemed to be shifting, I made an appointment for a consult and decided in my mind that I would go through with the recommendations as long as I found an ortho I liked.

So here I am, about 6 weeks later and a few weeks past my 32nd birthday and my top braces went on today. I need one pre-molar extracted, and then will have braces for 16-18 months. First 6 months will be top braces only, with a lower lingual holding arch, and then lower braces will be added later. Turns out my teeth/bite were worse than I had ever been told - and my current ortho thinks that I definitely could've benefited from braces back when i was a kid.

Here's my bite/teeth, pre-braces:



Midline is off 3-4mm, and the left side (right in pic) is pushing forward (5mm - causing the midline issue). I also have some crowding on the top. Bottom is not that bad, but minor crowding in the front has one tooth pushing forward. Plan is to remove the last pre-molar on the left, allowing the teeth to shift back to a proper biting position and bring the midline back to center.

and here's me today, upper 3m Clarity Ceramics:



That's about it so far.. I've had the top braces for about 5 hours now - all good thus far, definitely feels weird in my mouth, but after a week of spacers, the braces seem like they won't be all that bad. While I've been typing this out, I've even managed to eat a whole meal of real food (figured if I'm gonna be in pain later, I should eat now). Went into the ortho today with a solid mix of hesitation and excitement - I feel like I should have done this a while ago, but I'm just glad to be on the road now.

Updates to follow...

C in Boston

[catgyrl]

Welcome, C!

First off, your teeth really don't look that bad, to me. I see the issues you're talking about, but I guess because they're so white and healthy looking, that helps a great deal. I hope you won't have too much trouble eating. Surprisingly, I was able to eat the day after being braced, and with the exception of whole apples and corn on the cob (well, I tried that second one, and was unsuccessful), I can eat anything.

You and I are in the same boat. (Well, I WAS when I started 2 years ago.) My upper teeth veered off to the right, so I also had to have my upper-left premolar extracted. The progress has been amazing. I think you're going to have a fantastic result. And you're lucky you only have an 18-month "sentence". I was told 2 years, and it's been 2 years and 2 months so far. Possible debracing in September. We shall see...

Good luck to you!

[nikkibabie19]

Hi...Congrats......

I have to say from a purely aesthetic point of view ur teeth really aren't bad...

But the ortho knows best.

Ur ceramics looks cool......they look to be a bit bigger than the metal ones though.

Keep us informed.......

It's been a week since i had my 2nd upper bands and 1st lower bands placed and i still cant eat without discomfort and pain...

So im hoping you get none of that...WHo knows u may be one of those lucky ones to not experience any pain worth mentioning

[ca214]

yea, i know my teeth don't look that bad - hence the no braces before now. it's really more of an issue with the bite/alignment which was getting worse over time...

C

[ca214]

Time for a first real update...

I've had my upper ceramics for 10 days now. I've been presently surprised at how easy my adjustment has been, really very little pain or discomfort. My cheeks were a bit torn up for the first 2-3 days, but that's gone away, and I haven't had any real trouble with eating. Definitely had to cut some things out of the usual lunchtime rotation as i can't really handle sandwiches without being able to use my front teeth for biting, but otherwise I've pretty much gone about my normal eating habits.

Today was the first big step in my treatment as I had my 2nd premolar extracted on the left side this morning. Again, was prepared for it to be terrible, and it has not been so far (i'm about 12 hours in). Didn't feel a thing during the actual procedure, and aside from bleeding for several hours (and biting on gauze for a while this afternoon), it's been mostly a non-event.



I go back to my ortho on Monday to get my lower lingual holding arch (and a change of ligatures I hope - the blood really did not help keep them clean today).

C

[ca214]

Had my first post-extraction ortho appt on Monday, where he installed two lower bands and the lingual holding arch as well as moved me to a new wire on top. The bands on the lower arch have been chewing up my cheeks all week, but it seems like my mouth is now adjusting to them. I was expecting to be more annoyed by the lingual arch, but it turns out that the bands were the annoying part.

LLHA:


Upper arch:


C

[BellaBraces]

Looks like you've got some movement going on the top already. Great!

[ca214]

Had my first 'real' adjustment yesterday. Nothing too exciting, but I did get two new brackets on my last molars, a new archwire, and a few wire ties instead of ligs. I'm posting this 24 hours later, so theres a bit of soreness, but nothing too bad.

A few pics for comparison purposes...

Day1:


Yesterday (2 months in):


Pretty happy with the progress so far, and my ortho said yesterday that next time (4 weeks) 'we'll really start working on that extraction gap.'

C

[Kipepeo]

Wow, impressive in just 2 months. I commented on your photo in one of your posts in the metal mouth forum. Your smile is already very nice. Will be even more spectacular when you're done.

[ca214]

Wow, impressive in just 2 months. I commented on your photo in one of your posts in the metal mouth forum. Your smile is already very nice. Will be even more spectacular when you're done.

Thanks Kipepeo!

The midline is my major issue, otherwise my teeth were visually okay, but the midline was getting worse with age, and my teeth were also getting more crowded.

I've been pleasantly surprised with my braces, i had expected much more discomfort/annoyance. Now I just want things to get moving (especially around the extraction gap)!

C

[ca214]

Went in for my 2nd adjustment this morning - was hoping to get moved up to a bigger wire, but looks like that wasn't in the cards. So I'm staying with the same wire for now, apparently there's still some more work on one tooth that he wants to see before moving to a bigger wire. Got ligs changed over to wire ties on nearly all my teeth (good for not staining, if nothing else!), and he added a mini power chain over the extraction gap - that I could feel right away (2 hours later now, it's still tender), so I'm hoping to see some movement up there soon.

Also got my first set of elastics, on both sides from the upper 4s to lower 6s. I'm happy they are largely out of view when I'm speaking etc, but can already tell they're gonna be a bit sore and a bit annoying.

One quick picture:


C

[Subieazndoll]

I don't understand why only one pre molar was taken on top n bottom?

[ca214]

I don't understand why only one pre molar was taken on top n bottom?

Actually only one from the top arch. My top arch is skewed to the right (midline is off by several mm), so the premolar was removed to allow space to shift things over to the left.

C

[Random]

How is your extraction gap after the first month? Just got mine taken out.

[ca214]

How is your extraction gap after the first month? Just got mine taken out.

Tooth was taken out in July, so it's 3 months since the extraction, but only had elastics and the mini-chain to close the gap starting about month ago. The gap starting to close, but it's definitely still there...

C