My name is Krystal and I have bad teeth. Well, that's not really fair. My teeth aren't bad - they just grew in that way. I certainly didn't give them an easy start.
In Elementary School my favorite recess activity, besides chasing boys around the blacktop or pretending to be a dinosaur (and sometimes both simultaneously), was spinning on the metal bars. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, this video of a random person on YouTube called "mom's special talent- How To Spin Around A Bar!" is the closest example I can find. I could spin with my right knee, my left knee, BOTH knees, forwards, backwards, sweatshirt, no sweatshirt, eyes closed, singing Miss Mary Mack - you name it. By 1st Grade, I was spinning at a 4th Grade level. I was a playground champion destined for greatness.
Once upon a time, we had a half day. In order to ensure all students were granted recess in the shorted school hours, the 1st through 3rd grade and 4th through 6th grade recesses were to be combined. When the bell rang to signal our freedom, we exploded out of the classroom and onto the blacktop as usual. My bar spinning posse and I raced to the metal bars and gasped in horror. They were already occupied...by OLDER GIRLS. Dejected, most of my friends picked their second favorite playground game and moved on. Not me. I was determined to spin.
I remembered once seeing metal bars somewhere else on the playground, but where? Ah, yes, the other side of the kickball field! As it turns out, my school had upgraded our playground equipment some years before, but lacked the money (or perhaps motivation) to dispose of the old stuff. They simply moved it off to one corner of the property to rust, rot, and mutate into a death trap to entice stupid children. If there was one thing I was good at as a kid, it was making an example of myself.
Well, the Tower of Tetanus looked like an oasis to me - free of older kids AND there were metal bars! Why had I never come over here before? I scooped up a couple friends and ran back my new spin spot. Of course it was only fair that I got to go first because I'd found the place, so I hopped on the bars. I wanted to blow my friends minds and, for better or worse, I think I did. You see, the metal bars that were banished to the dark side of the playground were no ordinary metal bars. They were parallel bars (Google if you need to). Unfortunately for me, while my bar spinning skills were a 10, my spatial reasoning was about a 3 1/2. I hopped on the frontmost bar, flipped forward, and smashed teeth first into the bar behind me.
Cut to me - six years old, six less teeth, and crying my eyes out on the blacktop. I remember bits and pieces of the aftermath like being carried to the nurses office and my dad picking me up. He took me to my regular pediatric dentist only to find that they were closed for the day. We had to go to a practice next door where the dentist took a look in my bleeding mouth and announced that I'd knocked a seventh tooth loose enough that he would need to pull it. Before I could so much as wrap my head around that, he yanked it without any painkillers. I was missing all four upper front teeth and everything else on the upper right side (4 through 10 in dentist speak). I think I can safely say that this is where my fear of the dentist started.
The next couple years were filled with horrific experiences with both dentists and orthodontists. Even though all seven teeth were baby teeth, they weren't ready to come out yet. In order to chew food while I waited for my adult teeth to come in, I had to get a partial, which is basically dentures. This included getting a bridge, which means that I'm well acquainted with spacers. As my teeth started coming in, it became obvious that I would have some gaps. I was told that this was due to the fact that I had no adult tooth for #5 that I'd knocked out. My mom, my aunts, and my grandma all have one baby tooth left, so I was told this could be hereditary or related to the accident in some way. I was told repeatedly that x-rays showed no adult tooth in that spot. My dentist said that my other teeth would move forward as much as they could to make up the gap. They did.
As a grew, my teeth became a large area of insecurity. I was often chastised by my mom for refusing to show my teeth in pictures. Some years she even wrote notes to the school photographer not to take my photo unless I smiled properly. In 8th grade, I said something nasty to a boy that was staring at my chest during jumping jacks in gym class. He replied "Why would I want to look at anything else, buck teeth?". That specific comment has stuck with me for 10 years.
Despite hating my teeth, I was sure I would hate braces even more. My parents couldn't afford braces when I was an "appropriate" age and, the older I got, the more ridiculous I found the thought of getting them. I researched bonding and veneers, wanting an overnight fix that I could pretend never happened (like a weekend nose job or when your coworker goes "on vacation" and comes back with a new cup size). When I finally had a job that might lend itself to helping me pay for something like that, my hopes were dashed by my dentist. Due to the severity of my crossbite and the size of my teeth, bonding/veneers are not a good fit for closing my gap. He suggested braces then and several times after that, which actually caused me to stop going to that dentist because I was that stubborn.
Fast forward to age 19. Remember that adult tooth that was never to come in? Guess what. Apparently someone in 1995 didn't know how to read an x-ray because this thing had been lying dormant in my skull for years. Completely late to the mouth party with no where to fit, it came in through the roof of my mouth. Gross. In pain and totally confused, I went back to my old dentist for help. He suggested we pull the tooth into it's rightful spot via braces. I told him to yank it out and leave me alone, so he did.
That pretty much covers me as a thoughtless, stubborn idiot. Now we can move on to the me that's proactive and studious. At 23 years old, I'm finally getting braces. The ball is rolling, the fuse is lit, there is no going back. My new dentist referred me to an orthodontist in his building in December 2011. I kept the referral slip tucked in my wallet until June 2012 when I finally got the courage to go. When I met Dr. W for my first appointment on June 5th, I was sold. He's a charming smart-ass that laughs at my jokes and completely put me at ease. We took photos, discussed payment options, and made a follow-up appointment for his recommendations on July 2nd. I was beside myself waiting for July to come. Thankfully, I found ArchWired and kept myself busy by reading about a million braces stories. My Google search history for June is exclusively "braces", "braces photos", "braces blog", "braces before after", "what kind of braces", etc.
The day of reckoning finally came. I got to Dr. W's office 45 minutes before my appointment, but I paced around in the bathroom on their floor of the building because I was too embarrassed to show up that early. I was sure that there was nothing but headgear and palate expanders in my future. Fortunately, I was wrong. I will have braces for about 24 months. I will be getting Empower SL brackets - metal uppers and lowers except 6 ceramics on the upper six in the front. I think Empower is basically like Damon brackets, just a different manufacturer. I may need a palate expander at some point and I will definitely need elastics to fix my crossbite. Because my teeth are off-center due to the missing adult tooth on the upper right, we will be creating a gap for an implant to be installed at the end of treatment (Does anyone else have a plan like this?). This part will be expensive, but my Dr. W and I agreed that it is a better option than pulling more teeth and creating a lopsided smile (Right now my upper front teeth are off center to the left, pulling the corresponding bottom tooth would do the same with my bottom teeth). My treatment plan also includes upper and lower permanent retainers, as well as a Hawley retainer for nighttime wear. I don't know if this is taboo to share, but my treatment will cost $7400. For reference, I live in a large metropolis in the United States and my insurance doesn't cover orthodontics. The implant will be an additional cost down the road and might be covered under my insurance, I'm not sure yet.
After my consultation, I was really starting to wrap my mind around the idea of braces. I started saving money for my down payment and got my wisdom teeth taken out on July 20th in preparation for my treatment and because they were being unruly in general. I had an appointment today for post-wisdom teeth impressions and, surprise, the receptionist wanted to make my appointment to get braced and take my first payment. I didn't know what to say, so I did it. I'm glad she caught me off guard because I had admittedly been thinking up reasons to put my brace date off until after the summer. I'll be getting my braces on August 14th 2012, which means I could have the teeth I've always wanted by the Summer of 2014!
If you made it through my entire post, thank you! I'm excited to share my experience with ArchWired because I know that reading your stories is what helped me make the decision to do this for myself. I hope that someone who is on the fence about braces will find my story and realize that they can do this too.
ps. I will add photos when I'm allowed to!
You have a very interesting story and I am sorry to hear about the dentist who just decided to yank your tooth without any pain killers!! Well, at least you have overcome your fear. I look forward to following your progress. We will have our braces removed around the same time and also on August 14th I will be getting my lower arch wired and bands put on and we will be getting that done on the same day!! Are you getting both your bottom and top braces on at the same time? Make sure to keep us posted!!
. I get my braces on Monday August 6 so only about a week before you do. Your experience with the dentist seems similiar to mine. I had both of my canines pulled when I was eight before the pain medicine could settle in 
. It was the worst pain ever. 
....should be interesting!
I had to have spacers and molar bands/a bridge for my partial when I was a kid, so I feel like I already did my time with those things. I hope it doesn't turn out that I do need them. Maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up.
