I'm 33 years old. Divorced for 2 years and currently single. I teach people how to take tests for a living (privately for the most part) so my job is very face-to-face.
I decided to get braces for 3 reasons:
1. aesthetics - I never cared about my teeth but I started to care after I found myself single after spending my entire 20s in a relationship (actually 2 but that's another story)
2. health - the crowding on my lower teeth have been hurting for a while. It felt like I had anti-braces and I knew that they were just getting worse
3. business - I have a masters in Psychology and I've read too many studies on how attractive people are seen as being more qualified and competent in various aspects of life. I figure that braces are an investment in my professional future
Now reasons 2 and 3 may be pure rationalizations on my part but I believe in them enough that I made the plunge. I probably wouldn't have gotten braces if it was solely for aesthetic reasons... (probably
)Anyways, my experience with braces so far:
Spacers!
I got 8 of them (4 upper, 4 lower) and they didn't hurt too bad. My teeth were so crowded that some were really tough to get in. I couldn't eat solid food for a week and a half. One of them was metal (since I had a metal filling there and the floss kept shredding) and that one was a bit annoying. Overall experience wasn't too bad though.
Braces day!
Today was the big day! I don't know if it was meant to be, but I walked in and saw another adult getting her 1st day pictures taken and another adult getting his braces removed! It's like I got to witness the whole cycle before I took this step in my journey. The installation of the braces took about 2.5 hours. The only semi-challenging part was getting the metal thing around my molars. The dental assistant kept having me bite down on a tool to push them in but I think the metal pieces were too small for my teeth. I had to eat some pain here since the hardest thing that I bit down into over the last week and a half was some soggy toast. She then asked this guy to take over and he just replaced them with larger metal pieces and they went right in. It really makes a difference when someone with experience is working with you! After that, the placement and bonding of the brackets were relaxing.
I got the In-Ovation C ceramic self-ligating braces. Despite the clear ceramic braces designed for "aesthetics", My first impression was:
"Oh my god, I look like the biggest dork in the world!"
I thought a lot about how they might look and feel in my mouth but I was totally wrong. For some reason I pictured braces in a mouth full of straight teeth (like Mr. Cruise in my avatar there) but it doesn't quite look the same on crooked teeth lol. I was going to post a picture but I think I'll wait to post the "before" picture until after I start seeing some movement.
I also was, and still am, surprised at how much "stuff" is in my mouth! Nothing hurts or anything (yet) but it just feels like I have a lot of hardware in my mouth. It's a crazy feeling. Oddly it's also kinda cool since it's so new. Regardless of my false expectations, I was happy when everything was done. It was the first step towards a positive direction! The funny thing is that I got to my car, looked at my reflection in the mirror, and felt a slight sense of regret. It was akin to something like sleeping with a good friend (hope that this isn't too inappropriate here), where you're pretty happy about what just happened but also worried about what's going to happen next. Any doubt has passed though and I'm so happy about starting this exciting journey!
Thanks a lot for letting me share my story here. This forum and your stories helped me make my decision to get braces and I hope that I can do the same for someone in a similar position.
Until the next update... Cheers![/b]
