I’m 45 and my teeth are not that bad, especially when you compare them to many of the others on this forum who have some major work. Still, I have a minor underbite and crowded lower teeth that will take a couple of years to straighten out.
So I finally decided to see about straightening things out and saw the orthodontist last December. He said that correction with braces was possible but might require pulling a tooth or surgery. Ouch. I’m hoping the braces work!
So about a month ago I got the spacers in. That sure is an interesting experience. The rubber spacers felt pretty weird. A week later I went in to get the bands but it turned out the upper spacers had broken and had not done their job. They couldn’t get the upper brackets on. So now it was METAL spacers on top! I also got the lower bands on at the same time.
So far the bands were the most difficult and painful experience as they wanted to pinch my cheek occasionally. Fortunately, things settled down after about a week. Since it was so close to Christmas and the office was closed over the break I kept the spacers in until the 4th of January.
Turns out the metal spacers did a great job so that day they put the upper bands and brackets on and my first wire. The bottom wire did not go on and now I don’t remember why. Still, it gave me a chance to adapt to just the top one for a month. It’s been pretty easy going and I sure am glad of that.
I didn’t take any pictures before the top wire was put on. Here’s a couple of pictures of my bite:
Here you can see the crowding along the bottom:
On February 1st I go back in for my first checkup. I’ll let you know how that goes.
Cheers!
Brian
(edit to add a few steps I'd forgotten)
After I had the consult and decided to get braces they made a mold of my teeth/bite and later made a plaster cast from that. It looked pretty cool!
Then I went to a service they outsource to have a complete set of pictures and x-rays done on my mouth. They use some very detailed techniques!
This was before they put in spacers and brackets, etc. The mold and x-rays helped the orthodontist decide on the treatment plan.
Ortho says I have a Class III Occlusion with underbite and crowding on the lower teeth. Ironically, I went to braces because of the crowding on the bottom but will have only an upper arch for a few months.
Welcome Roadster. Glad you had a nice ajustment. Nice pics.
