hannahwebbo - 5 months in!! Had my 4th Adjustment!!!

[hannahwebbo]

Hi guys im 22 years old and ever since i can remember i have hated my mouth, mainly because my teeth look small as i have big gums (thinking about speaking to a periodontist and getting gum contouring done) but also because some teeth are wonky and my top teeth seem to stick out to far forward and come to far down.

i used to get called names when i was younger which has given me a bit of an issue with my mouth. Im always embarrassed when i speak to new people and i hate having to smile for photographs.

i went to the dentist last Tuesday for a routine check up and clean and finally plucked up the courage and asked my dentist about getting my mouth sorted. My dentist has down on my records that i have got a category 2 overbite and a category 2 overjet and has referred me through to an orthodontist. As i was never offered treatment when i was younger i may be able to get treatment on the NHS (i live in the UK) i may have to wait up to 12 weeks before i get my first appointment which is a pain but ive waited this long so i think i can wait a bit longer.

Ive got to admit that im not sure if i would like to have metal braces on my top teeth as they will always be on show and i feel self conscious enough as my teeth are. The ceramic ones dont look to bad though, and i would be interested in the lingual braces as well but i may have to go private to get those as im guessing they are more expensive.

I hope i dont have to wait twelve weeks as i really want to get started with any treatment i may need.
If any one has got any advice on what i need to ask my ortho when i do get my appointment and if anyone has any info on different types of braces i would really appreciate it
xx

[joney]

Hi hannahwebbo

I hope you don't have to wait too long for your appointment.

Regarding quetions check out this link viewtopic.php?t=12951&highlight=

Best wishes for your treatment.
Regards
Joney

[hannahwebbo]

Thanks guys for your support. You're all so welcoming on here.

Well its 2 weeks tomorrow since i had my appointment with the dentist and it could still be another 10 weeks before i get an appointment with the NHS orthodontist that my dentist has referred me to. Im getting abit fed up of waiting now. . Ive been reading peoples stories about how they are getting on with their treatment and i just want mine to get started. Everyones comments and stories have really inspired me, i know its a long process but getting a great smile at the end of it will make it totally worth it.

Ill let you guys know as soon as i have my appointment booked.

Have you got any advice on what questions i should ask when i finally get my appointment as ive got no idea what i should be asking?

xxx

[hannahwebbo]

oops just realised that i didnt need to ask that last question again, lol.

Thanks Joney, that link that you gave me has been really helpful, ill definatly write a list of the questions out for me to take as i know when i get there ill get nervous and forget everything

xx

[hannahwebbo]

Hi guys

Its been 4 weeks since i had my appointment with my dentist and asked if he would refer my to an orthodontist.

This morning i finally received my referal letter and my appointment is booked for 9.00am on the 27th June with a Dr Simms. Hopefully all goes well and im a candidate to get work done on the NHS if not then i will go private as it would mean everything to me to have a nice smile.

Would people let me know what happened at their first appointments so i know what to expect? Do i have any moulds and xrays taken or is it just for a chat and brief examination?

many thanks
Hannah x

[hannahwebbo]

Thanks KK

I hope my appointment goes similar to how yours went. Ive got a feeling that it will just be for an examination and chat to say whether i can have it done on the NHS or not and then ill have to wait a few weeks for the next appointment.

(Sorry for being negative). its just that now ive finally decided to do this, id really like it to begin, as i know its a long process. I need to be more patient i think lol.

Thanks for your support

Hannah x

[adrienne]

don't worry!
i've been waiting ages for my mom to finally decide to get me braces, and so on my birthday (may 15!), she booked me a consultation with a very famous orthodontist here in hong kong.
except mine is in about 3 weeks so i'm tired of waiting as well, but i hope time will fly by quite fast ;D
good luck with your appointment!

[hannahwebbo]

Thanks KK and Adrienne.

This site is so amazing, everyone is so supportive. When i first started looking on this site i was unsure if i wanted to go ahead and get braces, an if i did i only wanted to have invisalign as i was scared of having ordinary braces. Now after reading everyone elses stories i dont think i mind which braces i have as long as it sorts my teeth out.

Thanks very much guys, your support means alot

Hannah x

[kirjax]

oh the wait was def. annoying!

I had to wait 3 weeks for a consult. Then I got my records 4 weeks later where they took impressions and xrays. Then I had to wait another 4 weeks for braces.

I believe my first visit was the first week of March and braces were put on May 11. So all in all for a lot of people it takes awhile.

It's all worth it though. I mean I am not saying braces are a walk in the park but once they're on you have motivation to just get it going and be done with it all!

[Al]

I would like to echo Meryaten's sentiments. I originally wanted only Invisaligns, as I deal with people daily. After reading up on this site, doing a bit of other research and taking a better look at the world around me (mainly noticing others with braces whom I never noticed before), I have also come to the realisation that which braces I get will be irrelevant, provided they produce the best possible outcome.

It's not the people out there that you have to convince to accept you in braces, it's yourself. If you find the confidence to wear braces, the people around you will not mind in the slightest. And it looks like you have... found the confidence, that is. Bon voyage, Hannah.

[hannahwebbo]

Hi Guys

Well i had my consultation an hour ago and i'm so disappointed .
I dont know if its because i built it up in my head and was expecting great things from this appointment but i just feel really let down.

I had my appoinment with Mr Sims in the NHS hospital in my home town, i went in for my consultation and he asked how he could help. I told him that i'd always been unhappy with my gummy smile and that my dentist had mentioned that i had an overbite and overjet.

He then had a look in my mouth, asked me to bite down and so on and then said that i had a bit of crowding and that he would take 4 teeth out and put me in braces.

That was all he said to me. His assistant then said that they would put me on the NHS waiting list and that, that was the end of the consultation.

I quickly asked if they only do metal braces or if they do ceramics and Mr Sims turned around and said flatly that no they didnt do ceramics on the NHS and that No i could not pay the extra to have them.

I just feel so let down as he didnt mention anything about my overbite or overjet which are the main things i wanted fixing. I guess i should have asked more questions but i just felt that they wanted me out of the room quickly. I didnt get a nice feeling from this appointment so to be honest i dont think id be happy to have my treatment with them. It would have been great to have saved the money and have my treatment done on the NHS but id rather pay and be happy with my treatment.

Im going to have a look at getting some appointments with private orthodontists although im not sure if there are many where i live.

Sorry about the moan im just so disappointed.

[adrienne]

Yeah it you're not comfortable with him then book a consultation with another ortho and hopefully you'll be able to choose one which you are very comfortable with!
Remember that you have to work together with your orthodontist in order to get the best result and if the ortho you were with was a bit rude (which he probably was) then maybe book more.

Luckily my first consult was the one I chose, I didn't have anymore consults after that because my ortho was extremely nice and the office was great as well! The assistants joked around with me and it was pretty cool cause all the staff wore crocs

And anyway, private orthodontists are great and funny xD

Good luck with your next consultation!
Remember how we were gonna be brace buddies? : )
Don't feel sad by the way, S-M-I-L-E. Hopefully you'll find a nicer more talkative ortho soon!

-adrienne*

[markybwoy]

Hi hannah

Sorry you got such a poor consult with your NHS guy. I'm sad to say I'm not really surprised. NHS consultants are incredibly pushed for time and I'm sorry to say there is not a patient centred culture in some places. Not all places. The NHS is a monstrous organisation - the 3rd biggest employer in the world (after the Chinese People's Army and the Indian Railway). Don't feel victimised, lots of people get lost in the monolithic system. People who work for the NHS are tasked with keeping a lid on unlimited demand, rising expectations with very fixed taxpayers budgets. I don't envy them.

However there is hope. The General Dental Council lists specialists at
http://www.gdc-uk.org/General+public/Lo ... Specialist

and the British Orthodontic Society lists members close to your town/city
www.bos.org.uk

My selected ortho does NHS work 3 days a week and private work 3 other days a week Mon-Sat. Most of his NHS patients are kids. He does the private work from a different office where he offers all the choices. On the NHS its metal or nothing and waiting times are long. Prices vary a lot. I've been quoted all kinds of prices, one double the rest. A good ortho will work out an interest free payment plan. Your NHS treatment was unlikely to be completely free, just subsidised, so it shouldn't be a big jump to get some choice. Choices are important as it's your mouth so it should be your choice! Get more than one consultation, I know it stings a bit paying good money for a "chat", but I'm sure you will be glad you did, if only for your own peace of mind. Good luck!

[hannahwebbo]

Hi Guys

Well ive been in touch with my dentist to say that i wasnt that happy with having treatment with the NHS guy so they are referring me to a private orthodontist in my area. Apparantly there are only two private orthodontists here in Grimsby so im abit stuck for choice.

I am going to make appointment with the other orthodontist in Grimsby next week as the office is closed until then.

Adrienne

I hope i find an orthodontist thats as cool and friendly as your. It seems that alot of ortho out there dont really have very good bedside manners.
I hope i dont have to wait too long before i get an appointment as it would be great if we could still be brace buddies

Markybwoy

I know, i dont know why i was suprised by the way the NHS appointment went. I know they have huge waiting lists, not enough staff and like to keep their costs down.

Ive got to admit that a was abit worried that i might not have got the best treatment if i went ahead with the NHS. Im kind of glad that im going to pay for my treatment (i know that might seem daft being glad to be paying out loads of money, its just that im sure ill get better treatment this way),


Ill let you all know when my next appointment is due as soon as i get my referal letter through.

Thanks for the support

Hannah x

[markybwoy]

Yes, good luck, I hope your letter comes through soon. I appreciate totally how tedious it is when you have to wait a long time.

There's some good questions at the forum that joney pointed us to. I found it really useful viewtopic.php?t=12951&highlight= Spend a couple of hours ploughing through some of the stories on here, its been an education for me.

Also, I found a good question to ask was "If you were me, what would you do?". This is an open ended question but it forces the ortho to put him/herself into your shoes. If he/she can do this easily then they are probably a good communicator and can easily consider their patients real people rather than just a case number. One ortho I saw went to pieces when I asked this question, the other grinned and spent 10 mins describing in detail his answer.

Keep the patience and good luck!