How private are they? (sorry, long explanation)

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#1 Post by **Procrastin8er** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:22 am

I have known I needed braces for a long time. I had a tongue thrust and started ortho treatment as a kid which my parents never followed through with. In college once I was out of the dorms I had a nice dentist who gave me something like a Hawley retainer with some springs and elastics, which helped a lot considering I only wore it at night and alone, and I wasn't done by the time I had to move away and eventually ran out of elastics and although I was very dedicated to it - I continued to wear the retainer every SECOND I was alone - it eventually broke. I'm a very private person and am uncomfortable with the idea that anyone would know I was getting treatment, and I won't ever be able to consider any kind of treatment that makes me lisp noticeably (unless I can remove it) or has stuff on the outside of my teeth, but I am returning to performing after a few years away from it and I see that my teeth have worsened a lot in the interim, and it's definitely limiting what I can consider doing and making me fall into the cracks between a romantic lead type and a cooky best friend type.

I looked at lumineers and had a consult with someone who said they were fine for me, but I'm just not sure they can have any positive impact on my teeth flaring out. I also considered this new Inman appliance, but that's got a wire across the front of the teeth, and looks like it would cause much more lisping than the retainer I had, so again, something I would not be able to wear as prescribed. I also looked at Invisalign but there's just something very bait and switch about it - lots of cases seem to end with a couple of months of ceramic braces at the end, there are attachments that get put on the fronts of teeth, no good!

So now on Monday I am going for a consult about iBraces and other types of lingual braces. I don't want anyone to know I am having any treatment whatsoever done, except my husband of course. What I want to happen is after some time, my teeth will start to move into an obviously more aesthetically pleasing position, and there will be three categories of people:

1. Clueless people or strangers who never noticed my teeth to start with and don't notice anything.

2. Those who see me so rarely that they might just think to themselves, "Huh, looks like she fixed her teeth, or they weren't as bad as I remembered."

3. Friends who do notice and say, "Hey, your teeth look really great! What did you do?" In which case, if they're a really close friend I might consider telling them, BUT I want to reserve the right to say something to a really inappropriately intrusive person such as, "I've been chewing ice cubes made of milk, 5 a day! You should try!"

So, for those of you who currently have, or have had, some sort of lingual braces, how realistic is my goal of keeping my treatment 100% private, or at least as private as I choose?

Thanks much!! I don't want to use my real name. I guess I should come up with some kind of clever handle. Hmmmm......

~~Harriet the Spy

#2 Post by LB » Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:17 am

Hi there. Well, I haven't been in iBraces long enough to have any really drastic changes to the look of my teeth yet. However, they do have an impact in a couple of other ways that you should consider.

Speech can be affected to varying degrees. Some people have no problems at all. I'd say I'm not too bad, but I sometimes struggle with a few words and can slur or lisp a bit when I'm tired. So it might be that your speech is affected to some degree and people may (or may not) notice that. Since I've had these on, I've learned how unobservant people really are though - what I think is an obvious change in my speech isn't necessarily something people pick up on. Or even care about for that matter!

You may have a few problems eating - I did to start with although it's a lot easier now. But I'm certainly eating a bit less than I did and people have noticed that I've lost weight - not drastic amounts, but enough that it's noticable. Also, once I've eaten I'm obsessive about getting away to clean my teeth - if I'm not able to do that I poke about with my tongue at my brackets which probably looks a bit weird!

On the whole, they are good and I don't regret having them - can't wait for the final result. I'm glad I went with the linguals rather than having brackets on the front of my teeth as I would have been really self conscious. I'm pretty relaxed about people knowing I'm wearing them though.

I hope all goes well for you - good luck with making your decision.

#3 Post by **Procrastin8er** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:48 am

Thanks LB.

I'm not TOO worried about the lisp in my case, because although it would really bother me I think I might not have that problem. This sounds crazy but yesterday I got some gum and stuck it behind my teeth, and then stuck broken up pieces of nuts in it, which are definitely a lot more clunky than linguals look, and although I lisped at first I practiced and by the time my construction fell apart, about 30 min., my speech was 100% normal. Though I didn't try that on the bottom teeth too. I should.

I'm not worried about the food, though I appreciate the heads up. I don't eat a lot. I like eggs in the AM or hot cereal, lunch is some fruit, maybe some salad, maybe cheese, sometimes I just have a fruit smoothie, and dinner is usually some kind of pasta and vegetables. I don't really eat meat regularly, and the only snack I really care about is ice cream. I also have a rough surface on the front of my teeth so I already brush my teeth first thing in the AM, last thing before bed, after every meal, and right before I leave the house, every time I leave unless I'm running extremely late.

Thanks again!

~~Harriet

#4 Post by **Procrastin8er** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:50 pm

Also, food-related - because of my tooth-shape being generally bad and also the top ones shifting forward again, I can't really bite off lunch meat, pizza, etc., as it is, without making a mess, and I've been told that the accommodations I make are similar to what a person with braces does, so if I were out with people and cut a salad or pizza slice into bite-sized pieces, it would be business as usual.

Harriet

#5 Post by **SandraDee** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 3:25 pm

Hi Procrastin8er--I am exactly like you-I didn't want anyone to know about the ibraces--basically because at this age (I'm 43) I feel stupid that I have to get these...but only my close friends and family know about them. People at work, even a guy that I started dating doesn't notice them...About the speech--it's not just the front of your teeth that affects the speech-it;s the ones way in the back, etc--the best thing to do is to keep talking! When I got the bottoms on (last July) the speech was bad for a few days and then totally fine. Now, the tops were a different story--but you just need to keep talking! I read magazine articles out loud, books, sang songs, etc--and after a week or two it was ok--but I still have trouble with certain words etc---
Do you know how long your estimate is for? And are you getting both top and bottom?

It just takes a bit to get used to them, but you do eventually--And it sounds like it is something that you really want to do for your career so I would go for it!

#6 Post by **Procrastin8er** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 11:07 am

Thanks Sandra!

I am going on Monday for my consultation, and I'm sure it would be top and bottom. Is there any reason why one would want to get top and bottom on different days? For me I think I would rather make one big adjustment than two moderate ones. If I do it, I think my preference would be to get everything in all at once, wires in, everything. Before when I had the Hawley, I had a spring retainer on the bottom too (I didn't mind it, wore it all the time). I remember when I went in to get them, he told me I could wear just the top one to start with, but I didn't see the point so I said no, I'd start with both, but I pointed out that I didn't feel any pressure. Then he said it was because he hadn't done anything to start my teeth moving and I was like, "What? I don't want to waste time!Get 'em going!" so he did whatever he did and it hurt but I didn't die from it. So anyway, I made the choice before to get as much started at once, so I know I'd do it again.

Did your close friends figure it out, or did you just want to tell them? On the one hand I would feel odd keeping it from my best friends, but it's more that I want control over who finds out and how.

After I read your post I went whole hog with my gum and nut pieces experiment, put it behind my upper and lower teeth all the way to the molars and stuck nut pieces all the way around (what a weird taste sensation!), as many as I could fit and at deliberately annoying pointy angles. I noticed a HUGE speech difference immediately - I could see how if someone were told they'd only have a slight lisp or maybe nothing at all, and they started trying to talk and that came out they'd burst into tears - but I kept blabbering and in about 5 minutes there was already a noticeable improvement. Very drooly and it disintegrated quickly but if I could have kept it all intact I think I could have gotten it down to normal eventually. Also the nut pieces are a bit bigger than brackets, and the braces don't slide around all over your teeth and stick to your tongue, they stay in one place where you can presumably get used to them. I think I might be safe if I cleared my calendar for the first couple of days and then kept the rest of the week to contacts with people I meant to tell, or wouldn't mind telling, or situations where I'd be unlikely to have to speak a lot.

One of the things I have noticed since I made the consult appt. is that my premolars have moved in the last year towards each other, and are slowly trying to move forward behind the canines and my canines are going out. I think very recently the premolars started to tip in and get a little longer, because they definitely rest on top of my tongue, not over bottom teeth. I've been obsessing over how I talk and I'm kind of mortified to realize that I am already developing a slight lisp when the s is next to a consonant - I either lisp or drop the s. So really unless the linguals were to totally garble my speech I'd probably sound the same.

#7 Post by **Procrastin8er** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 5:56 pm

Just an update - the ortho said my previous ortho work has actually worked and stayed pretty well and just the shaping of my teeth was never properly addressed, so they appear wonky, and he advised shaping and veneers. He said if I was really unhappy he could tweak it in a few months with clears to perfection but due to my face and jaw shape, I'd have to be hypervigilant with retainers for life unless I wanted to go drastic with surgery. He says most of his patients wear an essix (essex?) every night for three years and one night a week thereafter, but I'd need a Hawley except for eating for 6 months, and the other one nightly forever, and that it wasn't worth it b/c my bite was fine and the cosmetic improvement would be minor esp. compared to the added expense and hassle. It was great to hear that from someone who is mainly an orthodontist! So anyway, I have one more consultation but probably I don't have to sweat the linguals for a good result.