This is the place to post general questions and comments about all areas of orthodontic treatment. Before you post a question, use the forum's SEARCH tool to see if your question has already been answered!
New Members: YOU MUST MAKE A POST WITHIN 24 HOURS OF REGISTERING OR YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED. In other words, don't sign up unless you plan to actively participate in the message board immediately. This is necessary to keep out spammers and lurkers with bad intentions. Of course, you can read most forums on the board without registering.
DO NOT POST FULL-FACE PHOTOS or personal contact information on this website. We have had problems with people re-posting members' photos on fetish websites. Please only post photos of your teeth, not your whole face. Keep your email and your personal information private. Thank you.
I was in a restaurant today and the kid (I mean a high school kid) who took my order had braces. They were the ceramic kind and they looked pretty good on him. As he was speaking, I kept watching his mouth and wondered if he was noticing my braces too. I was dying for him to put down his order pad, pull up a chair and talk to me honestly about his experience with braces, what made him decide on the ceramics and whether he was eating solid foods yet, but he didn't. He just kept telling me about their specials.
I've only had my braces for about 10 days now and they're always on my mind. Just about every decision I have to make goes through the "braces" filter. I know this will change in time. Everyone says it will.
Meanwhile, he didn't even wink at me to show his solidarity.
I completely understand what you're saying! For the past few months all I have been noticing is people's teeth, and now that I have my braces, I get a little bit excited when I see someone else who is part of "the club" as you put it! I've only seen teenagers as well, and as I've mentioned somewhere else on here before, the only 'solidarity' I'm getting is teenage guys flirting with me in the shops (or maybe it is my imagination?). I'm only 22 and look quite young so it's not such a big deal
I haven't yet talked to anyone currently in braces about their experiences. My cousin, who is 15, went metal free earlier this year and we chat a lot about it. However, so many people living in my college are very open about asking me about my braces and sharing their experiences.
I'm beginning to forget about my braces. I have just come back to uni after four weeks at home and many people at my college didn't know I'd gotten braces, so for the last few days a lot of people have been asking me about them- and every time they do I think "oh yeah, that's right, I have braces!".
Best of luck with it all, in no time at all the braces filter will lessen.
Banded 22 June 2006.
Debanded 24 July 2007.
Loving it!
Hey welcome to the braces club! I recently got my braces on after 12 years of waiting. I'm very glad I got them and yes...I'm back on solid foods.
I chose ceramic braces because I am conscientous about my smile. I've had a huge gap all my life, and finally got used to it, but I wanted it GONE. So without a huge fanfare telling everyone I had braces, I chose ceramic to make them as discreet as possible. I'm 25, full-time Mommy, part-time nurse, and very active in church functions (choir, piano, ladies Bible studies etc) so my life had to continue even with braces. I also have clear ligatures...which do stain. But I keep the staining foods back on the molars where nobody can see them. The front teeth ligs barely stained at all, and I ate all the no no's (barbecue sauce, mustard, cheetos).
My husband had braces about 4 years ago so he is well-versed in "life with braces". Honestly, the best advice he's given me is TO EAT. That may sound ridiculous, but it's the truth. The faster you get back eating real food the better your mouth feels. YES, use the wax, brush, floss, salt water rinses etc...but eat real foods and make yourself chew them. When I first got braces, I would kind of chew at them but not really. I was SO afraid of "popping a bracket" or making my teeth more sore that I wouldn't really chew my food great or stick to really soft foods. But I soon realized that popping a bracket isn't that easy( unless you eat like frozen snickers or something like that). But if you chew your food then your teeth get used to the pain and you're able to take on even harder foods the next time until you're back to your normal diet. There may be pain when you chew, but if you avoid those teeth then those teeth aren't used to that level of pain, so eventually you just have to do it.
It really does get easier...honestly
For me, not too many people have openly commented about my braces. I really do like them. It has been great to see the little changes in my teeth...and it's only been a month.
I'm the same way on all counts.
Already I am staring at everyone's teeth. Today I saw an old friend I hadn't seen in forever. Wow, her teeth are really white but man, are they ever crooked. I feel bad being so critical, but it's just that I am finally noticing such things.
I also get real excited when I see another brace face, although I haven't seen many yet.
OMG - I never noticed how many people out there have braces. I actually blurted to a mom I've never seen at ds's daycare. She walked around the corner and said thank you (I was holding the door). I didn't say "you're welcome", I said "Oh...you have braces".
She looked at me like I had an arm growing out of my head and just said "yes....I do" and walked away. I think she thinks I'm a bit of a nut LOL
Anyways, I think it's great to see so many people and not feel like I'm the only 30+ person walking around with these things. And even though they hurt....every little bit of pain is costing me a lot of money and is progress toward a beautiful smile....so I'm trying to em'brace' every aspect of this process.
As for the solids - I WAS on solids but got my powerchains yesterday and am back on the squishy diet.
LOL
