I initially was trying to get invisalign, but after the 5th doctor told me that wasn't an option, I finally accepted it. Reading posts on here also helped me to realize that I shouldn't choose the product as I am not the expert on the subject. Instead, I should choose the dentist who makes me feel the most comfortable, and trust him/her to use the product on me that they feel is best and will provide the best result.
This board has been extremely helpful to me, and had let to me getting over my "irrational fears" of having something in my mouth that someone may notice. As a 28 year old Black Male running two businesses, an insurance agency and a real estate investment company, I was initially concerned about the impact my new appearance would have on my clients and prospects.
I spent the last couple months reading other people's experiences on this board and noticed a common theme. Most people that you run into don't care what you have in your mouth. In fact, a good percentage don't even notice because they are so preoccupied with whatever they have going on.
The ortho I chose was very friendly as was every member of his staff. They made me feel comfortable and their location is pretty close to me. The funny thing is, in December 2005 when I finally decided to do this, he also was the first dentist that I consulted. I have met with dozens of dentists since then but eventually came right back to him.
He initially scared me off back then because he told me that I might have to get a tooth removed. My wisdom teeth had just come in, but they didn't come in straight. They lower ones kind of came in diagonally, pointing towards and leaning on the other teeth which caused crowding on my lower arch. He showed me pictures of this, but I still wasn't willing to have a perfectly healthy tooth removed to make room. I seeked several other opinions, some said the same thing, and others didn't. I decided to wait.
It has been a year and a half and I decided to give him another try. He took another x-ray and it showed that my wisdom teeth were no longer at the extreme angle they were previously. They are by no means vertical, but I can at least floss in there now. He said that I might still need a tooth removed eventually, but depending on how the treatment goes, I may only need to do some slenderizing, or I may not need either.
He told me he just received his In-Ovation C's and that I would be a good candidate. He said first I would need four separators on each arch. He put in all rubber ones except for the lower, left, rear one had to be metal. A week and a half later, he changed the metal one to rubber.
Here is some picture with the separators in. (Sorry about the quality, I don't know if it is my camera phone, or the lighting).
He told me to keep them in for another week and a half, then come back to get fitted for braces. I went to the office yesterday and to my surprise he wasn't there. He had another ortho look at me and she told me that their In-Ovation Cs hadn't arrived yet, but still recommended that I get fitted that same day. I got self-ligating metal on the bottom, and standard Ceramic on the top.
While she had the lip spreaders on me, attaching the brackets to the front, she told the assistant, "Yes, he is a perfect candidate for self-ligating, his teeth are NICE AND BIG." I nearly died from laughing, as she caught me totally off guard. When she finished, she pulled out about 30 colors for ties, and based the others' experiences that I read about on the board I knew that I didn't want clear ties due to the staining issues. I decided to go with dark blue. Here are some pictures.
Overall I was pleased. The process was pretty painless. Afterwards, I went to visit my parents. My mom runs a home day care and I was there helping out for an hour before she noticed. My dad eventually came home from work, and I was trying my best to get him to notice. I kept talking to him face to face and after a couple hours I decided to do some "extreme smiling" and he eventually said, "What do you have in your mouth?"
If my family took that long to notice, I am sure that a bunch of strangers either won't care or won't notice either. So far so good. Only 18 months or so to go. If I am lucky, I will have them off around the time I turn 30. If not, I'll have fun with them while I got them.
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