Braces before wedding

[Chaaguila]

I'm getting my braces on Sunday and I'm hoping my teeth will be straight before the wedding May 2014. My ortho told me she can take the braces off before the wedding. Originally it was going to take 1 year to 1 1/2. She informed me I can see a drastic improvement in 6 months but my bite won't be perfect. The smile is what I'm most concerned about. I heard about 6 months smile but I didn't find out about till today. I'm hoping it is the same results or better considering I have traditional metal braces.

[Chaaguila]

Is it possible to get teeth straight with regular braces in a 6-9 months. I had braces before but didn't wear my retainers. I have a gap on the side and my teeth aren't that bad but definitely could be straighter

[kellogg9]

Does your ortho offer lingual braces? It might not be as efficient but at least you wont have to worry about length of time and can wear them through your wedding.

Alternatively, maybe you can get transparent/white brackets and on your wedding day just have the archwire removed which will help reduce the chance of people noticing it..unless they are close up. Just trying to figure out ways to keep your treatment going with your wedding..nothing worse than getting your braces off before its complete and only to have your teeth revert back to their old positions (which it will!).

[Chaaguila]

Yes I originally wanted lingual braces, but many orthos did not recommend because treatment time was longer, more complicated, and more expensive 3x as much. I decided to go with regular braces and my ortho is going to see me 2x a month. She said I can have it sooner and if I am not satisfied she will put it back on after the wedding. I'm hoping it works.

[sirwired]

Don't regret not getting Six-month Smiles. It's kind of like the "conventional braces" version of Invisilign. It's appropriate for some cases, not for others.

I'd go with the "remove for the wedding, put back on afterwards to finish" plan myself. If you are going to all the trouble and expense for braces, you might as well do a complete job.

[zdenka]

I'd go with the "remove for the wedding, put back on afterwards to finish" plan myself. If you are going to all the trouble and expense for braces, you might as well do a complete job.

Agree.

[kathydell]

Talk with your ortho about options. I scrambled to get mine on in March knowing that my wedding is July of 2014. It will be really tight but I may have them off. If not, she said there are lots of options and actually showed me pictures of other bride patients. If you have ceramics, they can take your wire off and the brackets won't show in the pictures. You can talk with the photographer about "photo shopping" the braces out if they show. You can even have it all removed and put back on after. Although this option is way less expensive than I thought it would be, I'm still concerned about damaging my teeth by going through the process of removing the braces twice. I'm going to wait it out and make a decision what to do after I clear the first of the year. Do you have any flexibility on your date? I'm also considering just shifting it to Sept instead of July so I'm not quite so close in getting them off in time in case something doesn't go according to plan.

[bmueller]

I wouldn't buy the whole "you can't see ceramics in pictures" arguement. I have lingual braces but have a few brackets on the outside of my teeth to use elastics. I've taken pictures and my teeth look really strange. I figured I could photoshop it out but it kinda makes your teeth look crooked and bumpy, especially the canines. Not sure any photoshopping could help that.

I mean, they don't look horrible, but they don't look great either. If it were my wedding I'd vote to have them taken off temporarily. I'd just make sure you're going to be far enough in your treatment that you don't have giant gaps between any teeth either that would look strange.

[Jborders12]

My situation is a bit different. I had my braces put on 2 years ago and asked my fiance to marry me last year. We wanted a fall wedding and a longer engagement, so it worked out perfectly for me to have my braces off by this coming September. I talked to my ortho about this date, and he said he'd make sure they were off by then.

I had adjustment visits every 2 weeks instead of every 3 for the past 6 months. That has expedited my treatment greatly.

I hope your situation works out!

[Chaaguila]

Talk with your ortho about options. I scrambled to get mine on in March knowing that my wedding is July of 2014. It will be really tight but I may have them off. If not, she said there are lots of options and actually showed me pictures of other bride patients. If you have ceramics, they can take your wire off and the brackets won't show in the pictures. You can talk with the photographer about "photo shopping" the braces out if they show. You can even have it all removed and put back on after. Although this option is way less expensive than I thought it would be, I'm still concerned about damaging my teeth by going through the process of removing the braces twice. I'm going to wait it out and make a decision what to do after I clear the first of the year. Do you have any flexibility on your date? I'm also considering just shifting it to Sept instead of July so I'm not quite so close in getting them off in time in case something doesn't go according to plan.

How is the progress with your braces so far? You have more time than me 1 yr and 4 months that's great. How often do you see the ortho ? Ask if you could increase seeing dentist 2x a month maybe last six months. I have no flexibility with my date I just have to go and hope it turns out right. Good luck!!!

[Chaaguila]

My situation is a bit different. I had my braces put on 2 years ago and asked my fiance to marry me last year. We wanted a fall wedding and a longer engagement, so it worked out perfectly for me to have my braces off by this coming September. I talked to my ortho about this date, and he said he'd make sure they were off by then.

I had adjustment visits every 2 weeks instead of every 3 for the past 6 months. That has expedited my treatment greatly.

I hope your situation works out!

Perfect!

[Chaaguila]

I wouldn't buy the whole "you can't see ceramics in pictures" arguement. I have lingual braces but have a few brackets on the outside of my teeth to use elastics. I've taken pictures and my teeth look really strange. I figured I could photoshop it out but it kinda makes your teeth look crooked and bumpy, especially the canines. Not sure any photoshopping could help that.

I mean, they don't look horrible, but they don't look great either. If it were my wedding I'd vote to have them taken off temporarily. I'd just make sure you're going to be far enough in your treatment that you don't have giant gaps between any teeth either that would look strange.

Thanks for your input ! I was debating with photoshop but I felt the same way. I will have traditional braces so it will be even more difficult to hide my metal mouth haha

[kathydell]

The ortho told me it would take about 3 months for my tops to "look" straighter and about 5 months for my bottom. I was extremely skeptical given I had severe crowding on the bottom and had a lower incisor extracted to make room since my jaw is too small and I'm not up for jaw surgery and 3 years in braces. I'll tell you she was right! I'm newer to this board and I can't yet post pictures but the changes are so dramatic in just 3 months. Another option we discussed for wedding photos -- and it's fairly expensive but if you want it perfect and you have some extra cash to spare -- is take take the brackets off if we're not finished and do the final finishing with Invisalign. I wasn't a great candidate for Invisalign starting out and conventional braces would be much more effective and efficient, however, I do have the option of finishing the easier work with Invisalign. I guess my real point is have open communication with your ortho all the way through and be careful of the idea of more frequent adjustments. I've read a lot that trying to speed things up can cause some resoprtion if done too fast and that's not a good thing, especially for us adults as it's not reversible and could contribute to losing your teeth altogether.

[kathydell]

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/6025/ydn2.jpg

Looks like I can finally post a picture. He's my progress in 3 months.

[Chaaguila]

The ortho told me it would take about 3 months for my tops to "look" straighter and about 5 months for my bottom. I was extremely skeptical given I had severe crowding on the bottom and had a lower incisor extracted to make room since my jaw is too small and I'm not up for jaw surgery and 3 years in braces. I'll tell you she was right! I'm newer to this board and I can't yet post pictures but the changes are so dramatic in just 3 months. Another option we discussed for wedding photos -- and it's fairly expensive but if you want it perfect and you have some extra cash to spare -- is take take the brackets off if we're not finished and do the final finishing with Invisalign. I wasn't a great candidate for Invisalign starting out and conventional braces would be much more effective and efficient, however, I do have the option of finishing the easier work with Invisalign. I guess my real point is have open communication with your ortho all the way through and be careful of the idea of more frequent adjustments. I've read a lot that trying to speed things up can cause some resoprtion if done too fast and that's not a good thing, especially for us adults as it's not reversible and could contribute to losing your teeth altogether.

thanks for the information. I'll ask my Ortho about invisalign after the wedding I'll have to see if it's doable financially.
I did not think about expediting my treatments to 2x a month will cause damage!! Can you send links or websites where you got the info I would love to read more about it. I would hate to lose my teeth? What is resorption ?