I will finish my treatment 6 months earlier!

[bellbell]

Hi everyone! I just had my adjustment yesterday and my ortho told me that I will finish my treatment in a total of 18 months, instead of the original sentence of 2 years, which means I have only 5 months to go! I am so excited and I thought it might be a good idea to share my experience here...

My crooked teeth didn't bother me when I was in high school or even in college. As I grew older I started to realize that my confidence was affected by my teeth. I wouldn't expose the crooked part when I took pictures (I tried to practice a smile so that I would look good and happy without exposing my crooked teeth! LOL), and when people took pictures of me in which my crooked teeth were very obvious (that happened a lot of times), I would try not to look at the pictures.

When I started my phd program in LA last year, I had stipends and so was able to financially support my treatment with a monthly installment plan. Luckily in a big city like LA, you have plenty of choices. I went to several orthos who offered free consultation (big plus!!) and they all said that I needed to extract 4 teeth. The only differences among them were just the treatment length and cost. I chose the one closest to my place which is also the cheapest ($4200 with clear braces). To some people, teeth extraction might be a big concern to them, but to me, I just wanted to have a perfect smile. When the ortho said it wouldn't affect me in any way in the future, I just went ahead and booked an appointment for the surgery.

At the age of 26, I started my treatment in early Nov 2012, a week after my teeth extractions. The first month was rough. I couldn't eat; my bite felt so weird and my teeth hurt so badly that I survived on smoothies, hot chocolates, and tofu. I lost 6 pounds. One of my 4 gaps from the extractions was closed by the end of the first month. Then in the second month, I got power chains and another gap was closed. In Feb, I started wearing rubber bands for 6 or 7 months. My progress has been quick so far. For example, if this month my ortho wants to close up the open bite on the left hand side, I will wear the rubber band in the way exactly how he wants me to, and by next appointment the open bite will already be corrected. So every month I have something new.

I am a very good patient in my opinion, though sometimes when I go out with my friends for a long time, I don't bother to wear the rubber band because I think I have made a good progress so far, so not following my ortho's order for a day won't hurt. And also I really hate wearing the rubber band because it makes my teeth look so yellow and I think I look really stupid with the rubber bands. But I religiously wear my rubber bands at all other times, and I avoid all hard food like nuts or even crunchy food (I got tired just by chewing for too long LOL)

My patience has been running low after a few months in. I hate food getting stuck in my braces when I eat. I hate that I get sores all the time. When I was in the 9th month, I joked about how wearing braces is tougher than being pregnant with a baby because pregnancy only takes 9 months. Now it has been over 13 months. I look at my teeth and everything is so straight. Although I don't usually talk to my ortho too much during adjustment (I just open my mouth during and then leave the office with his instructions), I finally asked my ortho about my progress yesterday (I guess I somehow had great confidence that he would say something positive. And he did). He said that my teeth have been moving very quickly, and he expects that I will finish in 18 months instead of 24 months. Woaaah I didn't expect that!! 6 months earlier!! I was secretly screaming in excitement, but all I said was "great!". In the past I had googled and lots of adults ended up wearing braces way longer than the expected length. I didn't expect that I would finish so fast. And I'm crossing my fingers that in 5 months, I can finally de-brace. I'm just gonna stick to my ortho's order and make sure that happens on time.

[kathydell]

Congrats! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. That's awesome news.

[makaila]

Soo lucky!!! I wish I were you right now :( lol

[bellbell]

Thanks!! Just hang in there!

[Matilda]

Nice! I hope I'll complete my treatment earlier as well.

[Lorianne]

that's awesome bellbell! The braces Gods are being good to you!

[LC*]

That's awesome! :) I'm hoping I will finish my treatment early as well, but it'll be a long while before that happens for me!

[an9el3md]

Wow thats great! Seems like more pain more gain?

[BracesB4Thirty]

Awesome news bellbell, having treatment time cut down is great. Mine was also cut from 2years to 18 months. So let's hope things go smoothly from here on so that we meet that 18 months mark.

[djspeece]

Great news! Congratulations.