is my face ruined for life?

[gwarlek]

i'm going to an orthodontist in the next week, i'll probably need braces sooner or later anyway because my lower arch is already wider in the back than the upper arch, why didn't i just wear my retainer, honestly i don't know what i was expecting

[gwarlek]

don't make the same mistake, wear your retainer, next one i'm going to wear for the rest of my life swear to god...

[Bounded]

You're very pretty, and ur smile looks great!

[ditsy]

You look beautiful and your teeth look fab. I'm very jealous of them!!! Xxx

[gwarlek]

i've talked with my orthodontist, of course he didn't agree that i need braces (well he's right, i had straight teeth. SO WHAT), he said i should wear my old retainer (it barely fits and it hurts as hell) all day/all night and then visit him again after 3 months, i don't know if i want to do that, i think this goddamned thing will only push my teeth back even more, making my face even flatter and my lips probably non-existent considering they're already sooo thin, he said it won't but i have the impression that he doesn't really care about all this very much anymore and he just wanted me to go away forever because i'm annoying as hell at this point. i think i look v bad right now but at least i'm used to this look, i'm scared that after some time with that retainer things are going to change for worse it'll be noticeable and i'd hate myself and the way i look even more... i don't know what to do, maybe i'll just let it all go once and for all :/ it's funny to me though that he said "it didn't change that much" and i'm "exaggerating," didn't change that much are you kidding me? even my family and friends see the difference and an orthodontist doesn't? he has my before and after pictures (A LOT of them since i'm his patient from the time i was a little kid) and if he can compare them and still doesn't see a difference then i don't know he's blind or not that good at what he do... i literally had teeth that were so inclined outward that i looked like a monkey and now i look like i forgot to put my dentures on... when i smiled it looked like i have 100 teeth and now i have a smile of a 10 yo... how do you not notice that? i could say "whatever" and be done with it, looks are not that important right, but so many years we were doing it and SO much money my parents and me had put into it and oh the pain, mockery from my schoolmates because i was one of the first to wore braces (they were not that popular back then and it was something new and weird for kids also it looked "funny" so of course they made fun of me) and now what, was it all for nothing? cool, cool... i know it's above all else my fault because why the hell didn't i were my retainer like i was told to? but i made a big mistake and i just want to fix it and i won't do it ever again... also i think there is a thing in my sh***ttt country where it's not that popular (orthodontics), and not many methods are known aside from the standard traditional ones etc... orthodontists only want to straighten teeth and get rid of malocclusion if you have noticeable serious case of overbite or something else (when not only it looks bad but can be dangerous to your health) but they don't look at the bigger picture, what face will look like after etc. that's why almost everyone mindlessly extract teeth and ruin faces of their patients for life (my sister's case, and she was sooo pretty, with crooked teeth but it suited her, now she has straight teeth but her mouth is like a little dot on her face -that seems much bigger an chubbier by the way- and she looks like she has 4 teeth when she smiles, yes so much better thank you), but now you have straight teeth right so what else do you want? be happy with it! i wish i live in america where you can find a good specialist who'd care about every single detail from start to finish including small changes in the face, profile etc... if i'd say thing like "inadequate lip support" he'd laugh me in the face. i'm a perfectionist and i'd like my doctor to be like that too. not to mention that if i lived there i'd probably just get an ortognatic operation, unfortunately no one here would ever perform such surgery on me because my face is not Horrendously Deformed so of course "i don't need it," everyone knows nothing cares about nothing and i hate this country. teenagers researching these things on the internet know better than those people. and braces are so expenssive.

[gwarlek]

oh and i already wore this while i was heading home from another city so it took a while, maybe two hours, and my incisors hurt so yes right it doesn't push them back at all, no

[kellybean]

You look perfect to me! but I am worried about the same thing. I'm getting my braces on in about 2 weeks and I have been worrying about how much room the extractions I have had (upper 2nd bicuspids) will make and potentially flatten out my face and my full lips.

I can say now after looking at these pictures of you that I am less worried because you sounded very concerned about the aesthetics of your result and I think you look great. It is hard for others to notice as we have nothing to compare to. I wonder if you have a 'before' picture that you might like to show so that I can see what you mean about the changes.

The best advice I have, as someone who tends to overthink things and worry and get anxiety - is to either stop thinking about it and see how you feel after some time; or see a specialist and either take their advice or decide not to take their advice. It's the limbo land of thoughts and what ifs that is probably causing you the most grief.

I hope you feel better soon.

[gwarlek]

[quote="kellybean"]You look perfect to me! but I am worried about the same thing. I'm getting my braces on in about 2 weeks and I have been worrying about how much room the extractions I have had (upper 2nd bicuspids) will make and potentially flatten out my face and my full lips.

I can say now after looking at these pictures of you that I am less worried because you sounded very concerned about the aesthetics of your result and I think you look great. It is hard for others to notice as we have nothing to compare to. I wonder if you have a 'before' picture that you might like to show so that I can see what you mean about the changes.

The best advice I have, as someone who tends to overthink things and worry and get anxiety - is to either stop thinking about it and see how you feel after some time; or see a specialist and either take their advice or decide not to take their advice. It's the limbo land of thoughts and what ifs that is probably causing you the most grief.

I hope you feel better soon.[/quote]

yes i don't have any photos from before that i could post here but soon i'll have all photographs my orthodontist took in the course of years and i'll post some so you can see how it looked back then if you're interested