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Oh dear....I came on here as I am fed up with everything to do with my braces and wanted inspiration! glad I'm not alone though!!! Was hoping to get cheered up, instead I feel like ranting!!
I only got mine at the beginning of august. I hate the way my lips look, Im even more self-conscious now and I had a struggle with eating/food on my recent honeymoon! (braces were after wedding day but before honeymoon - bad idea!!)
Plus I just started a new job and people keep asking whats my experience/background then looking suprised when I say I've been working in this field since 2002 - I know I look like a teenager with the braces but I am actually 30 in a couple of months! ARGH! It's worse they didnt know me before. And they probably wonder why I only eat soft fruit salad and a cheese spread sandwich at lunch!
Think it would be good if I could see the end coming up. But I am just fed up with my bite/teeth dont line up, sore gums etc. And the brushing, and the stress of what I can eat if I go for a meal and what wont stain etc!
Rant over....sorry!!
Hey-ho! I'm sure in 2 years time we'll all be grinning from ear to ear!
The process is unbelievably slow feeling for me. There are certain things that my ortho is trying to do, that I feel should have only taken a coupel months to accomplish. Take leveling.. shouldn't thtat only take a few months at the most? I am around month 20 and my bottom teeth are STILL not level!!! They are straight, and the gaps have closed, but they still look like a wavy roller coaster (my anterior teeth are higher than the back teeth). It looks much better than it did months ago, I suppose.. but sometimes I look in my mouth and thing that they will NEVER get completely level. I worry about it actually. I worry my ortho was get sick of trying to get my teeth right, and he'll say "oh forget it, this is as good as it'll get, so let's just get them out and get you on retainers." Is this a valid fear???
VA5 wrote:The process is unbelievably slow feeling for me. There are certain things that my ortho is trying to do, that I feel should have only taken a coupel months to accomplish. Take leveling.. shouldn't thtat only take a few months at the most? I am around month 20 and my bottom teeth are STILL not level!!! They are straight, and the gaps have closed, but they still look like a wavy roller coaster (my anterior teeth are higher than the back teeth). It looks much better than it did months ago, I suppose.. but sometimes I look in my mouth and thing that they will NEVER get completely level. I worry about it actually. I worry my ortho was get sick of trying to get my teeth right, and he'll say "oh forget it, this is as good as it'll get, so let's just get them out and get you on retainers." Is this a valid fear???
This is exactly how I feel. For the last year and half and I am not exaggerating, I feel like nothing has been accomplish. Everything looks the same and lately, looks worse. At 30 months you would think that my teeth should be levelled, straight, but no way. I also feel my ortho is just tired of nothing working out and he is actually relieved that I will be moving soon.
My ortho also said: well if you are moving it is up to you, we can take them off as it is and give you retainers or you can continue the treatment in England” so I know how you feel about your ortho just "giving up"
I don't want to sound negative but after $7K and 33 months in braces, I think I have the right to be frustrated. I want my teeth and bite not to look perfect, but at least look and feel normal.
I've had mine a few months and haven't had that much excitement....my bottom teeth are playing around each other and making spaces and that's about it. I wait to see what takes place at my next adjustment.
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~Nothing is worth more than this day~
Well...this isn't the most positive thread, but it's an honest thread, so...the rant continues!
Flaka: for 7 grand, it sure would be nice if your ortho could recommend debanding over continuing treatment, or vice versa, rather than just kind of shrugging his shoulders.
To the two monthers: speaking for myself, there was a span from about the 3rd to the 15th month where I settled in, and brace obsession no longer consumed me. I think being braced as an adult, there's an adjustment period initially that's difficult mentally--and then another difficult period where the finish line is in sight, but you have no idea when you'll reach it or what's on the other side.
Kinda of like trying to follow a rainbow to it's end for the pot of gold.
its became an absolute obsession, im constantly looking, brushing, picture taking id love to just forget about them i hope that will eventually come,
so far parts of my treatment have made things look worse, which i know is expected but honestly a bit depressing at the same time... ahhhhhhhh
Like everyone else, I miss the days when I could see movement. I'm 3 yrs and almost 4 months into treatment. It was estimated that I would be done in 2 yrs. I got my braces to straighten my bottom teeth and close two small gaps in my upper arch. I also had an overbite. My bottom teeth are straight but look a bit uneven. My smile is completely slanted. I still am waiting for my last extraction gap to close after two yrs (almost there) and then the two gaps I originally wanted closed can be worked on. My front teeth are also now slanted which has thrown off my midline. I'm actually embarrassed of my teeth more than when I first got braces. At my last appt the ortho said that she will work on leveling out my slanted smile after my midline is in place....I'm still waiting for those stupid front teeth to move! I'm bored and frustated. I should probably be more optimistic but sometimes it just feels good to rant a bit. It just feels like I have so much left to be done and my teeth are moving so slow. I wonder if I had gone with metals on top, if it would have made much difference...
peach wrote:Like everyone else, I miss the days when I could see movement. I'm 3 yrs and almost 4 months into treatment. It was estimated that I would be done in 2 yrs. I got my braces to straighten my bottom teeth and close two small gaps in my upper arch. I also had an overbite. My bottom teeth are straight but look a bit uneven. My smile is completely slanted. I still am waiting for my last extraction gap to close after two yrs (almost there) and then the two gaps I originally wanted closed can be worked on. My front teeth are also now slanted which has thrown off my midline. I'm actually embarrassed of my teeth more than when I first got braces. At my last appt the ortho said that she will work on leveling out my slanted smile after my midline is in place....I'm still waiting for those stupid front teeth to move! I'm bored and frustated. I should probably be more optimistic but sometimes it just feels good to rant a bit. It just feels like I have so much left to be done and my teeth are moving so slow. I wonder if I had gone with metals on top, if it would have made much difference...
I have the same problem as you do, with the slanted teeth! How did yours happen, and how is your ortho correcting it? It drives me batty b/c my teeth look off center now b/c of it. I initially thought it was just a midline problem, and it probably is to a minor degree.. however the slant is what makes it more noticeable. I mentioned it to my ortho last time and i guess it'll be addressed sometime but I don't know when, and most importantly, I don't know HOW.
I know we're supposed to just trust our ortho and know they will take care of it, but to be honest, my ortho didn't even notice my midline was off (and slanted) until i showed it to her a couple months ago!!! my ortho said that they sometimes get so consumed in just straightening the teeth that they don't pay attention to that sort of thing!
VA5- I have no clue how it happened. I noticed my front teeth slanting and my midline moving off about 2 yrs into my tx, which I mentioned to the doc. She just said that was easy to fix and left it at that. Then I had closing loops and several powerchains at one point. When the doc took out the old wire and all but one powerchain, I could actually see how slanted my smile had become... I've been really bothered by it. I asked the ortho how she will fix it but all she said was she will start working on leveling it out after she fixes my midline... here's a pic of my teeth now
Yeah, my ortho is just about as vague as yours regarding the slanted teeth!!! My ortho didn't say much at all. Next visit I'm going to make sure to ask exactly HOW it's going to be fixed. It's really really the only thing that is bugging me at this point ... I still have small gaps to close and the midline is a little shifted too. But what's the most noticeable to me is definitely the slant in the front/top teeth. I still don't get how they're going to fix it. My guess would be to remove the bracket on the most crooked looking teeth (the front two, really) and reapply them in such a way that they will shift back into place. BUT.. I don't see how they can do that w/o moving to a much weaker wire. So, I don't think that's how they're going to do it. So how?? I hope Dr. Rick or Dr. Tam respond to this! My teeth look like yours do too. Another side effect of the crooked teeth is that one of my front two teeth is longer than the other too. !!
Ok how in the world do your teeth get slanted like that? I'm also curious how that would be fixed.
29 years old
2-18-10 baby canine pulled
3-15-10 got braces
12-22-11 Moving-SO EXCITED!!
1-2-12 Meet new Ortho
1-5-12 Begin finishing treatment
3-5-12 Canine Implants...dun dun dunnnnn
4-9-12 Deband!
I had braces for Two Years and TwentyFive Days
The only explanation I have for something like that happening is that the brackets were not places on nice and square from the start. I think my teeth were already a little slanted to begin with, so really my ortho should have paid attention and put the brackets on a little askew so that they would straighten out. And seriously, one of my middle teeth and the tooth adjacent to it (going away from the midline) are a little longer than the other middle/adjacent teeth. It looks really bad!!! The more I talk about it the more I'm getting upset. I'm going to make sure I get a really good explanation of how my ortho plans to fix it!
VA5 wrote:The only explanation I have for something like that happening is that the brackets were not places on nice and square from the start. I think my teeth were already a little slanted to begin with, so really my ortho should have paid attention and put the brackets on a little askew so that they would straighten out. And seriously, one of my middle teeth and the tooth adjacent to it (going away from the midline) are a little longer than the other middle/adjacent teeth. It looks really bad!!! The more I talk about it the more I'm getting upset. I'm going to make sure I get a really good explanation of how my ortho plans to fix it!
VA5, let us know what your ortho says on your next visit in regards to the slanted teeth. I think I have one of the worse slanted teeth I've seen so far. Like you I might have had the slanted teeth before but it was never noticeable. Did you have a crossbite? Also, after my last adjustment I noticed what you are describing about middle and lateral teeth being longer than the other two...what frustrates me the most is that there is no progress.
