Metal Mouth Message Board

Today was my first day in braces using the Viazis bracket (www.fastbraces.com). Turns out I'll only have to wear these things for 6 months, after having gone through expanders for my upper and lower part of my mouth.

So, the good news is that I can articulate perfectly without the expanders, now that my tongue can move around. The bad news? Well... obviously, I'm very self-conscious about my looks.

My orthodontist did not put all of the brackets in. He put brackets on the top 4 middle teeth and on the bottom 6 middle teeth. When I asked him why, he stated that certain teeth have to be moved first and that my bite has to readjust before placing the remaining brackets. My next appointment is December 19.

Has anyone else gone through the same thing, where your ortho didn't put all of your brackets in? I feel as if I look ridiculous when I smile. Being the type of person that is smiling virtually all the time, I feel that I now have to suppress who I am so that people don't see how silly these things look. At least, that's the way I see it. Perhaps I'm being too hard on myself, but I'm still worried.

Anyway, answers (and emotional support) would be greatly appreciated.

skip27, I didn't have the same experience as you, as I got all my brackets at the same time, but I can offer some support! I think pretty much all of us can say we were self-conscious when we were first braced, so that's totally natural. It will take a few days for you to get used to how you look with these goofy things on your teeth, but once you do, I bet you will find you don't look so strange. As far as waiting for certain teeth to move before bracketing others, I'm not an ortho, but hopefully you trust yours and he's giving you the best treatment possible!

Good luck and hang in there!

Skip,

Not placing all the brackets at once is not unusual depending on the crowding of the teath.

I have been in braces for 5 months and just got my last bracket placed today. It was on my 2nd bicuspid upper left - tooth #4.

The tooth sits inward of the rest of my arch and didn't have enough room to be pulled into place until I wore an expansion spring across the teeth on either side for 5 months. This pushed apart the teeth crowding my #4 and provided room for it be pulled in.

Today, with my new wire I finally got a bracket on that tooth and soon it will be inline with the rest of my arch for the first time in my life.

It's better that your Ortho wait until there is room for your teeth to move into place than simply slap all the brackets on and have at it.

It would seem to me that trying to move a tooth into an area that doesn't have enough space to accomodate it could cause more discomfort and/or slowdown the progress of the rest of the teeth.

Regards,

ICE.

Skip27- Hey there! I agree with Meryaten and Jillianleab...TRY not to worry about what others think, and instead, think of what a great thing you are doing for your oral health! Yeah...easy for me to say...but let me tell you, I felt the exact same way (as you) in the beginning. In fact, I still do feel quite awkward from time to time. I haven't felt very natural in my speaking...but I have DEFINITELY gotten better. It's still difficult for my lips to get all the way around the brackets, but nobody has said anything rude. It helps tons if I carry a water bottle with me. The more moist my lips/mouth are, the easier it is to speak, and I don't feel as self-conscious. Also, the more I tried to hide the braces, the worse it was! I looked more (in my opinion) silly, trying to hide them, rather than just smiling. And one more thing. I read on here that someone would just say, at the beginning of a dinner with friends/associates, that were seeing the braces for the first time...something like this... 'I'm still getting used to these braces, so forgive me.' (Obviously, that's not the EXACT quote, but you get the idea.) It opened a door for people to then ASK questions about the braces...and that ALWAYS makes me feel better. Just talk about them. And if you don't, you should realize that not a ton of people have even noticed mine. Full metal, uppers/lowers, almost 5 months into it.
Hang in there. Most of us have felt exactly what you're feeling (or very similar), so you're not alone.
Smile! We're here!
eagle

My ortho put 8 brackets on the middle top. He said that he put the brackets on the lower teeth at a later date. My 1st adjustment is on December 5 so I will see if he puts them on then.

Tracy

Thanks a lot for the advice. It makes a big difference knowing there are people who I can talk to who are going through the same thing.

I should have just took the time to read the literature from the office in the first place, since it explains everything there. Apparently, the new technology (the Viazis bracket) just requires a different procedure. No biggie.

Thanks again.

Skip - don't worry, it's not unusual to not get all your brackets on at once! I just got my last 2 brackets put on a month ago, after 8 months in braces. My orth bracketed all but 4 of my teeth on the first day - leaving the four 2nd molars unbracketed. After my teeth began to spread a bit, he bracketed the bottom 2nd molars. Then just last month, the top 2nd molars.

Also, I can totally identify with feeling self-conscious. I was very self-conscious about my braces at first too. I never wanted to smile (which is hard for me, as I'm a smiley kind of person) or talk or eat lunch with my coworkers. But over time, I moved past that and feel pretty comfortable about my braces. And you will too. Hang in there!

Don't worry! For six months I had NO braces on the top front 2 and the bottom front 4. Orthodontist wanted to keep those steady so that they could be used as an anchor to close a significant gap on the side. It looked a little goofy but so what? I smiled anyway.

In the past two months I got the remainder of front brackets and, in celebration, told them to uses hot pink ligatures. I quite love the look. :)

I don't have the lower brackets on yet. And for the upper, there is one that needs rotation. The ortho didn't put a bracket on that one because he needs to wait till there is room for it.

My incisor next to my front tooth on the bottom does not have a bracket because I had a tooth on each side covering half of the tooth. There was no way the bracket could be placed. In about a month , I've noticed those pesky teeth are totally out of the way and myt tooth is free! So I will most likely get a bracket at my next adjustment about 1-2 weeks away.


Gennel

When I got my braces on in August I did not get brackets on all of my teeth (of course I didn't notice this until I was on my way home and couldn't ask why). I was later told that two of my brackets had to be made specially for me at the lab (though they look exactly the same as the others) and now I'm waiting for a tooth to "jump" forward (it's a crossbite) before having the bracket placed there... so like everyone else has said--it's not uncommon. Good luck.