I'll look 15 forever....

Message

#1 Post by **TheSarahMonster** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:16 am

Well not really, but at least for a while. I'm really 25 years old. But I constantly get mistaken for a teenager. Most people seem to think I'm about 14 or 15. I'm really small (4'11") and I guess I still have a "baby face". I recently also got over a bad bout of cystic acne (which made me really look like a teenager)....I'm currently on Accutane which is working wonderfully with very little side effects. So my skin is nice and clear and I have no scarring at all.

I made the decision to get braces back in May of 2006, I've wanted them since I was a kid, but I never got them. My sister's teeth were a mess. She was in braces for 8 years, had 4 teeth extracted and had jaw surgery. Mine were a little crooked but not so bad so my parents told me I could get them when I could pay for them....well now I can....

From the front my teeth really aren't that bad. My midline is off and I have a deep bite, an overbite and slight overjet. I didn't know you were supposed to see your bottom teeth when you smile. Mine are completely covered by my top teeth. I have severely rotated canines (90% angles)....which gives me big gaps around them, that makes it look like I have missing teeth. Then can only be seen if I smile....so I try not to in pictures. What made me want to fix my teeth was my canines. I thought the rest of my teeth were fine and only my canines were crooked. I wanted Invisalign, but was told by my orthdontist that my teeth are way too messed up for Invisalign.

Last June I got a molar distalization appliance and a Nance appliance to start shifting my teeth over to fix my midline. I've had it for 6 months. I went to my orthodontist last night and she said she's taking it out (it was supposed to be there the entire 30 months), and
I'm getting braces on Jan. 16th. I got my lower spacers last night (I had the uppers in June)

I'm getting ceramic uppers and metal lowers (so my teeth don't chip due to my deep bite). And I get to wear elastics to fix my overbite (that I didn't know I had).

This is going to be an interesting next two years....... My boyfriend (of 11 years and soon to be fiance) think's I'm nuts, but is okay with it. He didn't dump me over cystic acne...so I think braces will be okay.... The real reason I want braces is to fix my teeth so I can smile in my wedding pictures. I'll need to save up a lot of money before then so I'll actually need the two years....

#2 Post by **manglemouth** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:39 am

Sounds like we'll be brace buddies, our stories are pretty similar! I didn't know I had an overjet either, well today I found out I do =) At least I also heard something like "healthy periodontal tissue" which I assume to be "great gums!". At least something positive!

I will need an expander so I too will have a weird appliance in my mouth. I am married so I can understand your relief there. I would be a bit worried if I had to be dating through all this. But i am married, and work from home...so technically I could get metals top and bottom, cause noone other than my friends and family will see it, other than when I go shopping. And what the heck, there I will just flash my metal like there is no tomorrow!

#3 Post by **Katica** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:26 pm

I'm 22 and I get mistaken for a teenager a lot - even before I got the braces!

I look on the bright side...If we look so young now, how old we'll we look in our 30s? 40s? 50s? Looking young now might pay off later if we keep aging at this rate!

#4 Post by **acrobat** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:34 pm

same here, i'm 22 but most people think i'm 17.
and it really happens all the time. a week ago i ran into a friends mom who hadn't seen me in a long time and immediatly she said: you haven't changed a bit, you look so young!

i don't like it at all, and i know if i start braces (haven't decided yet) it will become worse, but i'm trying not to be bothered by it. It's not like people say you are ugly. I think most people see it as a cute thing. And Katica is right, when we are over 30 we'll be happy when people think we are 22!

#5 Post by **TheSarahMonster** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:06 pm

I don't mind looking young, but sometimes I don't get taken seroiusly at work because of it. I'm constantly called "little one" by my boss, which is funny because my director (and her boss) is only at the most 4'10."

I'm kind of excited to get them put on, but a little nervous. I don't know how my boyfriend will react. He knows I'm getting them....he says he doesn't care (but thinks I'm crazy for wanting straight teeth)....his are perfectly straight. He has no cavities, even though he never went to a dentist until his late 20's (even as a kid).

#6 Post by **hd2755** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 5:51 pm

funny you bring this topic up. i am 32 and today where i am vacationing a truant officer asked me why i was not in school. i laughed at him and said sir i am thurdy thew going on thurdy tree showed him my id and he said sorry sir you look like a teenager.

. and after that i went into the local restaurant to have a glass of wine and got carded, jeez do i look that young.

louis

#7 Post by **platinum** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:42 pm

I am 31 and people tell me i look much younger. the most annoying thing is when people ask what school/university i go....
Start to then explain that I have been studying last 12 years and I am finally finished... It is annoying as I am so happy to finish my education and I don't like to be referred as a student.

ugh, what happens when i have braces on. Do I get any beer in pubs?

#8 Post by **cowlypso** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 8:26 am

On Thursday when I got my brackets, I drove home to visit my parents for a few days. I was feeling like a bum, so I had no makeup, hair in a ponytail, and threw on a hooded sweatshirt that I had borrowed from my dad last time I visited. He's a high school teacher and coach, so it had the high school name and logo on it. I swear I would have been carded if I'd even tried to go see an R rated movie!

Guess I'm going to have to start wearing makeup again. And I'm getting my hair cut short (makes me look older) as soon as it gets long enough to donate (just another half inch or so). And I guess I'll actually have to dress nice, rather than wearing sweatshirts and such.

Even when I dress nice, I still look young. Last summer I was doing academic advising for undergrad students and had to take them to the computer lab to register for classes. I kept getting stopped by the lab assistants and questioned as to where my paperwork was, because they thought that I was an incoming undergrad. Hmm... maybe 8 years ago?

Oh well.... We spend half our lives trying to look older, then the other half trying to look younger!

Congrats on the decision to get braces anyway.

#9 Post by **TheSarahMonster** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:11 am

I've been carded at the movies before. A few years ago I got stopped by a cop when I was driving because he saw me get into my car and I looked like I was about 13 years old. I get carded almost every time I try to buy alcohol....the only places that don't card me are the ones where the people know who I am......

It doesn't bother me so much. But I know the braces will make it worse. even my orthodontist thought I was a teenager when I went in form my consultation. She asked me where my mom or dad was......

I'm kinda looking foward to getting them. I have all these soup recipies that I'm sure I'll need in the beginning. I have a feeling it's going to be rough in the beginning. I suffer from recurrent aphthous ulcers (canker sores). I had a really bad reaction to an antibiotoc as a kid and ever since then I'd get like 10-20 of them at a time. I later figured out that I have to use a toothpaste that doesn't contain sodium laurteth sulfate, because it's an irritant, and my immune system goes overboard in response to the irritation. I have to avoid certain foods too......

I don't get nearly as as many of them as I did as a kid, but if I make the mistake of borrowing my boyfriend's toothpaste....I'll be in pain for weeks.....

When I got this appliance I had a bunch on my tounge from the irritation of the metal, it only lasted the for a few weeks, but I'm not looking foward to that all over my mouth. And being on Accutane will only make it worse (dry nose, dry eyes, dry lips, dry gums, .....dry oral mucosa)......

#10 Post by **sjsarre** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:02 am

LOL its quite funny isn't it. I'm going to be 32 and since my braces were put on people i've met have gauged my age between 19-24.. Excellent news!! Long may it continue!

#11 Post by **NotBob1** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:17 pm

It is pretty funny about the age thing. I am 37, have always looked like I am 10 years older than I am, but now I must look younger because I am starting to get carded to order a drink at a restaurant!!! It must be the braces.....

#12 Post by **SDFD TSchott** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 5:14 pm

hd2755 wrote:funny you bring this topic up. i am 32 and today where i am vacationing a truant officer asked me why i was not in school. i laughed at him and said sir i am thurdy thew going on thurdy tree showed him my id and he said sorry sir you look like a teenager. . and after that i went into the local restaurant to have a glass of wine and got carded, jeez do i look that young.

louis

lol I'm only 21 and even with proper ID I showed the bartender, I was DENIED Alchole! (SP)

SDFD TSchott

#13 Post by **PrincessMelody** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 5:55 pm

I am the same way. I have a total baby face and I look like I'm about 15. In fact, my 15 year old step-sister has braces right now (hers will be off in a couple months) and we probably look the same age. I get carded every time I buy alcohol or order a drink and every time the waiter/bar tender/cashier looks at my ID it's with a very skeptical look. But I don't let it get to me. I flash big smiles, laugh with my bit toothed grin like I always have, and show my teeth as much as ever. I approached this with the idea that I wouldn't let it bother me and it has helped me tremendously. I try to make it a fun and exciting experience as well. I usually poll my friends before I go in for my next adjustment asking who likes which color combos I am considering for my ligs. Most of my friends had braces in high school (when I knew them) and they have been very supportive of me. In fact I saw one of my friends (whom I hadn't seen in a month) and flashed him a big smile and he commmented on how much he loved my christmas braces (I have red and green ligs right now).
Don't let it get you down and don't act any different. Just think of the beautiful smile you will have at the end

#14 Post by **M1k3y** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 6:00 pm

It's better to look youner than older. It will pay off when you are in your 40s.

I'm 28 and no one ever believes me.

#15 Post by **hippyhippo** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 9:26 am

I'm 27 and I've been ID'd a couple of times (legal age for drinking is 18 here). I don't mind at all, as I guess I'm at the age where I appreciate looking younger than I am.

My boyfriend is 35 though, so I don't think he is as amused as me when people think I'm barely legal. It makes him look like a dirty old man