Metal Mouth Message Board

Do you agree?
The pic isnt brilliant and i cant show my natural bite because the braces are in the way.






I dont think 2 years of braces and embarressment is worth it to slightly move 1 or 2 teeth!
I might demand them to be removed actually.

Why did you get them put on then, if you don't think you need them?

Do you agree?

Um ... no.

EazyE, I wouldn't normally tell someone whether or not they need braces, it's not my place to say so, but why did you get them on if you don't think you need them? I used to think I didn't need them, but looking back at it I'm so glad I carried on. There's so much potential in your teeth, so you should make the most of them.
Braces will only be an embarrassment if you make them. They're perfectly acceptable and a great conversation starter I've found. I smile even more than I did without braces and people will likely compliment the changes over time.
Think things through before you make any quick decisions. We all get bad days where we just want to tear them off!

Sim

I got pushed into it from my parents.
But my teeth arent that bad are they? The pain and discomfort is so stupid and totally outweighs the slight benefit of a small change of position for 2 teeth. You can see on the pics all the other teeth are completely acceptable and wouldnt be recognised as a bad tooth. I regret going thru with it, and i might just ask the ortho to remove them.

If your parents are paying for them, then I assume that you are under 18 years old. I wish when I was a teen, that my parents could afford to get all of 4 of us braced, but my oldest sister had to have surgery and the whole nine yards. I would not think of the braces as a punishment from your parents, but as their way of saying that they want the best for you and your dental health. I would love to take your place and have my parents pay for my 5,450 dollar mouth!!!

Your top teeth are misaligned. It's not possible to see from those pics if you have any bite issues or not.

If your parents pushed you into getting braces then they are presumably paying for your treatment, so I guess you're a teen? Most of us on these forums are in our 30s, 40s and 50s, and are now reaping the downside of the lack of decent orthodontic treatment available when we were kids.

Orthodontics isn't just about having pretty teeth. Misaligned teeth and faulty bites can potentially cause problems later in life, in the shape of dental decay and gum disease (from not being able to clean and floss in between crooked teeth), disorders of the temporomandibular joint, tooth wear from grinding and clenching, tension headaches, migraines etc etc

Orthodontics is also potentially more difficult in adults. The treatment can take longer and cost more. Your parents won't pay if you decide at 30 that you want to go ahead with that treatment that they offered to pay for when you were 15.

The pain and discomfort will pass within a few days of getting the braces on. As to the embarrassment, it really is all about how YOU view it. I am 41 years old and I live in the UK where adults in braces are still a rare sight. I have full metal braces, coloured ligs and I grin at everyone I see, because I'm proud to be doing something to correct my teeth and improve my appearance.

If you really want the braces off, that's up to you. But 18 months or so of discomfort/embarrassment seems a pretty small price to pay for a lifetime of dental health and the benefits attached thereto.

The treatment is free, my parents dont pay for it.
I know its not a punishment but my teeth are far less worse than anyone else ive seen with braces. It just seems pointless to correct them as it takes so long even for such a minor correction.

Also can anyone even give a reason why i should have a brace along the bottom line of teeth?

The orthodontist actually forgot that i was going to have a brace at the bottom until i reminded her on the day i had the braces fitted! How unprofessional is that!

No... I don't agree. I can see a few teeth that are misaligned and your lowers look like they may have 2 rotated teeth. Whether or not you have bite issues is another issue. I'm sure your parents looked into the potential benefits/costs before they "forced" you into it. They must have a good reason for it.

I'm sorry that you feel so poorly about the braces. Like Lisa 65 said, you should consider yourself lucky that your parents are paying and that your problems are being looked after at such a young age. I needed braces and surgery in my teens, my parents had the money for it but thought the whole idea "stupid". Now at 42 years old, I'm facing some fairly serious dental issues.

It's only embarrassing if you make it. The discomfort and paid do go away.

Then by all means! Keep your teeth exactly the way you want now and deal with bite issues that may arise later!

Seems an odd situation to me,someone must have referred you to an orthodontist,or maybe you referred yourself,but at the end of the day you have the final say about it,you must have agreed to the treatment,the final decision was yours or should of been,anyway there on now so good look with your treatment,hope all goes well

Well how long is it likely to take to fix my teeth?

I know I should try not to let posts like this irritate me, but they do If I'd had modern orthodontics available to me free when I was a teen in the late 70s, instead of the butchery that WAS performed on me in an attempt to modify my class II and overjet, I wouldn't be having to pay almost £5000 (that is almost $10000 BTW) to get it all sorted out now. And many other people on this forum are in a similar or worse position than I am. At least I am not having to fund expensive jaw surgery like some people here.

EazyE, they're your teeth and nobody else can tell you what to do with them. If you're adamant you don't want braces then by all means, get them taken off. But I'm afraid you won't find a lot of support for that decision here. Most of us are in braces because we need to be in braces and many of us have saved for years to be able to pay for them.

I have to agree with Lisa65. If you don't want braces, get them taken off. Maybe 20 years down the road you'll have them put on again when you're ready. If you're determined not to see the benefit to having braces then they aren't right for you and you probably won't follow your orthodontists instructions. Then you'll be mad because you have braces on longer than originally told.

As I mentioned in another post from someone else who hated their braces, having braces are as much about how you think about them as they are actually having them on. Braces themselves don't cause misery or embarrassment, how you think about them does.

They are your teeth. Do with them as you please. 20 years from now braces won't be free though. For what it's worth though, your pictures show you need braces (in my unprofessional, non-doctoral opinion).

Kevin wrote:I have to agree with Lisa65. If you don't want braces, get them taken off. Maybe 20 years down the road you'll have them put on again when you're ready. If you're determined not to see the benefit to having braces then they aren't right for you and you probably won't follow your orthodontists instructions. Then you'll be mad because you have braces on longer than originally told.

As I mentioned in another post from someone else who hated their braces, having braces are as much about how you think about them as they are actually having them on. Braces themselves don't cause misery or embarrassment, how you think about them does.

They are your teeth. Do with them as you please. 20 years from now braces won't be free though. For what it's worth though, your pictures show you need braces (in my unprofessional, non-doctoral opinion).

But also 20 years from now there will almost certainly be a more or less invisible solution to teeth problems.