Hey everyone!! WOW! Thanks for the replies and the positive comments!!
I'll try to answer everyone's questions/comments for you.
ScottR - Thanks!! They're the ceramic InVu brackets and they do seem to blend in fairly well. Obviously there's no hiding the archwire, though. LOL. And, although they aren't obvious in pictures, in real life, I think ceramic is bulkier than metal, so they do show up a little more in real life.
jxds - Thanks for the reassurance!
It was obviously an adjustment to get used to the top brackets, and I'm thinking it was a little easier to adjust to them by not having the lowers yet (ie I was able to bite into things that you're not supposed to in braces by using my bottom teeth instead). I know I should expect discomfort and all of that again, but I'm HOPING it's easier this time because I already know what to expect...we'll see!!
AND, I think I'm so eager about the retainer because I never EVER want to wear braces again...LOL. And, the retainer - you can take it out. I'm WAY more interested in my own comfort, rather than how I look...which is pretty much true in every area of my life...LOL!
beth1996 - Aww...you are SO sweet. Your post really made me feel good about myself
So thank you.
I've gotten two reasons from either my ortho or her assistants about why she only braced me on top. Both could be valid, or maybe it's just the one and not the other...who knows? The one reason is because she likes to do things more orthopedicly. That is, she doesn't like to cause too much stress on the body by doing a lot of changes all at once. She likes to do things in smaller steps so your body can adjust. This is what SHE told me. Then her assistant told me (another time) that the reason is the bottom teeth tend to move faster than the top, so they require less time in the braces. Now, I have to admit that last reason doesn't sit well with me because I've heard of others' experiences where the opposite is done for them, and it's because their ortho thinks the tops move faster than the bottoms, etc. So, maybe I'll never know?!
I have to say that the orthodontist I chose was my second consultation...and once I met her, I knew I wanted to use her. The first consultation was pretty much just your standard 'take pictures, show me those pictures, tell me what they think I need done.' And that's it. We didn't discuss pricing or anything. They told me if I wanted to pursue it, I'd have to come back and do all the pre-work (like you've mentioned) and I think that was around $400 (but I'm not 100% certain). I thought that was a little ridiculous, to be honest with you. Why should I pay that much just to find out how much braces were going to cost?? PLUS, I did NOT feel welcomed when I came in. Customer service is EXTREMELY ingrained in me, and when I see poor customer service, it makes my skin crawl. Needless to say, their lack of it was the real reason I didn't use them.
When I went to the ortho I ended up choosing, I was greeted by the patient coordinator and she gave me a tour of the entire office before taking me back to her office and talking with me. She discussed some things with me (not sure what...LOL!! I forget now) and then the orthodontist came in to see me. She looked at my teeth and said some things to the coordinator who typed them into her computer. Then the orthodontist told me what she thought and what my options were. THEN they discussed pricing, etc. for me as well as payment plans. At that point, they did a print-out of their assessment of me and what-not. At this point, I decided to pursue treatment and to do it with her, so THAT is when the patient coordinator took me into another room and ran all the 'tests' and things. She took pictures like the first ortho's office did (only after I had already signed the contract), then took molds, took x-rays, then put in spacers on the top. So that's my story between the 2 different offices!!
Essentially, all of that 'pre-work' stuff was included in my treatment price. I'm hoping the same is true for you?!
Don't be nervous!! I was definitely nervous and it IS understandable, but honestly? There's really not much to worry about. HA HA. I'm going to send you a PM to detail my experience (so I don't go on and on in a post here), but if anyone comes across this and is curious, feel free to PM me and I'll share with you as well.
My brackets are ceramic InVu's and they are just the standard bracket, not self-ligating, so they have ligs. Sometimes I've gotten colored ligs, sometimes clear...it all depends on my mood. I have to be honest and say I'd rather have colored ligs on the ceramic brackets than 'dirty' (aka stained) clear ligs on them. LOL. I don't eat curry or mustard or anything like that, but eating ANYTHING will stain them eventually, so... If you get self-ligating, I would love to hear about it because I sort of wanted those, but I couldn't have ceramic AND self-ligating (I didn't even know those existed). Also, I want to mention that I had to squish the pictures and make the file size smaller, so that's probably why things aren't as noticeable. In real life, they are
damon2's - I have to be honest and say I really didn't have much gum showing whenever I smiled. As a matter of fact, I had not much TOOTH showing, let alone any gum...LOL! It was the way I was doing my teeth and lips to take the picture, in the beginning. In the beginning, I seemed to have opened my lips much wider and I had also started out with my top teeth resting on the bottom teeth, instead of just closing the bite...so...it is a LITTLE deceiving in that it looks like improvement or change when really, it was just how I was taking the pictures...
BUT, I was DEFINITELY SHOCKED when I first saw the braces on my teeth with the archwire. I was like "WHY IS IT SO CROOKED AND WEIRD??" I didn't realize that they did that purposely and that when you see people in braces that seem 'straight across' it's after this initial alignment phase. LOL. I was NOT happy about that, but I'm glad I 'grew out of it.' LOL And you're right, it was nice seeing them straighten out! And, it's A LOT easier to see them do that by doing these periodic progress pics.
beth1966 (again...LOL) - I think (s)he was referring to the fact that you could see more gum when I stretched my lips in the beginning than later on in the pics, but like I said, that was just how I was doing my lips, so it's not really anything to do with the braces...LOL.
To answer your second question - YES!!!! Do you see how my tooth on each side of my front middle teeth used to sit way up higher than those teeth? Well, they're now MUCH lower and that's because of the braces!! I swear I didn't even NOTICE it happening, but it did!! So, what they say is true: they can move your teeth up, down, left, right, back, and forward!! It's AMAZING!!!!
So, they'll definitely be able to bring one of your teeth further out of the gum AND if it's slightly turned, they'll be able to turn it so that it faces forward the way it should. It'll be really cool to see the before & after! (I have to admit I didn't notice it happening while it was happening. I only noticed it AFTER it had already happened, so you may do the same...or, you may notice it while it's changing
)
THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!!!
