Metal Mouth Message Board

I'm having my braces put on about a week from now. This will be the second time since I was a teen and I'm 32 years old. I didn't wear my retainer and my teeth got crooked, but I also blame it on the 4 wisdom teeth I never had pulled. So I originally was doing this again just to get my teeth straight. I have a slight underbite and was given an option of surgery the first time around, which I declined. This time the orthodontist gave me the option of elastics to fix my underbite. I've been flip-flopping back and forth on whether to just get straight teeth like planned or add this underbite treatment. I thought I made a decision so many times but I guess not. I've already lost some teeth, including some bottom molars due to not taking care of my teeth. The ortho wants to pull out another molar on the bottom which will definitely force me to get an implant, which at this point is a big deal to me. Also treatment with elastics will increase my treatment time by a decent amount, which we all know could be longer because things don't always go as planned. My ortho told me that even though I have an underbite, my bite is still fairly healthy, so it would be somewhat cosmetic.

So, I've never really been self-conscious about my underbite, it's the teeth getting crooked that bothered me. I'm still somewhat confident about myself, and I'd probably still be smiling like crazy even with an underbite if my teeth didn't get so crooked. I was before, and most of the time I forgot I had an underbite. I mean if I decide to not fix it with elastics, then I'm estimated at 10 to 12 months with braces for straight teeth and I won't have to get anything pulled. At this point, I'm thinking the faster I can get them off the better. I still think I'd have a great smile just with straight teeth. There's no such thing as perfect, everyone has their flaws and I guess imperfections is what makes us unique, this is just me reflecting. In the end, we can't fight aging and we're all going to keep getting more imperfections that we want to change. I want straight teeth, but I can accept my healthy underbite. I guess this is just my journey to me trying to accept myself and my flaws.

I apologize, this may have been me partially venting my thoughts because I'd rather not do it on facebook :). Cheers to joining you all in braces soon!

Venting is what this site is all about! It sounds like you have made up your mind, but I would not necessarily avoid treatment for your minor underbite just because it adds more time to your case or you can avoid an extraction. Do you have to decide about treating your underbite at the beginning or is it something you can decide on later? I am thinking that since an extraction is involved the overall treatment plans will be different, but I'm not a dentist so I'm just guessing. Best of luck to you and smile away!

Thanks djspeece, you have a point. I don't know why this is such a hard decision, maybe because I still can't fathom getting braces again and I just want to get them off as soon as possible . He told me I have till the second appointment to decide. Funniest thing is I vented all that, but I'm still undecided. So I'm going to think some more this weekend before I get the braces put on Tuesday. I'm starting to get some anxiety about getting them on again haha. Also, I'm going to a wedding a week after, think I'll surprise a lot of people . Cheers!

There's a member here with a conversation and great progress pics about having her slight underbite fixed. It's amazing and worth checking out. I don't remember who it is, but it might be in the braces stories section, underbite is in the title if I'm not mistaken.