Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello,

a friend of mine told me that she knows someone wearing his braces for almost 5 years now. This seems a very long period of time to me! How long have you guys been wearing your braces? I believe when someone jas to wear braces for so long, then something most gone wrong in the treatment, but I'm not sure...

I knew a girl in middle school that said she had her braces for 7 years. I have no idea why.

if oyu dont follow your doc's orders it could possibly extend the duration. My brother when he had braces was on for about 3-4 years. He missed a few appointments, broke a few brackets, etc. so just follow everything your doctor says, and you should be fine.

My iwfe had hers, as a teenager, for 4 years. Some of the delay has to be attributed to the fact that she was not good about wearing her headgear.

My wife had hers, as a teenager, for 4 years. Some of the delay has to be attributed to the fact that she was not good about wearing her headgear.

when i got my braces on last week i told a women at my job that i should have them on for about 2 1/2 years. she told me that's what the ortho told her daughter 5 years ago and she's still wearing them.

I knew someone years ago in high school who had braces for 4 years and her teeth and bite were still not right. Her teeth had been kind of a mess to start with and they just never moved in the way the ortho kept trying to force them. The ortho offered her to either quit where she was (which was close to being properly corrected) or start over at the ortho's own expense. Her parents said it was her decision. She elected to start over and had to have her palate broken. That was a gutsy thing for an 18 year old to do. I moved away and never heard how it turned out in the end.

Treatment can vary so much, some people are really lucky and have them on for a couple months, and others have them on for years. I've had mine for 3 1/2 on March 9th.

I just want to add something though, just because a person has theirs on for a longer period of time it doesn't mean that they've been bad with their braces. Sure, missing appointments and breaking brackets can definately slow things down, but anybody can get a four year treatment, and it's completely normal and doesn't necessarily mean that you've been lax with your braces.

I've never missed any appts and I've only broken one bracket in the 42 months I've had these. I wore my rubber bands as directed and had surgery on time...it's just luck of the draw I guess-that's just the way the cookie crumbles

Anyway I'm so blessed in so many other aspects of my life which more than make up for it

Eve

I know a lot of people who had them for about 4 years....one girl I used to know kept telling me every month that she was getting her braces off...and that lasted for about 7 months. My ortho BETTER not push it that far lol

Evelyn wrote: I just want to add something though, just because a person has theirs on for a longer period of time it doesn't mean that they've been bad with their braces. Sure, missing appointments and breaking brackets can definately slow things down, but anybody can get a four year treatment, and it's completely normal and doesn't necessarily mean that you've been lax with your braces.

Thanks for adding that. I was thinking the exact same thing. I've had mine just over 2 and 1/2 yrs now (when the estimate was originally 2) and have done everything I was supposed to. No broken brackets at all and i've worn my elastics religiously. I guess some teeth are just stubborn and unfortunately mine fall into that category!

I have some friends who have had their braces for 5 years and are still going! There is this ortho nearby who on average, keeps people in braces for up to 5 years! Such a perfectionist!

My ortho told me that I should have braces for at least 4 years! I know its going to take longer though! My teeth are only starting to straighten out and in some areas they're starting to get worse after 22 months! It took my ortho 18 months to decide to finally put on bottom braces! I haven't even bothered asking my ortho how much longer I'll be in braces, he'd totally laugh and point out everything that is still wrong with my teeth!

Just Like Eve, even if you do everything you should sometimes your treatment is still much longer than originally planned for!

Good luck!

-Hannah




Top braces: 4/28/04
Bottom braces: 11/16/05
Last Adjustment was 2/1/06 where they bonded a bracket to my cuspid, which was impacted!!!! OUCH!

I got mine on in November of 2001, and they're still on. I was never given an estimate or anything, and in my personal opinion my teeth weren't that bad to start. I had a slight overbite and my right front top tooth was overlapping the one next to it, and that was about it.

Sometimes I attribute it to the nurses. One will try to do something, the other will correct her, but they continue anyway. It's quite an adventure each time I walk into that office.

kirst1583 wrote:

Evelyn wrote: I just want to add something though, just because a person has theirs on for a longer period of time it doesn't mean that they've been bad with their braces. Sure, missing appointments and breaking brackets can definately slow things down, but anybody can get a four year treatment, and it's completely normal and doesn't necessarily mean that you've been lax with your braces.

Thanks for adding that. I was thinking the exact same thing. I've had mine just over 2 and 1/2 yrs now (when the estimate was originally 2) and have done everything I was supposed to. No broken brackets at all and i've worn my elastics religiously. I guess some teeth are just stubborn and unfortunately mine fall into that category!

Hey, I didn't want to say that the long treatment time is the fault of us braces wearers. Sorry if it soundet so.... I rather thought of mistakes of the doctors when a treatment takes such a long period of time because I think it is not usually to be braced for over 4 or 5 years, there might be happened mistakes in the treatment perhaps...

That's ok. I just wanted to make sure people were aware that many factors could contribute to how long the braces are on.
Your post was fine though.

It must definitely be a great great feeling when you got off the braces after years and see white and perfect aligned teeths. Thats the only possible thing in having them on for a long period of time. But I can imagine that the braces become a part of ourselves after a long time and we even don't notice them anymore. Do you often get questions from friends why you need the braces so long and not only for one to two years?