my crazy brace story

[ams]

I got braces when I was about 14, the treatment only lasted around 9 months. Then I took them off, lost my retainer and they went bent big time…. more bent then prior to having them on. My dentist was seen in the local paper as being some crook and in turn he ran off to South Africa.

My tooth at the front was so bent that I found I had a lisp so in April 2009 and at a cost of £2500 I decided to get braces again. The new dentist promised that after treatment she will put a permanent wire behind my teeth and I have to wear retainers for x amount of years. She also said they will take 18 months.

She put concrete slabs at the back to stop the top row of metal hitting the bottom row of metal. Initially the braces made my lips stick out so much I looked like I was constantly pouting. Now as the tooth has gone in the lips are bearable I still feel like I’m constantly pouting.

For the first 5 months I ignored every thing the dentist said about cutting out sugar and rah rah rah and trust me I shouldn’t have. When it comes to sugar I am like a crack head. After a good dressing down by my dentist which I needed, I decided that I’m never going to rid myself of my sugar fix but whilst being treated I can make adjustments.

So instead of putting normal sugar in my tea I put fructose sugar [sugar extracted from fruit] I’ve never been into fizzy drinks so that was ok chocolate was a killer to rid but I did it.

Almost a year into my treatment and I can say that these changes I have made because of braces I will probably stick to for the rest of my life. I feel like my kidneys will really benefit from all this and I have noticed that my arms have gone stick thin due to the cutting out of sugar.

Any way back to my treatment my top row are now straight the lisp has gone and I am finding my speech is developing to be quite posh. Before I used to avoid big words due to the lisp.

Now I’m just waiting for the bottom tooth to sort it self out.

I went for my monthly tightening 2 weeks ago and my dentist was really pleased with me. She said that they are straightening out quicker than she expected and as a result they could be off a few months before my due date [fingers crossed] she said as soon as they are straight they’ll be off.

Ok as happy as I am I have a few concerns.

- Will my teeth get bent again? I say this because every time she replaces the wire for the few seconds they are free I can feel them moving. That concerns me.

- Will the wire at the back cause a lisp?

-The metal rings at the back will they stay permanently with the wire at the back
?

- Is there any thing that will help prevent my teeth moving i.e gum tightening toothpaste?

Oh god this has turned into a mini essay sorrrryyyy.