I'd like to introduce myself as I've been reading this site and forum for a few weeks, which greatly helped me finally decide to take the plunge and get braces. I'm 22 and I'll be getting braces for the first time on May 8th, 2007. When I was younger I never really had a need for braces. I used to have a gap right between my choppers, but it slowly went away all on its own, and that was the end of that. I was glad the problem had gone away on its own and that I never had to suffer through that change in appearance. Everyone pretty much dismissed the fact that I might ever need braces. However, as my top teeth moved into the right place, my bottom teeth slowly moved into each other. Now I have some crowding on my lower front teeth - and from my observations in the past couple of years, it just keeps getting worse. My dentist has also pointed out the crowding the past two years. Enter braces.
I got spacers exactly one week ago, and today was especially exciting for me since I noticed that the pain I was feeling went away. Chewing was something I had to do vewy, vewy slowly and with some difficulty, but after one week I realize that there is no pain. So given my brief experience with the pain, and after reading comments saying that spacers are the worst part of the treatment, I'm really looking forward to the braces. Bring it on!
I'm scheduled for a treatment of 18-24 months, and I'll be getting clear brackets on the top and metal on the bottom. I was hoping for all clear, but it seems like this is the standard way that he treats all his patients. The ortho says that he may have to extract 4 teeth, but he will see how my teeth progress and decided later if it is really necessary. I sure hope it doesn't come down to that since it would stretch the treatment time to the full 24 months. It would also involve a lot of pain, I'm sure.
Photo updates in due time. Thanks to all for reading and sharing.
e^jtheta
