Second thoughts...

[Natasha Pol]

Ok, so I know this is incredibly silly but...
I've been sporting regular braces for the past 16 months and my ortho scheduled an appointment for me to have them removed.
Back in the day when I decided to get them I was given the choice between regular and clear one's and I was put off by the idea that clear one's are still noticable, stain and take longer in treatment... M mom basically had convinced me they look worse then regular...
I braced myself and got the regular one's.
It wasn't all that traumatic, like ppl. did raise eyebrows and made stupid remarks like: "Why now?" (I was 23 then), but I just brushed them-off , telling myself that at least I was taking steps on the road to self- improvement.
Looking back, I kinda regret not getting ceramic one's though... Maybe they would have looked nicer... Though the metal one's were'nt as noticable as I thought they would be...
Does anyone have/had ceramic braces and regrets not having regular one's for any reason?
I need words of encouragement...

[appygirl82]

I don't necessarily regret anything....but the ceramic brackets are a bit bigger. I sometimes wonder if I should have just gotten all metal...hmmmm. Oh well, no regrets!

[yo]

I have the clear brackets on top and I have no regrets. They are bigger, but I personally am much happier with the clear.

[Natasha Pol]

Are the clear one's noticable?

[yo]

Are the clear one's noticable?

Here is a close up pic


I think that if someone is about 10 feet away, they may not notice them.

[Natasha Pol]

Oh wow...

[yo]

Oh wow...

Oh wow? Hmmm not sure if that is good or bad!

My teeth are really small so the brackets look bigger on me.

[Natasha Pol]

Yeah-mine are 2
Small teeth, small mouth...
Well, I guess the fitting is individual and you have to take those facts into consideration as well.
I just thought that I might feel less self concious about them if I might have gotten them instead, but now that I see the size I'm not sure..
Hmm...
The most important thing is that ur happy with the way they look and feel on you!
I have pink 1's

[Natasha Pol]

P.S- I wasn't saying "oh wow" like it's a bad thing...
It was the first time I actually got to see ceramics on an actual person and not a model from a commercial.
So I was like... absorbing info. Sorry if it came accross the wrong way

[yo]

P.S- I wasn't saying "oh wow" like it's a bad thing...
It was the first time I actually got to see ceramics on an actual person and not a model from a commercial.
So I was like... absorbing info. Sorry if it came accross the wrong way

No problem, wasn't sure if you were in shock over the brackets or the HUGE spaces in my teeth!!!

I agree, it only matters how comfortable you are with your decision.

[evilnel]

I have ceramics on top and am pleased with the decision. My teeth are average sized and I don't think they look or feel all that huge. But if you have small teeth, it may be different.

Here's a pic where you can see the comparison between the size of the metal and ceramic side by side: http://pics.livejournal.com/evilnel/pic/00049eqs/

And here's a sort of side view so you can see how much they stick out: http://pics.livejournal.com/evilnel/pic/000482z4/

They're really not all that protrusive compared to the metals. I'd say they're about the same.

As some people say, though, you're really not fooling anyone. Especially if you have power chains or other hardware, it's obvious there's something in your mouth and people will check it out. In the end, you made a decision and if you've gotten good results so far, I wouldn't sweat it. You're 16 months into your journey and probably pretty far along (lol, sounds like pregnancy), so look on the bright side. You didn't try to hide it and you probably paid less for metal than ceramic anyway.

[Steph in Sac]

You're almost done! I wouldn't worry about it now. I have ceramic on the bottom (nothing on top) and I am very happy with them. They are bigger and I second guessed myself for that, but the truth is, 90% of the people I've talked to didn't even know I had braces on while talking to me. (harder to notice on just bottom teeth.) Also, they don't show from a small distance.

It is definitely personal preference. I wanted to be discreet and I accomplished that. If I wanted to be invisible, I would've sprung for Invisalign.

[jambo532]

I have ceramics and love them. I smoke drink dark pop and coffee (in moderation for all) I haven't had any staining or anything. I actually had someone at work that I see on a weekly sometimes more basis come up to me and ask when I got braces because they just noticed. I have pics on my blog you can check out.
www.allbraced.blogspot.com

[Snowglobe32]

I have ceramic on top and metal on bottom. After almost 5 1/2 months, I still hate my metals as much as the day I got them!
It is a personal preference.

I wouldn't worry about if they "might have looked nicer" if you had ceramics...just think about how nice your teeth will look once they are off!

[Natasha Pol]

As odd is it might sound my metal ones weren't very noticable, because, as I said- I have a tiny mouth. I treid to imagine how I would look like with ceramics and came to a conclusion that the brackets would probobly cover the teeths surfice and make my front lip stick out more.
Dunno...
I guess we'll never know