34 and getting braces for the SECOND time!

[Lbroughman]

Hi I'm 34 years load and a stay at home mom to two wonderful kids. My braces journey started when I was 10 years old. I had a horrible experience which led to extreme anxiety with anything dental related. A few years ago my daughter started her journey with braces and we were in a holding pattern with her for a bit just waiting till the right time (she will get hers in January). Her ortho convinced me a few months to get braces again. I had a few hurdles to jump first being a cleaning which I had not done in 10 plus years. Thankfully I didn't have any problems at all.

So here I am a week after getting 14 spacers in. Which by the way has been horrible. I still have pain and can not eat a normal meal. I will be getting all of my brackets put on this Thursday and to my understanding, no wire yet. This leads me to where all of my problems are starting. I will be getting my impacted wisdom teeth taken out along with two of my pre molars all on the top due to crowding. I can not come to terms to as why I'm doing this. Why am I taking out two perfectly good teeth to the sake of my own vanity??? I know that I'm doing this for the long run result but the anxiety and overall depression that I'm having is so hard to deal with. I keep telling myself to push forward and I'm getting there but this date of the extractions looming is so hard.

My worries and insecurities are taking over. I will get though this but super glad I found this message board to help me through this whole process. I will definitely be keeping this so called journal for the duration of my brace face!

[Jewels]

Hello!

The decision to get braces (for an adult) is a difficult one to make! My guess is the changes you are making with your teeth will also impact the overall health of our mouth -- less crowding will mean less chance for decay. My orthodontist told me my teeth were very healthy so I struggled with why am I doing this just for vanity as well. Luckily I didn't have to pull any teeth like most people need to do.

I assume you are not happy with how your teeth look or else you wouldn't even consider going through all of this. For me I have always been bothered by how my teeth looked so getting braces felt like a relief in a way. Once I got over the initial discomfort they just became a part of me and I see it as another milestone in my life. In some ways they are more than just braces.... hard to explain.

I wish you good luck. Be brave! You will be happy you did it!

[Lbroughman]

I'm here three days into my two year long journey. I'm feeling pretty good today. It was a easy first day and hard second day. The process of placing my bands was very difficult. I had the spacers for a little over a week and even though they hurt like crazy they did not create much room for the bands placing some of them was very difficult. I have all metal bottom with wires and ceramic on top. They have not placed the wire there yet do to my extraction next week. Day two was really bad. I tried eating and it did not go well. Ugh!! But today has been great pain wise, just a little pressure.

What I did not expect is the mental issues associated with getting braces. I was really down day two, I feel like my teeth look worse than they did before being braced. Find myself trying to hide them when talking and definitely not smiling as much. I'm sure the feeling will pass I can already tell I feel better about them today but I still obviously have my moments.

My extraction is the next hurdle and probably the biggest for me. I have that done next Friday so my Memorial Day weekend will be spent recovering. Once I get though this last hurdler I should be feeling better about everything. So until next week I will be waiting and getting used to my new mouth.

[Lbroughman]

I'm 4 days post op from all of my extractions. One side is healing very very well and almost had no pain from the procedure. The other side is a completely different story. My impacted wisdom tooth on the right was so far up and at a crazy angel as he put it was very difficult to get to as well as getting out. He had to cut the tooth apart into three different parts. I joked with him before the surgery to make sure I don't get a black eye, he said don't worry not even a problem. Well guess who came out with a nice healthy shiner! This girl right here!! Lol. Anyways healing has been going slowly and we are heading into the right direction he said today after a quick check up. Other than the little bit of pain that is left, the swelling that is still there and the bruising I think it's been ok. Don't get me wrong I would not want to go back and do over EVER again but it's done and on to the next step! And I just want to leave on a funny note! I read this the day after my surgery...so you have your wisdom teeth removed, and you're paying money to to it...why??? Lol. Just made me laugh!

[Lbroughman]

Just wanted to update with some pictures. It's been two months!!! Hate these torture devices but they are pretty amazing!!

[AlexO890]

Wow! In two months your teeth look great! I'm considering getting braces, and I'm inspired by how quick they seem to move your teeth.

[aspiromusings]

Getting braces at 33 in March, my teeth are very similar to yours, 2 "vampire" fangs on each side and I'm so impressed by how quickly they came down into position in yours!

Feeling excited and inspired now thanks to your share