Just writing to express my thanks to this community. You all (unknowingly of course) have helped transform my feelings towards my soon-to-be-braced status from feeling anxious and negative about the whole deal to feeling excited and happily looking forward to the day the braces go on.
I still have moments of uneasiness about having to present a "brace face" to the world, but having discovered this community last week (after setting my "brace date" for the 5th April) I just can't wait! It's such a relief to not worry about this anymore. I have needed and wanted to fix my teeth forever but could never afford it until now, at the age of 35, I will finally have my gaps/crowding/overbite treated.
I saw my orthodontist yesterday to have 8 spacers fitted (didn't waste much time snapping 2 of those an hour later after my too-enthusiastic chewing of the gum the orthodontist gave me!) Only my kids and partner know I am soon to be braced. I'm not comfortable to tell anyone else, as I can imagine everyone then proceeding to surrepititously check out my teeth to see how bad they really are! I am getting used to the spacers today, I have read a few posts on here which talk about how awful and painful they are so I was anticipating a bad experience. The worst was yesterday when I kept wanting to rip them out or chew them down to nothing. Today is better.
This community is great, the support and encouragement is awesome and you have all certainly helped me to realise that being braced (especially at my age) is a courageous and positive action to be taking, something to be proud of. So thank you!
