I'm excited to be here. I'm extremely glad I found this website last week. I've been lurking, and trying to read and catch up on everything.
I've needed braces from the go, and actually started preparations when I was 16. At that time, they wanted to remove all of my wisdom teeth, my top right canine - that decided to grow in after all of the rest of my teeth, pushing teeth behind it and out of line, and a molar that was damaged from a bad root canal I had when I was alot younger. However, one extremely bad experience with doing the first extraction of the molar, it shattered on my dentist, kept my mother from taking me back to complete the process.
So, here I stand today at 32...finally completing the process after a long delay. A delay that was partially due to my fear...and greatly due to my Mother's refusal. Yes, the experience was THAT bad...LOL...but I've managed to get over it through time, and by finding an excellant dentist.
To be honest, it wasn't the first dentist's fault either, but the Oral Surgeon who he referred us to after he couldn't remove the final piece of the shatttered tooth (it took my dentist over 6 hours and maxing out on the number of shots of Novacaine that he could legally administer for him to give up and refer me to someone else). My mother, who mind you was in the health field herself, expected the oral surgeon to put me to sleep to remove the errant piece. But, when he told her that he was going to try everything my dentist had done first, and then go the surgery route if he still couldn't remove the remaining piece. She said never again....dragged me from the chair, and if my memory served me correct, the next dental appt. she scheduled me for wasn't until I was around the age of 21 (due to college, I was still on her dental plan).
Anyway, like I said, I'm 32 and finally have the resources and the desire to complete what was started so long ago. I first made an appt with an Oral Surgeon to complete the extractions in the early part of 2005.
According to the Surgeon, as many of you know, it is harder to extract wisdom teeth from adults. The wisdom tooth on the lower left side had grown in (it had room, because of the molar extraction), and needed a cavity filled, but he felt it was otherwise in good shape. The tooth on the top left side, had grown in and was in good shape (although it shifted all of the rest of the teeth on that side forward, and my midline is now almost a tooth off. Then the wisdom tooth on the top right, still completely impacted, didn't look like it had any intentions on going anywhere, and wasn't causing me problems.
The problem was with the wisdom tooth on the lower right. It had partially broken through the gum, but there is currently no room for it to continue growing up and out. However, as long as it is not causing me problems, he does not want to remove it due to the fact that it is almost right on top of a nerve. The Surgeon felt that it would be too risky to move it, possibly causing permanent nerve damage and numbness to my bottom lip. You know I don't want that. So, so much for the rest of the extractions. On to my first dentist appt in almost 10 years.
I've found an excellant dentist. And, apparently, although it's been almost 10 years since my last visit, my teeth were still in pretty good shape. She gave the teeth a thorough cleaning, replaced almost all of the old fillings (with the exception of one that she felt was still in good condition), then filled the new cavity on the wisdom tooth, and one other tooth that the dentist 10 years ago told me we probably needed to watch.
She then referred me to a good friend of her's, my new orthodontist.
One visit with him earlier this month, and I now find myself within 8 days of finally having braces. I guess he didn't want to give me a chance to change my mind. LOL.
My ortho advocates against doing extractions (with the exception of extreme cases) and does not use headgear. Lucky me.
Although he does feel that we may need to extract one tooth on my top left side, and the no headgear policy comes with all types of other gadgets that will actually be bonded into my mouth for the next 6 or so months along with the braces. Yeap, lucky me. 
Anyway, just wanted to introduce myself...didn't mean to run on so long, and wanted to let you know that I'm happy to be joining the group for the next 24 to 30 months.
