Getting braced at 35.. before pics

Message

Sat Jul 15, 2006 9:17 pm

**update** see Part 2 here: viewtopic.php?t=13741&start=0&postdays= ... highlight=

Hi Everyone..

I'm the typical case around here it seems.. I can finally afford to do something about my teeth at 35. I sold some toys recently and decided to do the right thing and put the money in the bank. A few weeks ago was my first trip to the dentist in a few years for a deep cleaning (don't you just love those ultrasonic scalers

).

My dental history is not good at all. We were not exactly poor but dental care was all but non-existent throughout my childhood. The end result was by the time I was a teenager I was a complete dental-phobe with very crowded teeth. I stayed away from the dentist and let my bad teeth get even worse. Now I have four missing molars and plenty of other issues. As you can see in the pic my two front teeth have some crappy bonding work that was done around 10 years ago. And a nice chip from the gas tank on the motorcycle I recently sold (part of that toy money!)

Anyway I decided a while back that the time had come. One of my clients is an orthodontist. I've spent a good bit of time doing work at this office over the past few years. So I'm very familair with all of the various processes from start to finish. The Dr has become a pretty good acquaintance as well. And, yes, they have begged me to become their client since day one of seeing my teeth.

Using their recommendation on an excellent dentist that happens to offer nitrous oxide, I made my appointment. I've been twice now and go back Weds the 26th for some fillings. Aug 1 I go for some root extractions and I'm told by my dentist that I will then be ready for the ortho. He wants to wait on crowns/etc until the braces have come off. This works well for me because I can pay for most of the braces up front and I'll have two years to save up for the cosmetic work.

So my journey should begin around the end of August if the ortho doesn't find anything else he wants done before wiring me up. This board should prove a great asset to me when the chips are down. I'm sure I'll be in here looking for plenty of reassurance through this process. I cannot imagine life with anything close to normal teeth..

steve

#2 Post by **OneTime** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 9:37 pm

That's a great start. Keep us posted on your journey.

Did they tell you how long your treatment was in for?

#3 Post by **ssfw** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 9:12 am

Hi Steve,

Congratulations on taking the first steps towards beginning orthodontic treatment. I think you were very fortunate to have been able to do some work in their office in the past - I think sometimes things like this happen for a reason. It sounds like because you did decide to take these steps, you quickly have overcome your phobia of going to the dentist. I think this will be a new beginning towards better dental health. I feel the key thing is to find a dentist that you like and trust and you will continue to keep up on your dental health. Just curious, had you been thinking about beginning orthodontic treatment in the past or is this something your dentist suggested?

I know it took me about 3 months to decide whether I wanted to proceed with orthodontic treatment due to being an adult and the visibility of braces, but I knew if I didn't proceed with it now I wouldn't do it in the future, but knew it would be on my mind. I am so glad that I decided to proceed with ortho treatment to correct my crossbite and overjet. My crossbite has been corrected with an expander and the overjet and some minor things will be corrected with the braces. I think you will be amazed and so pleased that you decided to proceed with ortho treatment. I also think that because my orthodontist and his staff are so kind and highly skilled that it has made going to the orthodontist a pleasant experience. It already sounds like you have a great relationship with the orthodontist so hopefully you will be as pleased as I am. Be sure to ask any questions that you may have. I found this helps me to learn alot and know why things are being done and what to expect at future appts.

Keep us posted.

ssfw

Sun Jul 16, 2006 8:37 pm

I've been kicking around the idea for the past couple of years. One reason I've delayed is that I know I need some other dental work and assumed a lot of it needed to be done before braces. Before meeting the dentist I expected to get quite a bit of work done before getting braces. Instead he told me I'd be ready for braces much sooner and that afterwards we could do the crowns and such. The downside to this is when the braces come off, I still won't be ready to go out on the town.. and then I have the additional work to look forward to! But all the perfect crowns in the world won't look any better with a bunch of crowded teeth. And like I said before, this gives me a couple of years to come up with the cash for the additional work and to make some decisions.

I'll definitely be updating here any time there is news. This board is helping me understand what I'm getting into and I want to do my part to help others in the future. My favorite thing to see on this site are before & after/progress photos so I hope to do the same.

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!

Steve

#5 Post by **braced4asmile** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:58 am

Welcome to the forum, Steve! It's great that you took the dive in! You will be so happy that you decided to make the change. Keep taking those great pictures. You'll be amazed at the changes which happen quickly.

Your childhood story sounds familiar. I am the youngest of 10 children and my dad was self-employed. We didn't have a lot of extra money, so checkups were done more like once a year. I had a great fear of the dental office. I think it was that very sterile smell and my dentist seemed like the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk (actually over 6 feet, but huge to a young child!) I started neglecting my teeth throughout my twenties. When I met my husband, he was very understanding about my fears, but we found a great hygenist and dentist who have been inspirational for healthy oral hygeine. They have taken the fear out of going there. As odd as it may seem for a dental phobic, I now look forward to dentis visits! Thanks to them, I've stepped up my brushing, flossing and have taken the needed step of braces.

I am sure it was fate for you to do some work for the ortho. He sounds like he is going to take good care of you. That phobia will be part of your past and a great smile will be part of your near future! Good luck to you in your journey!

Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:37 am

I too was the youngest of five.. and I was from the second marriage. It wasn't so much a lack of money (we had dental insurance too) as a lack of dental concern and a general mistrust for doctors. My parents came from very poor family and didn't trust anyone with money. Doctors usually had money so doctors tend to make up stories to make more money.

Well I'm sure this was true in some cases but certainly not all.

Today I have a job to do at the ortho office... maybe I can get some questions in to them but they're usually very busy. I probably should set an appointment up as they might be booked for quite a while. It's going to feel very strange to be the their client for a change.

steve

#7 Post by **joney** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:19 am

Hi Steve

It was interesting to read your story. If I go ahead with getting braces we may be making the journey at the same time. My teeth are in a similar condition to yours? Is your orthodontist planning on extractions?

#8 Post by **sjsarre** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 2:07 pm

Hi snaggletooth steve..

Congrats on taking the plunge.. It will be worth it. I took years to decide on having a brace. My issues were severe crowding which was getting worse as I got older.. I had four extractions done which will give just enough room..

I'm sure you'll have excellent results.. It will be so interesting to look back on your journey. Be sure to post on and off with new photo's...

Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:57 pm

Joney,

It should be interesting to compare notes over the next few years! I haven't had an official meeting with the ortho yet so I doubt he even knows what he's getting into. I have a missing molar in each quadrant so I don't anticipate any extractions beyond two roots which come out aug 1

. Still trying to decide if I should go with IV sedation or just local. On one hand, with IV they would do both on the same visit vs two visits which saves time... but the IV doubles the cost (adds about $300) and I'm not too excited about IV's since I haven't had one. I'm leaning towards that though, to save time and find out what IV's feel like. Besides, I have quite a few cosmetic repairs to do after the braces and it would be nice to know how the various sedatives work.

After my last post I went to the ortho office and had a little chat with the main assistant.. she's very excited to see me moving forward with this. She told me some info on the Damon system and also some clear brackets. She said the first week of August is very likely for me getting in for the initial exam. We'll see what the dentist says about that on Weds.

Two days

till the fillings appointment.. and I keep finding more questionable areas on my crowded teeth as my gums improve. I'm thinking at least two more cavities than they originally counted. Hopefully I'm wrong though! This next week or so will be pretty tough for my dental fears.

steve

Wed Jul 26, 2006 1:10 pm

Ok so I just got back from my first fillings appointment. This dentist is going to be very good I believe.. Skilled with the injection needle and I couldn't feel it. Overall a pretty good experience but an hour and a half long. And now I get to go back TOMORROW for two more fillings.. then monday to the oral surgeon.

No point in posting pics as most of the work they did today was where you can't see from the front.

#11 Post by **joney** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:56 pm

Hi Steve

I was re-reading your message and something struct a cord with me. I too cannot imagine life with normal teeth.

Hope we'll both be posting pictures in a year or two or our lovely teeth. That is really something to look forward to isn't it.

Regards

Joney

Thu Jul 27, 2006 4:32 pm

Second fillings appt went smooth as glass. I decided no nitrous this time because yesterday's recovery ended up being a bad headache all night. I think from being on nitrous for over an hour. This Dr is skilled I'm telling you.. I kept waiting to feel the injection and all I felt was going numb. Now I just wish it would wear off!

Anyone out there who has a fear of the shots, keep trying and you will find a dentist like this. That gets rid of the excuse to go and then once you go to the same one a few times it's no where near as bad going back each time.

Dentist said go get the root extraction done on Tuesday and I'm ready to go see the ortho. I'm going to try for an appointment late next week. Once I go in for the initial I'll make a post in the braces stories forum.

Steve

#13 Post by **Smiley77** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 7:37 am

Great to hear everything is going well!

Good luck with the last of the work, look forward to hearing updates

Tue Aug 01, 2006 7:37 am

The good: I'm officially scheduled to meet with the ortho on Tuesday August 8! They offered to go ahead and do Xray's that day as well but I wanted to discuss their findings before committing to that step.

The scary: Today is root extraction day.

one on the top right and one on the bottom left. They are offering IV sedation but I haven't received any instructions about that such as no eating before the apt. I guess I'm going to skip lunch but I'll be starving afterwards and it won't be fun to eat with holes on two sides of my mouth. May have to do this on two visits after-all.

The bad: Maybe this is just tooth sensitivity from the fillings, but I've been pushing on all of my teeth trying to imagine how much pressure the braces will exert. My top right front tooth (which did get a filling) reacts completely different to pressure than the others. It's more of a sharp pain that sticks around after you stop pushing (especially side-to-side pushing). The others don't hurt if you push with the same force, you just feel the pressure. This includes the other teeth that got fillings. May have to go back to the dentist to check this out.

steve

Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:15 am

Back from the root extractions. After discussing the process of sedation I elected to do it without. I would have had to reschedule and that alone made up my mind. Everything went quick and easy.. until. . .

Leaving the office they prescribed and antibiotic and a pain reliever. Percocet. Turns out I have a reaction to Percocet (probably the Codeine). Last night was a long night of being dizzy, nauseated and itchy all over. I was up until at least 5am. Fortunately I don't seem to have any pain this morning so I won't need to take any more pain reliever, but in any case I won't ever touch anything with Codeine in it again. I hate taking pills!

At this point I'd just like to get some sleep but now the phones are ringing and there is work to do.