Just starting the journey at almost 44
Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 10:47 pm
I am brand new to the board and brand new to posting on ANY board. I'm not someone who is usually forthcoming with personal details , especially with strangers, but reading your posts and how helpful you all are to each other, I thought that I will share my journey right from the beginning, as many of you have -- in case someone can relate to my circumstances and find my posts as informative and useful as some of yours.
Due to grinding my teeth, my slight overbite (due to genetic small/receded lower jaw) has become a more severe overbite/closed bite (90%). My upper front teeth have actually started tilting inward. I have always had smallish teeth and was not happy with my smile as my teeth did not show much, but it was not what most would consider really ugly. The teeth themselves were straight, the jaws were just not aligned. Well, my mouth is not a pretty sight now. And, maybe the worse part is, because my teeth are prematurely worn down and caving in, it is affecting my whole face and making me look older than I am (almost 44).-- It seems like it happened almost overnight (but I know it didn't).
The spacers on the top molars went in today. The top will be braced in one week. It will be about 3 months before the ortho will begin on the bottom teeth (to push the retruded top teeth back out first so braces on the bottom won't scratch against the back of the top teeth). The timeline (although from reading your posts, I know timelines are very tentative and optimistic) are 12 months in braces, then orthognathic surgery (hopefully just lower jaw, but surgeon not sure yet), then 12 more months in braces. That will line everything up. But if after going through all that, I actually want my teeth and smile to look GOOD, (due to grinding/wear), I'm going to need cosmetic work like bonding and veneers.
It's a huge commitment, as insurance will pay approx $2k of the $4.6k of the braces, but will likely not approve surgery (up to $30k) and none of the cosmetic portion (several more thousand). But I don't feel like there's really a choice as not fixing them is too depressing to consider. I told my daughter (24) I am spending her future inheritance. (kidding, she wasn't getting one anyway).
I am not an overly vain person, but I do believe in fixing whatever you can fix that you don't like so that you can focus on other things. I want to keep my teeth for functional reasons, of course, but I'm not going to pretend that I don't hope for a certain amount of cosmetic improvement so that I can smile big when I feel like smiling big and be completely myself.
Anyone relate?
Due to grinding my teeth, my slight overbite (due to genetic small/receded lower jaw) has become a more severe overbite/closed bite (90%). My upper front teeth have actually started tilting inward. I have always had smallish teeth and was not happy with my smile as my teeth did not show much, but it was not what most would consider really ugly. The teeth themselves were straight, the jaws were just not aligned. Well, my mouth is not a pretty sight now. And, maybe the worse part is, because my teeth are prematurely worn down and caving in, it is affecting my whole face and making me look older than I am (almost 44).-- It seems like it happened almost overnight (but I know it didn't).
The spacers on the top molars went in today. The top will be braced in one week. It will be about 3 months before the ortho will begin on the bottom teeth (to push the retruded top teeth back out first so braces on the bottom won't scratch against the back of the top teeth). The timeline (although from reading your posts, I know timelines are very tentative and optimistic) are 12 months in braces, then orthognathic surgery (hopefully just lower jaw, but surgeon not sure yet), then 12 more months in braces. That will line everything up. But if after going through all that, I actually want my teeth and smile to look GOOD, (due to grinding/wear), I'm going to need cosmetic work like bonding and veneers.
It's a huge commitment, as insurance will pay approx $2k of the $4.6k of the braces, but will likely not approve surgery (up to $30k) and none of the cosmetic portion (several more thousand). But I don't feel like there's really a choice as not fixing them is too depressing to consider. I told my daughter (24) I am spending her future inheritance. (kidding, she wasn't getting one anyway).
I am not an overly vain person, but I do believe in fixing whatever you can fix that you don't like so that you can focus on other things. I want to keep my teeth for functional reasons, of course, but I'm not going to pretend that I don't hope for a certain amount of cosmetic improvement so that I can smile big when I feel like smiling big and be completely myself.
Anyone relate?