Metal Mouth Message Board

I'm thirty and living in New York (gosh, that sounds like the beginning of a bad pilot to the next reality tv show).

I've had braces for two months now. I have nine ceramic brackets on my top teeth, and they are there to (1) act as scaffolding to pull a stubborn canine permanent tooth that suddenly broke free last February from its 15 year hostage situation. Current canine primary tooth is not impressed with this new tooth in town and shows no indication that it will be moving out. New canine is coming in from the back and is taking its sweet time! The braces are also trying to (2) create space so that when primary tooth is evicted the new canine has enough housing space to join the rest of the neighborhood. However, if the gap between my front two teeth is any indication, there will be plenty of room and then some (I cant wait to see the end of that gap!)

My ortho – who I happened to go to college with and remember teasing him incessantly during genetics lab - has proven that karma is a b*%ch, and is a monthly source of mouth sourness and will continue to be so for the next 10 months. To sweeten the deal, he has made me an offer I could not refuse, and I will be more than likely sporting bottom brackets in a few months to correct some crowding.

Welcome to the club. I've had my brackets on for about two weeks and for a while I felt as if I was the only person over the age of 21 in NYC with braces on. I've been obsessed with other people's teeth lately. I've been staring at teeth lately, those who have had braces in the past, those who could benefit from orthodontic treament, those who are currently wearing braces.
Welcome to the club and I hope your 10 months fly by.

I swear, once I entered braces world, I see them now everywhere on adults in the city. The hostess at the Bryant Park Grill restaurant, the cashier at the Herald Square Lush store, etc. Also, someone in my office was thinking about it (small office – only 50 people) and now she is going to get ceramic uppers as well! I feel like I’m following a trend I didn’t know was taking place.

lol - your following the fashion trend of Adults being in Braces welcome to the forum btw.

Eleni, I'd like to hear in more detail what you mean by this:

"...to pull a stubborn canine permanent tooth that suddenly broke free last February from its 15 year hostage situation"

I'm sorry: I'm not a native English speaker so I'm not always sure I get everything right

Do you mean an impacted canine started to come down on it's own?!
I'm obsessed about impacted canines because my treatment - which has not started yet - will be all about the problems caused by those canines. My ortho wants me to have my palate expanded and she said sometimes when impacted teeth get more space around them they may "move spontaniously". Her words. I don't expect mine to move spontaniously, though.

Good luck with your treatment!
-Joplin

karma is a b*%ch

That it is.

I swear, once I entered braces world, I see them now everywhere on adults in the city.

Yeah, I've noticed this, too. I think it's a good thing. I know a police officer, and she says a lot of the folks on the force are walking around in braces. I think they scored really good benefits on their last contract.

Good luck!

joplin wrote:I'm sorry: I'm not a native English speaker so I'm not always sure I get everything right

Its not you. I just have a very sarcastic style of writing.

joplin wrote: Do you mean an impacted canine started to come down on it's own?!

YES!!!! Last year, Valentines day of all days (Feb 14) I woke up in the morning and had the most peculiar feeling, almost a pinching in the top right area of the roof of my mouth. I stuck a mirror back there to see why and *holy smokes* the tip of the tooth had broke through! I didn’t believe it. I had always known a tooth was up there, but since the baby tooth wasnt budging and the permanent tooth had never shown any indication of moving - all my dentists had told me to just forget about it.

As I am a person who believes in letting things take their natural course I left the tooth alone thinking it would come down and quickly knock the baby tooth out – like all my other teeth did when I was ten. But a year and a half later and the progression had been very slow. I finally broke down and went to an Ortho. He’s got a metal bracket bonded to the tip, and a string tied to both the bracket and to the arch wire adding more pressure to hasten its journey.

I don’t know why the tooth finally decided to come out. Hormones? Just a really slow progression? I like to think that I finally matured and the last remnant of my baby years can finally go.

I also get a kick out of telling people that I'm teething.

joplin wrote:Good luck with your treatment!

Thank you. Best of luck as well - and to ALL of you who have posted!
And hey, you just never know about those spontaneous canines. Weirder things have happened.

Eleni, in my eyes you're extremely lucky OK, I'm grasping straws here, but who knows, maybe mine will take some action of their own once they get more spare around them BTW I love the way you write

Hey Eleni,

I live in NYC too (also 30 single and sounding like a sitcom) but never see other adults with braces. In fact I was wondering about it because it seemed somewhat common in the midwest and Australia where I've also lived. Maybe I'll have to go to the Bryant Park Grill to see for myself!

My office has one braceface but she is no more than 20 I think and its an office of 1000 people.

Ray

Eleni wrote:Its not you. I just have a very sarcastic style of writing.

I love your style of writing. You have the same insane sense of humor as I have.


Insanity is hereditary - you get it from your kids

Eleni wrote:YES!!!! Last year, Valentines day of all days (Feb 14)

They day I got my upper and lower braces fitted. A very significant day in my life.

Sorry about that lol, just had to say it.

lol valentine's day. mine was 9/11.

Mine was a few days b4 thanksgiving...needless to say i liked the mashed potatoes...oh and my friend got them off on his 19th b-day...is that a great present or what..lol

can anyone here recommend a good orthodontist in nyc?