Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello! My name is Amy and I am 31 years old. After wanting braces for 20+ years I am finally getting my wish. I have a very large gap between my front 2 teeth. The orthodontist said it's around 4mm. I know several people (including family members) who have gaps, but I honestly have never met another person with a gap as large as mine. Many of my friends and family have tried to talk me out of getting braces by stating that my gap adds character and blah, blah, blah but they have no idea how self conscience I am about it. I know that the people who see me all the time probably don't notice it but upon a first impression it can't be missed. Anyway, I am going next Wednesday, May 19th to have the seperators/spacers put in and the banding is scheduld for May 26th. I'm pretty excited but must confess that I'm a little nervous about the discomfort. The seperators sound like they're going to be miserable! The orthodontist has said I will probably wear the braces for 18-20 months and he wants me to have a frenectomy at 14-16 months into the treatment. After the braces are removed he's going to put in fixed upper and lower retainers and also give me an essix retainer for the top teeth, in an effort to keep the gap from re-opening. I look forward to chatting with everyone on here. This seems like a great place for information and support!

welcome. this site has alot of friendly ppl and good info on braces.

im excited for you to get ur wish of braces !!! i knw the same feeling !!

my spacers were NO fun. i cldnt eat anything hardly but it pays off when u finally get your braces ENJOY

Hello and Hi! I also have a large space between my front teeth (between 4 to 5 mm) got my upper braces on about 5 weeks ago and they also put a power chain tieing the two front ones together, now the space is at 1 to 2 mm. I cannot believe the boost to my self confidence!, yes the pain sucks, yet I do not regret my decision. Good luck to you!

Hello amy2u! Welcome to the forum!
I know how you feel when it comes to be self conscience about your teeth! I have an overbite (I believe its about 2mm overbite) and I am constantly worrying what other people think about it. So you're not the only one! Hey! you are getting braces on the 26th and I'm getting the 25th! That will be cool! so anyway, good luck with your appointments and I hope all of your treatment goes well!! Good luck!

~Braaces

Thanks for your replies! I can't wait to get this process started and begin seeing some progress. Only 2 more days until I get my spacers. I'm a more nervous about that than anything else.
A*young*51, it makes me even more excited to learn that I may get to see some major movement just 5 weeks into the braces. I will try to post a picture on here soon of my current gap. =)
Braaces....I also have an overjet. Good luck on the 25th!!

I'm 31 as well and just got braces put on. Good luck to you - I'm right there with ya! So glad I found this site - what a huge help it's been so far -