She recommended an orthodontist to me (I wonder if he's simply the one my insurance would cover if I were a minor) and this same ortho also did the work on a friend of mine who was very pleased. I didn't consider 'shopping around' because I felt that with 2 recommendations, he must be good enough. I went to a consultation with him on June 22 and found his demeanor very cold. He said I must get some teeth removed ASAP and seemed to feel strongly that I should opt for the surgery to correct my overbite even though I told him I would rather avoid surgery and wanted to see first how far the braces would take me. The price was also very high and the $1000 up front he wanted was not reasonable for my budget.
My mother encouraged me to get a second opinion and talked to people she knew and gave me the name of another orthodontist. My consultation was Monday the 10th and the staff was much friendlier. This orthodontist told me that we might have to remove some teeth, but, said we will see a few months into treatment and it will depend on how things line up. He also said that my overbite won't fully be corrected without surgery, but, told me that surgery is not the best choice for a lot of adults as it involves breaking the jaw bone. The pricing plan was much more reasonable for me as well, and I accepted. They did my impressions and put in spacers. This ortho was nice enough to come in just to say hello as I was getting my impressions done. I will get my braces on Tuesday, the 18th.
the moral to my story: if your insurance isn't gonna cover it, shop around!!
anyway, here are some of my 'starter' pics....
So far, these spacers are annoying as heck. When I eat, they are painful. Only the softest foods are edible as I cannot chew anything, it seems. It hurts when I floss my other teeth. At this point in time, I want to rip them out.
I've been reading the other posts in this forum, and, KiwiKathy(?) is telling everyone to use salt water to prepare the gums and cheeks..duly noted, will start today on that!!
******Advice needed***************
I have to decide by Tuesday if I want metal or ceramic. I know that ceramic will take longer. They are already estimating 2 1/2 years in braces, and I'd hate to see that go to 3 years. I also hear that they are larger in the mouth and not as smooth, more likely to cut...
Despite the time, etc. I'm considering the ceramic because I already look really young for my age and am afraid that metal braces will further enhance my youth. Some people don't see the problem of looking like a teenager when you're 30, but, for me, it's a problem. Then again, I have that problem now and I'm in the habit of covering my teeth--maybe nobody will notice?
(Today, I learned why toothpicks are important after I ate some soup that had watercress in it. I got a tiny piece of watercress stuck where some crooked teeth kind of overlap, underneath the brace, of course. The perio-brush kind of pushed it in further, I needed something harder to go in the crevice and dislodge it!!)
I need to do more research on exactly what that means to them and if there's a more humane alternative out there. If there is, I haven't found it yet.
It's a pain those couple of brackets have come off, but reading other stories here it sounds quite common place so I wouldn't worry!
