Please note, from reading this you will get the impression that my teeth experience has left me an extremely bitter and and annoyed person......and you would be right. Read on if ye dare.
Well I was first referred to an orthodontist by my dentist when I was 9 years old with an underbite and bad overcrowding, they decided that as I had such terrible teeth they would send me to the local university dental hospital so that they could let students ooh and aah at my mouth every time I opened it. So between the ages of 9 and 17 I went to the hospital every 6 months so that they could tell me to wait until I had finished growing before they started any treatment.
So when I was 17 I finally got my quadhelix and braces with a treatment estimate of 18 months including surgery, and had quite good progress for the first year or so, to the point that all my teeth were in line, the only remaining problem being one slightly rotated tooth and one ~4mm gap remaining to be closed. The next year began with trying rotate the tooth back, and overcompensating, then trying to move it back the other way and then another one moving, and then my quadhelix snapping in a place that they had never seen one break before and delay after delay until I reached the 2 year point (now) and they are still trying to move one tooth a tiny fraction of an amount......then they can begin closing the gap, estimated another 6 months, then the surgery, then another 6 months in braces. Bringing the total treatment time from an initial estimate of 18 months to a minimum of 3 years.
Also they told me that they have to make the underbite worse than it was originally and so that has increased from 3mm to 6mm.
Most of this I could have handled, it doesn't even particularly bother me that I have a brace, lots of people have braces, it's the underbite that bothers me. What is so frustrating is the constant delays, I was so looking forward to going to university and being able to talk to people for the first time in 5 years without feeling awkward.
Anyway when the time came to go to uni and still not finished I thought ah well never mind, I will just have to make the best of it. Then on the first day here when I went to have my photograph for my uni ID card I kept my mouth well and truly shut and the photographer said "Come on open your mouth and smile, keeping it shut like that makes you have down syndrome (half jokingly and to a few stifled giggles from everyone else in the queue waiting for their pic) so I nervously tried to give a sort of little grin then he said "actually thinking about it it was better the way it was before". (to howls of laughter from the audience). After that I spent the next couple of days trying not to talk to people and now I am just sick of having to sit and eat with lots of people whilst I can barely chew due to only having about 3 pairs of teeth that actually meet and either eating pathetically slowly or trying to keep up with everybody else and almost choking. Also being shown endless photos of people grinning their heads off all the time whilst I have spent the last 5 years camera dodging. After my last appointment which yielded still no progress I seriously thought about quitting university and starting again once this is all over. But I thought I may as well stick with it even if it is crap.
Remarkably I still have plenty of friends, I don't know how. But I just feel uncomfortable every moment I am with other people and refuse to go clubbing with them (I hate it the music is so loud that you can't talk and so all communication is through facial expression), so I don't know why they put up with me. Grrr
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Well that is my braces story so far and I feel guilty reading it, I sound like such a whingey little git, when I think about the problems other people have to put up with, and even a lot of people who go through worse with their ortho treatment.
I admire all you people who are so positive about the whole thing, how do you do it? I used to be able to when I could see progress but now its just getting me down.
Ah well, adjustment 23 is in 3 weeks, I wonder what will happen.....
Also I know that is all very depressing and pathetic, but it's my diary and I will write what I want
I'm not sure if emotions are allowed in here or if it's just supposed to be a record of what has happened with your treatment, admins please feel free to delete it.One last thing, it might be a bit jumbled and confused, I kept going back and editing it as I remembered things.