I've had an overjet as long as I can remember. As a kid, my parents spoke to the dentists we used and none felt that I needed braces. My mom thought they were crazy since my smile is like hers, but she kept asking.
I've never really liked my smile and I absolutely hate my profile because of my overjet (7mm) and 2 front teeth being "flared". I'd talked about getting braces but never did anything about it until my middle son was sent for an ortho eval for a spacer for a tooth that had to be pulled. I felt very self conscious as I was sitting there and decided it was now or never to ask about it.
I met with 3 orthodontists who all agreed that I'd need upper and lower braces and that what I really needed was corrective jaw surgery. As I met with the oral surgeon, they confirmed that I'd need lower jaw extension and most likely my upper jaw would need to be lifted (because my smile is about 1 -2 mm "too gummy"). THey'd have to pull my lower "deeply impacted" wisdom teeth at the same time. The oral surgeon also talked about a chin implant because apparently my chin is too small too. (wow...if I didn't feel flawed before I walked in there, I sure did walking out!) Long story short, I understand that "perfection" would come with surgery, but I have various reasons (including some anaphalactic allergies) that made me decide this was really more than I can do at this point in my life. I won't be perfect, but I'll take improved. To be honest, closing my mouth without difficulty would be awesome!
Anwyay, they all agreed that the next best option was to do some extractions and take a camoflauge approach. My profile won't be perfect, but will be better. I chose the orthodontist where I felt most comfortable with him and his staff. The plan is that we put clear on the top and metal on bottom a few months later.
I had the brackets bonded on Tues - 12/18. The oral surgeon will do my 2 extractions on the Jan 3rd. Assuming I don't need a bone graft, my archwire will go on Jan 7th. If I do have to have a bone graft, it'll be 6 weeks later. I'm not sure why we did the brackets first, but I dont' mind. It's helping me avoid all that holiday junk food and I"m starting to get used to them.
As soon as I figure out how, I'll post the pix from my records appointment.
Thanks for sharing my journey!
