Loxodonta's Braces Adventure

[loxodonta]

Although I have yet to go to my initial consult, I thought I would begin to share my story. I've been seriously thinking about braces since May, and today I set up an appointment. Now that I have finally decided to make the commitment, I wish I could start it now. However, the appointment for my initial consultation is not until August 4.

In my avatar is a picture of my smile as it is now. It is the only somewhat close picture that I have at the moment, but next week I should be able to borrow my dad's digital camera to take some better before shots.

The problems:

• *fully visible impacted canine in front gums (left)
  *baby left canine tooth still present
  *impacted canine in front gums (right), covered by gums/not visible
  *deep overbite, except bottom right incisor which goes over the top tooth
  *top and bottom teeth not properly aligned

These are just the problems visible to me. There may be more problems that the orthodontist can tell me about at the appointment.

Why I Decided to Get Braces:

• *I don't mind one impacted canine (okay, maybe I kinda do) but this second one growing in on the right isn't cool. I couldn't stand having two fangs sticking out.
  *I have noticed a few of my teeth turning in slightly and the back teeth are slightly crowded.
  *I have been told by 2 dentists, an oral surgeon, and a veterinary dentist (haha, yes) that braces would really be beneficial to me.
  *Who doesn't want a nice smile? I smile all the time, and while I don't mind it too much now, it would be nice to have a beautiful set of teeth to show off.

Earlier this year, I had a stubborn baby tooth that had begun to break apart removed and then had my 4 wisdom teeth surgically extracted (two had to be drilled out!). A week after my mouth had stopped hurting from the wisdom teeth extractions, my mouth swelled up again due to an infection. It turned into a huge ordeal (especially since I am in college and my oral surgeon was 3 hours away) and I missed several days of classes throughout the semester due to my teeth. I think that dealing with all of that helped alleviate some of my worries about dentists and I feel much more comfortable now getting dental work done than I was in the past.

I finally got serious about the braces, have been researching them and orthodontists in my area, and got the okay from my parents - they'll be paying for it since I have no job (school is my job!) and from my boyfriend - he'll be driving me to and from the office, comforting me, listening to me complain, etc. It feels so good to have a day (August 4) to look forward to, although it's just a consultation. If I am lucky they may do the X-rays and molds that day as well. I just want to get this going as soon as possible - the sooner I start, the sooner they come off. I'm hoping they'll be able to be off by the time I graduate in 2 years or soon thereafter.

Once I get some good "before" pics, I'll post them. Then I probably won't update until after my consultation on August 4th. This is so exciting! I'm nervous, but I hope to be able to have fun with it!

[loxodonta]

I took some pictures of my teeth before treatment. I am getting excited about my upcoming appointment. I am so happy to finally be getting this taken care of. I have procrastinated for far too long. I apologize for the blurriness of some of the pics...I'm new at this!

*normal smile*


*smile with top/bottom teeth touching*


*another smile*


*open view*


*right side*


*right side with bulge - hidden impacted canine*


*left side*


*left side with fang - visible impacted canine*


*upper arch with ugly cavity fillings*


*lower arch*


*another smile*

[joey]

hey good luck with it ive just stared treatment too! ive had mine on for 19 weeks now and the change is fantastic i prefer my brace smile with all the wires ect than i did my smile before it aint too bad! hope you have a hollywood smile soon!!!!

[loxodonta]

Thanks joey! Good luck with your treatment too. It feels great to finally take some action and get this done. I'm excited about getting started.

[loxodonta]

Today's the day! I know it seems odd that I'm making such a big deal about the initial consultation when they're just going to tell me what I already know, but it's exciting because I am actually going through with
this!

This is the first step, and I'll get to finally know some answers. Plus, I'll finally get to meet the people who I (well, my dad) will be paying to poke, prod, and put painful foreign objects into my already sensitive mouth.

Hopefully they will go ahead with the X-rays and molds and possibly even put in the spacers. I don't know yet what they will do. I will find out when I get there. I hate not knowing what is coming next. (I hate suspenseful movies - I prefer to know what's going to happen).

Things I want to find out at my appointment:

• When will my braces be put on?
  What kind of braces am I getting?
  Do I have to have surgery for my impacted canines?
  When do I need to get my baby tooth/teeth pulled?
  How long is treatment expected to last?

I will probably get metal braces, and since I don't even have a braces on date yet I probably shouldn't be thinking about this yet, but I'm thinking about getting light blue ligs the first time. Does anyone recommend this or not? Or should I go with gray or clear first to get used to them?

12 hours from now I will be sitting in the office, meeting the orthodontist and his staff, and finding out what's in store for the next 2-3 years! Ooh, and I'll hopefully get a new date so I can make a new ticker!

[Nanhut]

Loxodonta - Good luck today. All will be well now that you've taken the big step to start your journey. We look forward to hearing all about it.

[joplin]

Good luck, Loxodonta! Also looking forward to hearing your treatment plan!
To my uneducated eye it seems like you're lucky as far as the canine issue goes: one is already visible and the other one close to the surface of your gum, so there should be no problem getting them down in their right places. I hope that's the case for you! Age is also on your side, good thing you're doing it now. Keeping my fingers crossed for you

[LisaH]

Good luck Loxodonta!! I'm so excited for you. I look forward to hearing about your treatment.

[loxodonta]

Thanks so much to everyone for your support! All of you know how nervewracking this can be at times, and your support is so wonderful. It makes me feel so much better about all of this.

The consultation went great! For one, I liked the orthodontist and his team very much. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't like them, because there wasn't really another option in my city.

He seemed to think that it wouldn't be very difficult to pull my impacted canines down. He also said that I would not need spacers or elastics. That news excited me.

One thing that I am concerned about is having two baby teeth extracted (my upper baby canines) so that they can pull down my permanent ones. I've known all along that it would have to be done, but now that it is so close I am worrying about the two spaces I will have in the front of my mouth. Plus, I'm not too keen on the whole extraction experience after the problems I had with my wisdom teeth earlier this year. But, it has to be done, and in the end I will be so glad I have done it.

At the consultation, I got to go ahead with my X-rays, photos, and impressions. The bottom impression wasn't bad, but the upper one was because some of the pink stuff fell onto my tongue. That did not taste good at all! But I am so relieved that I do not have to deal with spacers, elastics, or expanders. The orthodontist made it seem like it would not be a big deal at all.

Everyone was so friendly and great and I am excited to go back. I feel very good about this whole thing (except the extractions) and am excited to actually be doing it. I do not know yet how long they expect me to have the braces on, but maybe I'll find out at my next visit.

The next steps to come are:

• *Extraction of two baby canines by my regular dentist sometime this week - whenever they have an opening due to a cancellation
  *Monday, August 15: BRACES ON!!

[loxodonta]

Here is a picture showing which two teeth are being extracted. The blue dots are on top of each of them. As you can see here and in my above pictures, both teeth are clearly visible in my normal smile. I'll get used to it, I guess. Once the braces are actually on, the gaps shouldn't be as noticeable or at least people will realize what is going on.

[caryca]

loxodonta, I think it's not going to be that visible, first one of those tooth will go down fery quickly, the other one I do not know. But when I was 18 and I allowed ( ) to extract 1st molar to have the 2nd premolar to go down -without orth treatment, it took only a month to see it:-) mind you it was totally impacted and not fully developed- this I've learned in may during my consult with ortho....I was quite suprised when she (my ortho) said oh that tooth developed in the last 10 years
so I was still growing

[loxodonta]

thank you! the more I think about it, the more I realize that it really won't be a big deal. I had just got myself worked up about the missing teeth. Between the time of my extractions and the time I get the braces put on, I probably won't see anyone I know. When I move back to school I'll have the braces on, so people will know why there are missing teeth.

Speaking of the extractions...my dentist will be able to do it on Wednesday, August 10 at 12:30. He is fitting me in on his lunch break, so I kinda feel bad about that, but I think it is very nice of him to do so. Without the extractions the ortho won't put the braces on, and my dentist understands that I want to start as soon as possible. It also helps that my mom is friends with the dentist. She took my panoramic x-ray to him today to make sure that he can do the extractions.

I am relieved to know exactly when I will get this done. I like to be prepared and know what is coming and when. Like I said before, I hate any kind of suspense or not knowing, so any time I have a date to count down to I feel much better about it.

[loxodonta]

It seems like it has been so long since I've seen the internet! I'm finally back at a computer and ready to continue my story.

I went to my general dentist last Wednesday, August 10 to get my two deciduous (baby) cuspids removed. It went surprisingly well. In fact, I was only in the office for 15 minutes. 15 minutes!! It helped that it was the lunch break and I was the only patient at the time, but the procedure was real quick.

He asked me if I wanted the gas, but I've had negative reactions to it in the past so I decided to be brave and not take it. The worst part was just the shots with the numbing medicine. The teeth pulling didn't hurt at all, I just heard a crunching and ripping sound that was unpleasant. But it went well.

Now I've got two spaces in my mouth, but like caryca said, it's not that visible. I've gotten used to it and they don't bother me at all. That night I went to a family get-together, and I've gone out and done something every day since. I haven't really thought about the spaces much at all.

So, now that I completed that step...tomorrow's the big day!!! I'm getting braces! I'm finally doing it, and I am excited. I'll be sure to have pictures up when possible.

[invisagirl]

good luck and let us know how it goes!

[loxodonta]

Thanks for the support!

I am now a brace-face!! I never knew that I'd be so excited about it!

Everything did go well. I only ended up getting the top ones this time, but I actually like that better. I can get used to these first and then get used to the bottom ones in several months. I got metal with blue ligs.

I really like them actually. I thought they'd be a lot worse. They really don't look too bad. They hurt a tiny bit on Monday night, but have really hurt today. I haven't been able to eat anything that requires a lot of chewing because my teeth hurt to chew.

The ortho who did my initial consult is not the doctor doing my work. That kind of surprised me, but I like my ortho as well. He explained everything to me and answered my questions.

I was surprised at how much the technician actually does. The ortho just kind of oversees everything. He helped position the brackets, but she did just about everything else.

The archwire does not actually go through the bracket on my visible canine. Instead it is tied (with a wire tie) to the bottom of the bracket. The tech put a lig on top of it though so it would match the others.

I had a really good visit and I really like going because everyone is so friendly. I'm glad that the braces are not too terribly bad at this point.

The treament time is estimated at 20-22 months. The total cost is $5095.00 and that includes broken brackets, emergency visits, etc. It will be so worth it in 2 years from now.

I have a few pictures that I will post later. I am not good with the camera though, so they're not too good.

My next appointment is September 13 for a ligature change, retie, and check-up.

I finally did it!