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Well, now I sound like I'm already through it all, but in fact I'm not even close! I have my braces fitted only 3 weeks ago, but it seems like an eternity already
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I'll start from the beginning. I am 27 years old, and as long as I can remember, I have simply hated my teeth. I'm in generel very happy with my looks, but my teeth have always been my weak spot. So much that I never smile with my teeth and I am even very aware of them when I talk with other people. Also, I have always hated having my picture taken. I have always regretted not having braces when I was a child, I found that to be the biggest mistake of my life! Other people say that my teeth are not that bad, but it doesn't change the way I see them. Then about one year ago I talked with my dentist about this, and he said that adults can have braces too! I didn't really consider this an option, as I didn't want to have visible braces in my age. He told me about lingual braces (incognito) and this suddenly seemed more attractive to me. In my country a regular dentist can't do orthodontic work, since it requires a supplement education of 3 years. I find that reassuring, since moving around someone's teeth should only be done by someone, who knows, what he's doing. So my dentist adviced me to go and see an orthodontist, and I visited 3 different orthodontists before finding the right one. So far I am very happy with my choice, as my ortho and his crew seem trustworthy and qualified.
3 weeks ago I had my braces fitted in both upper and lower part of my mouth. I have lingual braces (Incognito) on top and regular metal braces below. I never really considered linguals below, as it's too expensive and I don't think the teeth below are that visible. But I am soo happy with my braces on top being completely invisible!
I was so very nervous when I went to have my braces fitted, but it all went very smooth. It took 2 hours and my jaws became tired, but that was all. I had been told that it wouldn't hurt, so I wasn't surprised by that part, but I was nervous as to how I would look, when they were fitted. After all I would have to look like this for about 2 years.. The upper one is completely invisible, as it's on the inside. The lower one is visible when I talk and smile, but not very much, since the lip covers most of it. And to my surprise I have found that I really don't care what other people think, when they see, I have braces. Perhaps it's because I was so unhappy with my teeth that this does not seem very worse.
After having them fitted I expected all sorts of problems, as I have read too much on this board
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So in total I would say that I only have had one real challenge: to eat! As my teeth have been so sore, I haven't been able to eat like before. The first week I only ate liquid food as it simply hurt too much to chew. The second week I could eat very soft food. But after about 2 weeks I would say, I was almost back to normal, allthough I still ate very carefully and I still couldn't eat hard raw vegetables etc. So after about 2 weeks I already felt used to my braces and so far very happy with my decision.
Then came the day yesterday, when I had to have teeth extracted
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So of course I went on with it, and had my 2 upper premolars removed. And it really wasn't horrible at all. I felt no pain at all, but I did feel the teeth being moved out from my jaw. It only took a few seconds per tooth though, so it's really nothing. My ortho said that it went so well and I was completely relieved. It does feel strange missing 2 teeth but at least it's not very visible for other people (probably mostly due to me never smiling with my teeth..
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A last thing I want to talk about, is movement. Already after a few days (!!!) I could see my teeth had moved. Small gaps had appeared between the front teeth on top, which I found odd, since at that point I hadn't had the premolars removed, so where did the extra space come from?? Anyway the upper teeth haven't really moved since, but now that the premolars are gone, I will hopefully soon begin to see things happening up there. But I really hope, the gaps between my incisors will not increase...
In the lower part, something incredible has happened: My 4 insicors have already straigthened quite much!! I think it's partly due to the braces, partly due to the "filing" he did yesterday. Either way, I like it! The front still doesn't seem very straight though, because one of my canine is outside the line, and it's still not connected to the arch. Hopefully, he can connect it at my next appointment.
Today I'm back to eating liquid food (sigh!!
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
That was my story so far, I hope it will be useful for someone
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