I found this forum several years ago while searching for experiences and suggestions/comments related to adult orthodontics after I was first informed by a dentist that I should consider getting braces for the overall well being of my teeth. I joined as I figured I'd be able to learn from and about other people's experiences and share mine as things moved along.
Before I delve in to my story, I also want to share a little bit of background as it might help put things in perspective. I grew up in a bit city in India and the only time one made a trip to the dentist was if a tooth was hurting. Fortunately, mine never did and I had a really good bite and very straight teeth so I never "needed" to go to the dentist. Fast forward to around 19 is when I first needed to go see a dentist as my wisdom teeth started to appear but then gave up on the process and decided to stay impacted. The dentist in his infinite wisdom decided that the teeth were just hanging out there and not doing any harm so he let them be
. A couple of years later, I moved to the US to pursue higher education and being a foreign national in graduate school in the US with severe financial constraints, teeth were the last thing on my mind. The occasional issues and pain associated with wisdom teeth were generally ignored as the cost of getting them out in the US without dental insurance was almost comparable to a business class ticket back home, neither one of which I could afford. Finally, during one of the trips back home, I decided I had had enough and consulted a different dentist who saw the gravity of the situation. He asked me to get some panoramic x-rays done and after looking at them, decided that they had to come out. A few days later they were extracted but by that time the damage was already done. At 28, I got my PhD in Bioengineering and even though the economy tanked a couple of months before I got done, I was fortunate to have a job lined up. Since I finally had dental coverage, I figured I might as well make that long overdue visit to the dentist, which is when braces were first recommended. I looked up my coverage and was pleasantly surprised to see a $1250 coverage for adult orthodontics, so I decided to at least get an idea of what would be involved.
Right around that time, in doing all of my research, I stumbled upon this website and one of the suggestions here was to get multiple opinions so I went for several consultations and indeed found that each orthodontist had their own way of going about things. Estimates related to treatment time and cost ranged from as little as 14 months and approximately $3000 out of pocket to 32 months, give or take a few and almost $8000 out of pocket. The pattern that emerged from all of these consultations was that there was a group of orthodontists who thought that my malocclusion could be corrected using a lot of rubber band/elastics wear and these were the ones who quoted me on the lower end of time and cost. On the other hand 2 out of the 7 orthodontists that I consulted suggested jaw surgery as an option and a third one wouldn't even consider a non surgical route. While I was mulling these options over, and had almost made up my mind to go with the non-surgical route full well knowing that the results would be close to perfect but not perfect, life decided to throw me a couple of curve balls, and as a result the thought of getting braces was put on the back-burner.
Five years later, I find myself in a much more happier place in life and a significantly better position financially. Having moved to a new town last August, I also found a wonderful dentist, who got me back on track as far as my oral health was concerned. During a recent cleaning, braces were brought up yet again as a part of discussion revolving around my overall oral health. The dentist, his daughter, who also happens to be a dentist at that practice, and I had a long discussion on the potential benefits of getting orthodontic treatment and towards the end, it was obvious that I should get started sooner rather than later. I also realized that now is the time to make this investment in me because the moment my wife and I's plans to start a family come to fruition, all the extra cash will be instantaneously diverted.
Since the place I currently live in, is a college town the options are rather limited. I consulted two orthodontists, both of whom are board certified, as that was one of my requirements. One happens to have a practice in town and the other one has a practice about 50 miles away. I did not feel comfortable at all with the orthodontist who has a practice in town and felt very rushed during consultation. Most of the diagnoses was done by the treatment coordinator, and the orthodontist just showed up in the end, verified the coordinator's findings, and left after telling me that braces would help and if I wanted to, I could get started that day. I was not only shocked at the unprofessional behavior but also very pissed off.
The second consultation with the orthodontist who is an hour's drive away was the complete opposite. Her office is very nice and welcoming, everyone genuinely cares, and I felt instantaneously at home. They are also very organized and I had a panoramic x-ray and a couple of pictures taken and projected on the LCD TV in the consultation room even before the orthodontist was ready for me. She then spent a fair bit of time poking around my mouth, asking me to bite down, open up, bite again and so on and so forth. After she was done, she talked to me in detail about her diagnoses, outlined her plan, discussed other possible options including surgery if I wanted to go that route, and patiently answered all my questions. The treatment coordinator discussed the other options such as finances, office policies, etc. Even before I left there, I was sold on her office so I scheduled a records appointment for two days later. By this time, I was pretty excited but also somewhat anxious.
On the day of the records appointment, I went in, met with the financial coordinator, and signed a whole bunch of paperwork and put down a deposit. Once the financial part was taken care of, the molds, pictures, and remaining x-rays were done. Even though I was dreading getting the molds done since I have a strong gag reflex, that part was a piece of cake. The worst part for me was getting pictures of my teeth taken as having the mirror in my mouth felt very uncomfortable, but it wasn't terrible by any means. At this point, I thought I was all done, and was about to ask the assistant if that was the case and if I could just schedule my actual bonding appointment and be on my way.
But, oh they had different plans! At this point, the orthodontist magically popped in and asked me if I was ready for spacers
We hadn't discussed having spacers, so I asked her what that was about and she said that since I have a grinding/clenching habit, she felt more comfortable using molar bands than those little buccal tubes as I may accidentally bite them off. Now, I had read all about those evil spacers on here and I was just like F*$S%!! So, began the actual fun part! My molars are very tight together and I mentioned as such to the assistant working on me, but she just shrugged it off and "overconfidently" told me that she had done this a million times before and it shouldn't be a problem at all. So, I told her to have a go at it, and soon enough she realized that getting those spacers in was just impossible! She broke around 10 spacers in the process of getting one inserted, got very frustrated, and decided that she was done. She then went and got the orthodontist who didn't fare much better. At this point, the orthodontist asked the assistant to get the metal spacers and then she told me that using those spacers is the only option she had. She was very apologetic about it and when I asked her why, she just told me that I'd find out soon enough. Fortunately, getting those spacers in was fairly easy and soon enough all 8 of them were in place and I was free to go. I scheduled my bonding/banding appointment for four days later on a Monday morning, was handed a couple of ibuprofen tablets, and was on my way.
. Anyway, those wires were put on and the doors to the Damon brackets were closed and I immediately started feeling a lot of pressure. Having read other people's experiences, I figured this was pretty common and didn't say anything. 
)
and I feel fortunate that I was able to schedule an emergency appointment for later today to have it taken care of. I also have a second molar on the top left which seems to be out of line and tilting towards the side and I will have the office staff look at that as well while I am there. While these little things are occasionally annoying due to the associated discomfort, I suppose all of this adds to progress, which is quite exciting! 
