Dude Braces @ 25 --- MapleLeafMan888 My Story

[mapleleafman888]

Before and after complete!

[Sosowired]

They look awesome!! Congratulations!

[TrustGodAuburn]

Awesome! I go for another adjustment today...hoping to keep hearing good news about my possible debracing late summer!

[chichi]

My ortho also just ordered me a lower essix. I'm not sure why they don't give them to us when we get the top ones

[fudge911]

Dude! Congratulations! Just read your whole journey and your teeth look bloody amazing. I'm getting mine off in one week but I'm still not 100% happy with them. My concern is the slight cant I have, speaking of which, were you able to get yours corrected or did the ortho just brush it off? And also, my upper left lateral is not the same length vertically as my right side meaning that when I bite together, it is not covering the bottom tooth as there is a gap. I talked to my ortho about this but he just said, 'Oh, it's only because those teeth have different shapes etc.." which kinda pissed me off.

I think I might just follow what you did and use elastics for the whole week on one side to pull it down. yolo.

[chichi]

Dude! Congratulations! Just read your whole journey and your teeth look bloody amazing. I'm getting mine off in one week but I'm still not 100% happy with them. My concern is the slight cant I have, speaking of which, were you able to get yours corrected or did the ortho just brush it off? And also, my upper left lateral is not the same length vertically as my right side meaning that when I bite together, it is not covering the bottom tooth as there is a gap. I talked to my ortho about this but he just said, 'Oh, it's only because those teeth have different shapes etc.." which kinda pissed me off.

I think I might just follow what you did and use elastics for the whole week on one side to pull it down. yolo.

I would probably advise against doing this. I'm all for taking things into your own hands if the ortho isn't listening, but mapleleafman did it to pull an entire side of his teeth together. You can't really target one tooth with the elastics. I can see this making things worse in your case.

[mapleleafman888]

Dude! Congratulations! Just read your whole journey and your teeth look bloody amazing. I'm getting mine off in one week but I'm still not 100% happy with them. My concern is the slight cant I have, speaking of which, were you able to get yours corrected or did the ortho just brush it off? And also, my upper left lateral is not the same length vertically as my right side meaning that when I bite together, it is not covering the bottom tooth as there is a gap. I talked to my ortho about this but he just said, 'Oh, it's only because those teeth have different shapes etc.." which kinda pissed me off.

I think I might just follow what you did and use elastics for the whole week on one side to pull it down. yolo.

I would probably advise against doing this. I'm all for taking things into your own hands if the ortho isn't listening, but mapleleafman did it to pull an entire side of his teeth together. You can't really target one tooth with the elastics. I can see this making things worse in your case.

Thanks fudge911! Well congrats to you on almost being done. My cant was never really fixed...it started to become better when I used the elastics but I think I started a little too late. Right side still feels like it could use improvement, at this point I'm wondering if it's worth it to get it fixed but I really don't want braces again. Might just have to suck it up and live with it.

I know how you feel about your upper lateral, as mine is the same way...for the lateral to come down there would have to be a specific bend put in the wire by your ortho. The teeth are locked together at this point with the heavy wires so an elastic won't do much as chichi said. If you had thinner wires and if the bracket was placed differently the elastic idea might work. Good luck to you, if you have concerns get them looked after before your braces come off, trust me, the teeth don't get better after braces lol as some orthos seem to say.

[mapleleafman888]

Hey friends, just wanted to make an 8th month sans braces update.

So today is exactly 8 months since getting my braces off and my teeth have stayed in place for the most part. I've been wearing upper and lower essix retainers 24/7 minus eating and brushing so I'm glad to be past the full time wear and will be moving on to night time wear for life now.

My ortho retainer check up isn't for 2 weeks but I'm taking the liberty to go to night time wear now. My laterals still have the space that needs to be bonded so perhaps the front teeth might not stay in place as well but, we'll see.

Hope everyone is doing well with their ortho journey's.

[Bracesat57]

Congrats on making it to your 8 month mark wearing retainers. Is that pretty normal to be in retainers full time for 8 months or is every case different based on age. How is your speech in retainers? Any lisp?

[mapleleafman888]

Congrats on making it to your 8 month mark wearing retainers. Is that pretty normal to be in retainers full time for 8 months or is every case different based on age. How is your speech in retainers? Any lisp?

Hi, I think anywhere between 6-12 months is common for full time retainer wear, not sure if it's age related or severity of each case. My ortho said 8 months for me...

There's a bit of a lisp yeah, it's not major though.

[TrustGodAuburn]

I went from braces off to only wearing my Essix retainer at night on top. I have the permanent on my lower arch and no other retainer for lower.

8 months went by fast!

[LittleSern]

I just read through your whole thread - I'm super glad I found it! First of all, your before and afters look incredible and they've totally made me feel more excited about my own journey.

I got my Damon clears put on in March 2015 and I also have an overbite. The front teeth need to be angled outward from where they are now and the overbite corrected with elastics. I'll be on elastics from the beginning to end, I believe. I'll be sure to watch out for wearing them on for too long, as well. Did you notice it after it was already too late, or were you suspicious that you needed to stop wearing them when your teeth were in the right position, but your ortho wanted you to keep them on?

I've also had some instances where I disagreed with my ortho. You want to tell yourself that they are the one who went to school and know everything, but I've learned that orthos are people too and can make mistakes! At my 6 month appt my ortho repositioned one of the brackets on my front tooth in order to bring it down a little, but he totally placed the bracket LOWER than the teeth around it, which would serve to push it upward. When I brought it up to him he insisted he placed it higher, even though it was clear to me that it was lower. Sure enough, the next day that tooth went HIGHER, not lower. So... I was right. I had to go back in and have him reposition it again. The good thing about braces is that everything, or at least most things, are reversible so it's not like they do one thing and you can't fix it (besides pulling teeth or reshaping teeth).

Have you noticed your teeth changing at all since the day you had the braces off until now? One of my friends has said her teeth have "settled" and look more natural now that she's had them off for a few months.

[mapleleafman888]

I went from braces off to only wearing my Essix retainer at night on top. I have the permanent on my lower arch and no other retainer for lower.

8 months went by fast!

You lucky girl lol! Have you been finding your result to be stable? Any tightness when you put the retainer in at night?

Yes it sure does go by fast.

[mapleleafman888]

I just read through your whole thread - I'm super glad I found it! First of all, your before and afters look incredible and they've totally made me feel more excited about my own journey.

I got my Damon clears put on in March 2015 and I also have an overbite. The front teeth need to be angled outward from where they are now and the overbite corrected with elastics. I'll be on elastics from the beginning to end, I believe. I'll be sure to watch out for wearing them on for too long, as well. Did you notice it after it was already too late, or were you suspicious that you needed to stop wearing them when your teeth were in the right position, but your ortho wanted you to keep them on?

I've also had some instances where I disagreed with my ortho. You want to tell yourself that they are the one who went to school and know everything, but I've learned that orthos are people too and can make mistakes! At my 6 month appt my ortho repositioned one of the brackets on my front tooth in order to bring it down a little, but he totally placed the bracket LOWER than the teeth around it, which would serve to push it upward. When I brought it up to him he insisted he placed it higher, even though it was clear to me that it was lower. Sure enough, the next day that tooth went HIGHER, not lower. So... I was right. I had to go back in and have him reposition it again. The good thing about braces is that everything, or at least most things, are reversible so it's not like they do one thing and you can't fix it (besides pulling teeth or reshaping teeth).

Have you noticed your teeth changing at all since the day you had the braces off until now? One of my friends has said her teeth have "settled" and look more natural now that she's had them off for a few months.

I'm glad you found it helpful! Thanks for the compliment too, after going through braces it's one thing one always appreciates to hear.

As far as the elastics go, I can't remember at this point whether or not I felt like I wore them for too long...I just know my final result and what it feels like. When I was about 3 months from being done I went to get a second opinion from an external ortho...he noticed right away a few things that I had pointed out to my ortho. So yeah, orthos aren't gods and stick to your gut instinct if you have any feeling about your teeth.

When I first got my braces off my teeth felt really loose and squishy/unstable, it took about 4 months before things solidified and I finally felt ready to eat solid foods like almonds without pain or feelings of my teeth moving while chewing. As far as esthetics, they've stayed the same (minus one upper lateral that has moved upwards a bit). I keep having to remind myself that if my retainer still fits, my teeth are still straight lol. Sometimes it feels like they change but the plastic retainer is gospel and doesn't change so I'm reassured they are fine.

Good luck with the rest of your braces journey, hope you take lots of photos.

[TrustGodAuburn]

I went from braces off to only wearing my Essix retainer at night on top. I have the permanent on my lower arch and no other retainer for lower.

8 months went by fast!

You lucky girl lol! Have you been finding your result to be stable? Any tightness when you put the retainer in at night?

Yes it sure does go by fast.

I don't notice any tightness from my retainer at night, and I actually fell asleep one night before I put it in and freaked out the next morning worried about it, but it slipped right on with no issue.

I still feel like my bite is really strange, hard to explain. But, I definitely have some adjusting to do there still. And, the worst is that I have started biting the inside of my cheeks when I eat, and it is SUPER annoying.