Metal Mouth Message Board

I've had crooked teeth ever since my adult teeth grew in. The dentist never once advised me that I could get braces, nor did I want them. I was self-consious about my teeth and tried to hide them in pictures at all costs, laughed with my mouth closed or I would cover it. In junior high, kids would have braces, but I never once wanted them! I didn't want to draw attention to my crooked teeth.

This summer, I decided to make improvements on myself. I am tired of having bad teeth. And i'm going to do something about it! I took the first step and made an appointment for a cleaning as I had not had one since high school, (I'm 22 years old). No cavities! The dentist came in and visited me, said yes, braces could help me, I may need to have all four impacted wisdom teeth removed (eek!) to make room for my teeth to come down. I have three teeth up in the gums, they are not impacted at all, the tooth beside my left front tooth, the tooth next to that, the canine are not in proper position and the other canine on my right side. Its like I had aligned teeth and someone pushed those three teeth up. They came in that way because when I was a kid, I didn't remove the baby teeth soon enough and the adult teeth found another spot to grow in.

So, I booked my appointment for my ortho records, xrays and impressions and pictures. Went well, cost $236.00. 80% of that was covered by my insurance. The rest of the treatment will be out of my own pocket.

My next appointment with the dentist, to review what my treatment will be, is Oct 28th. I have to wait soooo long, but I can save money now during these two months!

I've VERY excited to have straight teeth!

Well I can certainly identify with the first paragraph, with regards to not wanting people to see your teeth and always putting your hands to your mouth to hide your smile.

Glad to see you've taken the plunge to get ortho treatment - you won't look back now

I'm 6.5 months in braces and things have improved considerably. Just a little regret that I left it until my 28th year to do something about it. Better late than never, as they say.

Congrats on taking the plunge.

I didn't want braces as a teenager, either. I'm glad it worked out that way, though, because I'm MUCH more responsible with my teeth now, and think as adults, we have better maturity to handle the whole situation.

Good luck!

thats cool =) i never wanted braces nor did i thought i reallie needed it in high school. dentist never said anything until a year ago. thats why i started looking at my teeth more. it started bothering me that my teeth were crooked... and then i started dreaming about straight teeth for a long time. now it's finally possible =) i got my braces on a wk ago at the age of 19. even though walking around campus sucks ass with a metal mouth, i believe it's all for the best. results will show in 2 yrs! lol.

I'm constantly thinking about having braces, and I want them soooo bad, I can't wait to get them!

I hope ceramic brackets will be an option for me.

Well, I went to my consult with the ortho. He advised that I only need braces on my top front 6 teeth. The rest are fine. I don't know how this will work, but whatever. The bottom are a tad crowded and he said he could fix them, but they will most likely go back to their original state. I'm not too unhappy about that though, cuz it's just the bottom teeth that people don't see much.

The cost is going to be $1,400.00, which is A LOT less than I was expecting. But, I opted for ceramics, so it is $300.00 more. There will be a $400.00 downpayment, but it may increase now with the ceramics. My monthly payments will be around $90.00. So this is VERY affordable for me!

The best part is that I will be wearing them for only 9 - 12 months!!! I was expecting 2 years like most others on this board. So that's good news to me!

As well, he said that I will need to get my wisdom teeth out in the future, but i don't need to do that before treatment. My upper wisdom teeth are so far up into my sinus that I could have problems if they try to extract them. So they will wait until they get further down.

I really hope this method works how I want it to. I am scared of one thing though, he said my two front teeth will come out further to make room for my other teeth to come into position. Ok, i really don't want bucked teeth!

Now, I have to wait until the papers are ready and make an appointment to get them on, which will take about 45 minutes!

EXCITEMENT!!!!!!!!

Hopefully when your two front teeth do come out forward to make room for the other teeth it will only be a temporary procedure. When all your teeth are straighter you will find that they will provide better lip support and give your profile a much needed boost - that was the case for me. I had larger than average front teeth, but now they are straigther and the other teeth beside them have been brought in line, they give me better support.

Thank you for the reply Dodger, I hope it is a temporary thing too. But i may not have enough room for them to go back! Who knows. From the side x-ray you can see how my front teeth protrude extremely. It's sooo bad, it's funny the ortho didn't mention that.

I picked up the papers today and made an appointment to get the braces on. December 21st. Another 2 month wait! UUUUGGGGHHHH! I can't stand this. 2 months I could have had them on and 2 months sooner they could have been off. Oh vell....

Now for the waiting period . . . tick tock tick tock .....

Well, 2 months time, i guess it gives me some time to get used to the idea of having braces.

Today, I told two people from work I was getting them. So now that's a total of four that know. It made me feel much better that I could openly talk about it, so now i'm not worried about reactions at all!

The one lady I told said "your teeth aren't crooked! Lets see!" and i said "NOOOO!" hehe. The other person I told just said "oh, that's good" i guess she noticed my teeth. eh.

But i'm sooo excited to have them on, I think it's gonna be fun! Mainly cuz they won't be on all of my teeth and it will be more bearable!

Well, i got braced today!!!! I wasn't nervous or anything! They placed the brackets on, and once complete i glanced at my reflection in the light above, and AHHH METAL! I asked the assistant "are they ceramic?" she said "no", i said, i asked for ceramic. So they had to remove them, it was only like 1 minute after gluing them on, and it kinda hurt to remove! So not looking forward to it in the future.

Anyways its now 3 hours later, and my teeth are definitely hurting! I don't have brackets on any of my molars, and it STILL hurt to chew! All i ate so far was some cottage cheese with tomatos. OOOWWWWEEEE!

Congrats bbbsq11! Good luck - I know one can live on cottage cheese and tomatoes for a while, but YUCK! I wish you well on you "Braces" journey.

they look awsome!


keep smilling

Well it's now 10 days since I got braces. Man, do i see a difference already!! That one nasty tooth way up in the gums, is now level with the rest. I can't believe it!!!! I'm so excited. I have zero pain as well. I heard in another thread that if your teeth move fast, they will relapse fast. I wonder if this type of movement is considered abnormally quick. I don't know, but it's great! So now i'm smiling with my teeth, even though I have gaps between each one now. Now i wish i had done this way sooner, it's no big deal!

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wow, lol your a certified metal mouth (for 2 weeks aswell). listen to you "i love braces" aww thats amazing, i can really see the progress, your teeth look great. Keep smiling! glad you have the courage to show your braces!