Metal Mouth Message Board

It all started on Wednesday, August 22, 2007. Well the metal mouth part did anyway. As I child I never recieved dental care, my parent's choice, and I never really knew how or why one should take care of their teeth. I did all the wrong things like ate lots of candy and drank soda, so I obviously got a few cavities. I always knew my teeth were not as pretty and straight as other people but it never really seemed to bother me. I finally went to the dentist, as an adult, this year. I could tell from my dentists face after the xrays that I was in for a lot of work....and probably pain. I had always had problems with my TMJ joint, but didn't think it invloved my teeth - I was wrong about that too. After fixing 2 major cavities (on my wisdom teeth) he all but begged me to go and have an orthodontist consult. I had loose teeth as a result of a bad bite alignment which were going to continue to get worse and potentially fall out if I didn't do something about it asap. The thought of starting to lose my teeth in my 20's scared me to death, so I called and made an appointment with the only orthodontist around which was almost 2 months away because they were booked solid. I still had to get some more cavities filled so I thought it would be okay to wait, but I was definitely wrong. I went back to my dentist again the next week after getting the 2 wisdom teeth cavities filled to have 2 more filled and he asked about the orthodontist. He couldn't believe that my appointment was so far away, so he went and got the phone and called the orthodontist and spoke to him personally. He told him that I needed immediate intervention and asked if there was anything he could do to work me in earlier. Well he did work me in earlier, because he connected us to his secretary and she made the appointment for the next morning at 9 am.

Well the next morning I got up and drove the 45 minutes to get to the orthodontist and was scared because I didn't know what to expect. When I arrived they were very friendly to me and gave me forms to fill out, etc. I quickly noticed as I turned to take a seat that the room was full of children and their mothers, I felt very out of place! After filling out the paperwork they called me back and took me into a private examination room. An assistant asked me lots of questions then told me that the orthodontist would be right in and left. He came in and began talking to me like I assume he talks to every new patient. He told me the benefits and risks of orthodontic treatment, then told me that based off the report he got from my dentist the risks of not having orthodontic treatment. The benefits outweighed the risks by far. He called his assistant back into the room and started his examination of my teeth, making comments that had no meaning to me since I had never heard them before. After he was done he told me that I was in for a lot of work....3 years or so of it. I never realized it took so long to fix your teeth. I have a huge overbite, as well as multiple teeth that need to be rotated this and that way, as well as wisdom teeth that need to be situated properly because they are impacted (and they don't want to have them extracted), as well as the misaligned molars. Grinding my teeth at night all my life contributed to my TMJ problems as did the misalignment of my molars. He mentioned that after treatment, it may be necessary to have surgery to move my lower jaw but we would have to wait and see if that was necessary. After learning all of that new information, he asked me if I wanted him to continue and give me price quotes. (I hadn't even thought about how much it was going to cost yet!!) I was going to have to pay $1300 as a downpayment (which was due at my next appointment) and then make payments of $140 a month until 2010. My mouth was going to be worth more than my car....scary. As I was leaving the office they made me an appointment for taking xrays, moldings, and getting spacers which was 2 weeks away - good since I had to come up with $1300 by then!

Welcome!

It seems you are going to have loads of work done. Three years is long, but having a nice afterwards is worth of it!


Down payment sucks.
I had to pay $1500, and it was really tough to get that money suddenly.
Luckily the rest I can pay on monthly basis, $250.


Good luck!

I had to smile....and was actually embarassed about my smile for the first time ever. Since all this started I began to look at my teeth in a totally different way, and they had never bothered me before (hmm self esteem issues). The lady took pictures of me smiling with my teeth showing...then multiple pictures of just my teeth with my mouth held open by this clear thing. After all that she started mixing the stuff for the moldings. I got to pick a flavor off of a huge list of them, I ended up getting blueberry. The molding stuff was really gooey and weird, but at least it tasted good. Then came the spacers, ugh. Those things were a pain in my mouth, literally. She jammed the things in between my teeth and then said it would probably hurt until they removed them a week later. She was right....they were pretty crappy because I always felt like I had stuff stuck in my teeth. Anyway that was it for this appointment, it took about a half an hour at the most. I had an appointment to get bands sized/put on the next week and then an appointment to get the rest put on the week after that. I had a lot to look forward to it seemed.

At this visit I got to go back to the main part of the office where they have 5 chairs/stations where the orthodontist worked (he was the only one and he just went in a line down the row basically) An assistant started me, by sizing metal collar things on my molars. She didn't tell me what she was doing, she just did it....which kinda sucked but I guess she is used to working on kids and I'm sure they don't explain because that would scare them. Anyway, after the orthodontist got to me and approved the fit they banged and poked at them to make them fit around my teeth better. Then they put this blue cement stuff on them and put them on my teeth and held a special light to bond them. After all that, the dentist asked me if I had time for them to go ahead and put the braces on today. He said that it would be better to start now because he had a lot of work to do. I said sure go ahead, and wished I had taken ibuprofen before my appointment afterall. I got to take a short break and go to the bathroom, where I asked myself what I was doing because the bands were awfully painful (and they were just the beginning). When I got back to the chair, the assistant had lots of things laid out. I ended up getting the traditional metal ones because the orthodontist thought they would be the most effective and would last the whole treatment time. The assistant put this awful clear thing in my mouth to hold it waaay open so that they could work. It was uncomfortable, but eventually my lips/cheeks went numb so it wasn't so bad. She prepped my teeth by painting something on them and then we waited for it to dry and the orthodontist came back and started attached each individual bracket to my top teeth. This took about 30 minutes because he was trying to assure that each one was placed exactly where it needed to be so he was consulting my xrays for each tooth. After he was done with the top teeth I had to let them dry and then the assistant took the clear thing out of my mouth and began to get the archwire ready to put into the top. It was one that moved based on temperature, and she had to spray it with liquid coolant to bend it a little before putting it in. She used individual metal ties on each bracket and then added colored A's (purple and gold, college colors). She couldn't get them to fit on 2 teeth because they were so close to other teeth, but assured me that by my next appointment she would be able to put them on. After that, the process started over again but for my bottom teeth. Everything happenned again, and in another 45 minutes I was completely braced. She taught me how to take care of my teeth and then told me I would probably be a little tender for a couple days and gave me a bag of stuff to take home with me. My next appointment is in 8 weeks!

At this visit I got to go back to the main part of the office where they have 5 chairs/stations where the orthodontist worked (he was the only one and he just went in a line down the row basically) An assistant started me, by sizing metal collar things on my molars. She didn't tell me what she was doing, she just did it....which kinda sucked but I guess she is used to working on kids and I'm sure they don't explain because that would scare them. Anyway, after the orthodontist got to me and approved the fit they banged and poked at them to make them fit around my teeth better. Then they put this blue cement stuff on them and put them on my teeth and held a special light to bond them. After all that, the dentist asked me if I had time for them to go ahead and put the braces on today. He said that it would be better to start now because he had a lot of work to do. I said sure go ahead, and wished I had taken ibuprofen before my appointment afterall. I got to take a short break and go to the bathroom, where I asked myself what I was doing because the bands were awfully painful (and they were just the beginning). When I got back to the chair, the assistant had lots of things laid out. I ended up getting the traditional metal ones because the orthodontist thought they would be the most effective and would last the whole treatment time. The assistant put this awful clear thing in my mouth to hold it waaay open so that they could work. It was uncomfortable, but eventually my lips/cheeks went numb so it wasn't so bad. She prepped my teeth by painting something on them and then we waited for it to dry and the orthodontist came back and started attached each individual bracket to my top teeth. This took about 30 minutes because he was trying to assure that each one was placed exactly where it needed to be so he was consulting my xrays for each tooth. After he was done with the top teeth I had to let them dry and then the assistant took the clear thing out of my mouth and began to get the archwire ready to put into the top. It was one that moved based on temperature, and she had to spray it with liquid coolant to bend it a little before putting it in. She used individual metal ties on each bracket and then added colored A's (purple and gold, college colors). She couldn't get them to fit on 2 teeth because they were so close to other teeth, but assured me that by my next appointment she would be able to put them on. After that, the process started over again but for my bottom teeth. Everything happenned again, and in another 45 minutes I was completely braced. She taught me how to take care of my teeth and then told me I would probably be a little tender for a couple days and gave me a bag of stuff to take home with me. My next appointment is in 8 weeks!

It is now Sunday....I got the braces put on 4 days ago. It has been nothing but painful since then. Wednesday I was fine until about 3 hours after the appointment, when the pain and pressure hit me. By Thursday, I had cuts and sores in multiple places- wax became my new best friend as well as orajel. I can currently feel where each tooth is, because it is throbbing from the large amount of pressure/force that is being exerted on it. I can also still feel the multiple sores which have yet to completely heal on my gums and cheek. I never expected it to be so bad (and all they said was that I'd be 'tender') I called the office Friday and they said that this was completely normal and that I should be better a week or two later, great I thought. I have lost 7 pounds since Wednesday because it's all I can do to force myself to eat food. I've been having mashed potatoes, broth, and some small cold pasta because it kills my teeth to chew! I hope this gets better soon............... I know it will be worth it in the end, but that's a long time from now.

Missy, you've had quite an unexpected journey! Hope you're feeling better and you'll soon realize how benficial this will be for you! Especially when you start looking in the mirror checking out how straight your teeth are.

It's about a week since I had the braces put on, and I have to say I am feeling much better. I have been able to eat real foods (still learning how it all works so I haven't been 'biting' into any food) and the pain is almost gone from my teeth. My only complaint now is the sores/ulcers that I have from where my braces and molar bands rub against my mouth. It seems it doesn't matter how much wax I use, how many salt water rinses, or how much peroxyl I use they still manage to stay or reappear. I have had some heal completely, or what I thought was completely, then I took all the wax off to brush my teeth and floss - and had cuts from less than 5 minutes without wax (which turned into ulcers). This is crappy but people keep telling me that the worst is over with, so I don't have too much to complain about. I have already noticed a teeensy tiny change in my front teeth...when I was braced my two front top teeth were kinda wedged into each other and the assitant couldn't even get a colored band on one of them. Now it's moving over and there's room for a colored band to be put on! That's a tiny bit but it's awesome I just gotta stay postive and think about the future.

Wow what a journey so far, very detailed, dont worry...3 years will go by before you know it, and you can be proud of what you accomplished.

Ps. Post pics So we can see the teeth with the story

Sorry for the low quality of the images, I can't find my camera cord to get the good pictures transferred. More to come later I'm sure.

whoops I thought I'd resized them. Sorry about that, I am not a newbie to images but I am a newbie to forums and image shack Thanks for letting me know!

Hi Missy

Good luck with everything, sounds like you're doing well.

I was struck by

Since all this started I began to look at my teeth in a totally different way, and they had never bothered me before

I can relate to this. I must say that even though my teeth did bother me, but not to a great extent, it was only when I started researching orthodontic treatment that I truly realised just how bad my teeth were. However nine months down the line for me I don't regret it a bit and I'm sure you won't either.

Regards
Joney

Had my first adjustment today....things are progressing along very nicely. I was able to look at my molds from my records appointment and compare them to now and it was a remarkable differnce. I still have a long way to go, but I'm at least hopeful now that they will look amazing when I am finally done! Below is a pic so that you can see my progress, and pride for halloween

Hi Missy,
wow, your progress is amazing. Is that 2nd picture really only one adjustment away from the first?!!

I was glad to read your story as I am getting my braces tomorrow. I am SCARED!!!!
I like how you said it really hurt and was hard to eat at first, but then by the next week it had significantly mellowed out. Is it getting easier?
Your progress looks good!!