About me:
I'm smart, witty, and have a wee bit of creative talent (sing, draw for fun, write). My husband thinks I'm beautiful, for which I'm very grateful. I'm on the fence about that one.
I've put on significant poundage since marriage 24 years ago. Our marriage was followed in less than two years by the birth of baby number one. Baby number two came almost exactly one year later. Suffice it to say my babies aren't babies anymore.
The shape of my body (and teeth...back to the subject) is the result of cumulative habits that have led me to feel older than my 43 years. First, I smoked for a few years beginning at age 17 like an idiot. Quitting and having babies contributed in part to my weight gain combined with the fact that I pretty much sat on my butt a lot when not chasing young-uns and ate plentiful portions of the good old Southern cooking I'd grown up with (Cornbread, beans, fried everything). Nacho Cheese Doritos are another culprit.
About a year ago I was prompted by my body's laborious protests at climbing stairs, at walking up the driveway to get the mail (combined with acid reflux, high-blood pressure, etc) and I decided to embark on sensible weight loss. The scale said 260 and that was a wee bit too close to the 300 mark for comfort. I was already relegated to risk injured dignity by sitting in chairs that had a 225 pound limit. So, thanks to new habits learned plus the accountability of Weight Watchers, I slowly began taking control of that aspect of "me" and over 9 months have gone from 260 to 206 (and still counting down).
The next thing to tackle was my fear of the dentist and to begin to think there was something that could be done about my teeth.
Bit of background about my dentist fear:
My mom raised three children basically on her own due to divorce and low-paying jobs and always struggled to make ends meet. Braces were something she simply could not afford. For that matter, regular dental exams were also something she couldn't ever seem to scrape up the money for.
When one of us had a cavity, she'd take us to the county health department.
During one such visit, the dentist proceeded to pull a cavity-filled baby molar from my mouth with no novacaine. Upon my sudden burst of screaming, he informed me that if I didn't shut up he'd wrap a belt around my mouth.
I shut up and suffered in silence and never told my mom (I was about 8 years old).
My permanent teeth later came in crooked (and with a significant gap) but this didn't matter so much when I was a kid. I happily played with the other kids, excelled in school, and actually DREADED summer because I loved school so much.
Fast-forward to junior high when I started noticing boys. I noticed them A LOT. Thing is, the boys never noticed me. My gapped-tooth mouth may as well have served as a cloak of invisibility as far as boys were concerned.
One particular GIRL noticed me, though. This girl had the reputation of being quite the bully - very tom-boyish, loud, and cruel. One day she came up to me and said "A truck could drive through your teeth". I cried the rest of the day and the reverberation from that one phrase lingered on throughout my school years (even though noone ever again said such a cruel thing to my face).
Fast forward again to high-school: Folks are a bit more mature there. I'm doing "ok" among my peers (mainly the smart kids, though it'd be stereotypical and NOT true to say they were all geeks). I'm dating my now-hubby. He made the mistake of telling me that one of his friends said "Hey, she'd be real pretty if it wasn't for her teeth". My hubby was trying to make me feel good to relate this by continuing to say he'd stood up to that jerk, but if he'd had more maturity at the time he wouldn't have said a WORD.
Needless to say, this sent me in to another crying stint....knowing "how pretty I'd be IF IT WEREN'T FOR MY TEETH."
Fast forward to early marriage & kids: Being married so young (19) and having babies so fast, we were stupid about lots of things including finances. Medical and dental insurance were not something we even considered. Our pediatrician gave us a good cash price for seeing our kids, we knew a dentist that was fairly inexpensive for the kids (I only used him, however, to have permanent molars pulled which I'd let disintegrate due to my lack of dental care).
I no longer really gave a crap how I looked. If you like me, you like me. If you don't....SO WHAT. I was letting myself go while being a stay-at-home mom tending to kids, cooking, toting kids to functions, and church. We scraped to make ends meet.
By the time our kids were in high school, we were doing a bit better financially. Hubby had advanced in his career to a "middle income" level. I got a low-paying admin assistant job I loved (low pay because of it being a non-profit organization). Our son needed braces. So, we took him for an orthodontic appointment although we still didn't have dental insurance.
I guess we raised our son right. He has wonderful self-esteem despite the fact that he has some of the same dental issues I do, but with a cross-bite on top of that! I did my best to talk him into braces (he was almost 18). However, he refused. Considering he was going overseas soon to do relief-work, it didn't seem practical at the time any way.
FAST FORWARD TO NOW (FINALLY! If you've read this far, I applaud you).
I have gotten dental insurance through my job but had put off seeing a dentist due to the unreasoning fear. In fact, I finally got the gumption to go this Monday due to a cavity and a rotten baby tooth that had just fallen off (leaving the root). Amazingly, they did a cleaning ONCE (no scaling or second cleaning) and said my gums are in good shape. They filled the cavity and pulled the remaining root. Oh...I didn't mention that that baby tooth's permanent buddy had erupted 5 years earlier ON THE ROOF OF MY MOUTH behind the baby.
At this point, rather than just leaving and continuing on the way things were, I got bold enough to ask the dentist "what can you do for me"? I'd half wanted to ask him to pull the front teeth (gapped but healthy) and give me a partial (to replace them and the missing molars). I knew better than to ask that, though, as lots of people I've spoken with assured me it's better to keep your own teeth for as long as you can.
My dentist said braces would be the next best step, followed with dental implants for the molars or partials (if the implants were out of my range). I'm thinking at this point...dare I do it? can I afford it? We're doing "OK", but with the economy like it is do I rsik a monthly payment? I talked to my hubby about it and he assured me that if this is something I needed to do then we'd MAKE a way to afford it. I have TMD issues, as well, and have read that braces often help with that issue when your bite is corrected.
So, I made an appointment for Thursday after first downloading the orthodontist's paperwork, completing that online, and getting pre-approved for a payment plan (yay...our credit has improved greatly over the years and I qualified for a no-interest payment plan).
At the orthodontist's office, they decked me all out with mouth paraphernalia 'til I looked like a grinning skull. Took pics, tapped my teeth (particularly the one in the roof of my mouth to make sure it hadn't fused to the bone). Did an impression for a mold (gaggy pink stuff!)
As the exam was finishing, I found out they had an unexpected opening...and before I know it I'm decked out in braces except for one rear molar which, due to a very tight squeeze, needed a spacer (gotta go back in a week to have the bracket put on). I'm new to all this and don't know all the technical terms but I was told my back teeth on either side meet well (no bite issues there), but I have some crowding issues with the front bottom teeth. Regarding my top teeth, besides the gap (which, as I was told once upon a time, a truck could drive through) I have pegged laterals on either side of the front teeth which are both rotated almost sideways. My dentist told me once those are straightened I can get them capped to make them more normal-sized.
One thing to come: labial frenectomy. My ortho told me that my frenum is very low. If I don't have that frenum cut, my teeth will just space right back out. Anyone have any experience with that? I've heard it's rather painful, plus I'm already wincing at the possible financial cost!
I got the Damon System, and according to my orthodontist I will only need to wear them for 12 -15 months if all goes according to plan. I also only have to come in once every 8 weeks for adjustments.
I'm cautiously optimistic and hopeful that one day I will have a nice smile and can easily chew whatever I want. They had to put two temporary "bumper" things on one bottom tooth per side to keep my other teeth from hitting the rogue roof-dweller. This makes it impossible for me to fully close my teeth, hence making it VERY difficult to chew.
