Jade's Story - braces round 2

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#1 Post by **sjs8906** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 11:56 pm

Hello all! I’m getting ready to begin my second braces journey.

First, a little about me: My name is Jade, I’m 22 years old, a senior in college, will be starting grad school in January. I’ve been wanting & needing to get braces again since I was 16 but my parents couldn’t afford it. I’m finally to the point that I can pay for them on my own! My teeth have shifted a lot since my first round of braces and I am very self-conscious of them. I also have issues with chewing because my teeth just don’t fit together.

My issues are:
-anterior open bite
-bilateral posterior crossbites
-molars do not fit together properly
-class II skeletal pattern (overbite)

My first braces experience was not great. I wore them from ages 12-15 and had multiple issues with the orthodontist. His office was constantly closed for months at a time—once I was unable to get an appointment for 10 months. When I did go, it was extremely rare that I even saw the actual doctor. When I finally got an appointment at the end of the before mentioned 10 months, the ortho came in, said the braces were coming off, and that was that. My teeth were straight but my bite was still terrible! They took impressions for my retainer which he said they would mail to me. When I finally received my retainer more than a month later, my teeth had shifted to the point that it did not fit. We attempted to make an appointment to go back in, yet—of course—the office was closed indefinitely.

Fast forward to 2010 – I have found an orthodontist that I love and he has hopes that he can fix my bite without surgery. His plans are to use an anterior open bite splint (with an expansion screw) that will attach to TADs for 8 months, and then full upper and lower braces for 20 months. I suppose if the TADs do not work to close my open bite, the only other option is surgery. I do hope to avoid that though.

My ortho uses only Damon braces and I opted for the metal ones. I was hoping to get clear but the price difference was enough to make me change my mind. My total now is $6680 which is actually a lot more than I had anticipated. My insurance will pay up to $1500 but only until I am 23 which is in one year…so I’m not quite sure how much I’ll actually receive from them.

I receive the TADs and expander in 2 days. I am getting VERY nervous! At first I was more nervous about the TADs because, well, they just sound scary, but now I’m quite concerned about how the expander will affect my speech. I’m about to begin my final semester of college and will have to a bit of public speaking…I hope I can get used to the new additions to my mouth quickly!

I will update after I get the work done on Thursday!

-Jade

#2 Post by **SDFD TSchott** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 8:56 am

Wow sounds like your first ortho was well just an ass as the office was closed for months at a time. Well at least you found an orthodontist that is willing to work with you. I look forward to your progress and wish you the best of luck tomorrow.

#3 Post by **shinyRiver** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 10:00 am

Can I ask where you lived the first time you had braces? Was it rural? I know a lot of rural places have extremely limited access to good orthodontists and dentists. One of the teaching orthos at OSU (where I went for treatment) spent weeks at a time in small coastal areas of Alaska where he did pro bono ortho work because there was no ortho there. But even parts of Ohio I know of have no dentist or orthodontist for hundreds of miles.

Sorry about your first time in braces. But as a girl who spent almost 2 years of undergrad as a brace face- it's so worth it. And they make you look smart, I think. Like you really care about yourself and your smile. I really enjoyed having braces, and I really kind of miss them!

#4 Post by **sjs8906** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 10:32 am

SDFD TSchott - Thank you! Yes, my first orthodontist didn't do much except cause me three years of inconvenience. I was young enough at the time that it didn't worry me too much, but I realize now that so many things should have been done differently!

shinyRiver - Yes, I lived in a very rural area in North Carolina. That particular orthodontist was the only one that would take my insurance within a 100 mile radius, so I had to stick it out! I still live in NC but now I'm in a city where I had plenty of options. I'm sure I will get used to the braces and like them, I hope so, at least!

#5 Post by **shinyRiver** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 2:10 pm

That explains a lot, Jade!

The country is beautiful, but I'm glad you're a city girl now and can get the smile you deserve! I hope everything works out with your expander and that you don't need surgery. I hear Damons are great. A lot of people on the forums have had huge success with Damons. I've heard that the brackets for the metal ones are better than the brackets for the clear, but that is the case with most braces, I think. So I think your decision to go metal was good.

I hope all goes smoothly for you and that you're braces journey is off to a great start!

#6 Post by **Clo** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 2:23 am

Hi Jade,

welcome !
So your journey is about to start !
I wish you the best of luck.
I'll be watching you (-r progress) ...

#7 Post by **sjs8906** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 6:53 am

Thanks everyone for your words of support!

I’m back home and the TADs and expander are in. I wouldn’t say having them put in was a pleasant experience, but it wasn’t terrible either!

For the TADs they rubbed on some numbing gel and then gave me an air blast of lidocaine. The doctor then screwed in the TADs and I didn’t feel a thing.

They cemented in the expander and attached it to the TADs with springs and I was finished! Although I left horrified that I couldn’t even pronounce “thank you” correctly!

My pronunciation is very bad right now – I hope I get used to this thing soon! I also can’t swallow very well…me drinking water could best be compared to drowning. My mouth is pretty sore but not unbearable.

He originally estimated that I wear the expander & TADs for 8 months but BOY I hope it goes quicker than that!

#8 Post by **mikesmile** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 7:45 am

Hi Jade

Congrats on your decision to get re-braced! I'm on round 2 myself... It's such an interesting and satisfying process, and well worth the time, effort and expense! Good luck getting started - I'll be looking for your updates...

Mike

Second Time In Braces - Estimate 12-14 Months

#9 Post by **SDFD TSchott** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 9:24 am

Well your on your way to that gorgeous smile

hope all is well for ya and look forward to following your story.

As of me though I'm terrified for my implant process but I'm sure all will be done without a problem.

#10 Post by **sjs8906** » Sat Jul 24, 2010 3:57 pm

Mike - Thanks! I agree, it is definitely worth the time, effort, and expense! Some people don't seem to understand why I am going through the process again (like I'm just doing it for fun, LOL), but I know it will be worth it in the end!

SDFD TSchott - Thank you so much and I wish you well with your implant process! I'm sure everything will go just fine

------------------------------------------------------

I HATE this expander. What a joyous day it will be when it is taken out! I have to repeat myself numerous times on the phone because people cannot understand me, eating is ridiculously difficult, and preventing food from getting stuck in it is nearly impossible. However, this is only the third day and I know I'll be getting used to it soon. Just feels good to complain about it a little

.

I have to turn the expander for the first time tomorrow, and then once every 3 days for 20 turns. I then go back in to the orthodontist and I guess find out if it worked! The TADs are causing no problems, I hardly know they're there...except for the fact that the springs are shredding the inside of my lip!

I hope I see positive results soon and will post pictures when I notice progress!

#11 Post by **shinyRiver** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 9:10 pm

I know it's not the same, but I had a big wire in the same place as your expander for the first six months of my treatment. They said it was there to hold some stuff in place, but I'm pretty sure they just put it there to catch lettuce!!! It was SO annoying!

I hope it does exactly what it is supposed to- only in an amazingly small fraction of the time it is expected to take. Cuz that thing looks like it hurts!

#12 Post by **sjs8906** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 5:31 pm

River - I agree! The food getting stuck is the most horrible thing! I know I make awful faces while trying to get it out before I can get home to use my waterpik

.

#13 Post by **sjs8906** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 1:06 pm

Well, I find that I am pretty much used to all the hardware in my mouth at this point.

My speech is virtually back to normal. The first few days it seemed impossible that I would ever be able to talk again!! I still have a little trouble pronouncing the long "e" and "u" sounds, but that's it. I have very little trouble eating hard foods now, but I have to cut everything into very small pieces. My open bite is huge now with the acrylic pieces covering my upper molars, so I can't really bite into anything.

I have turned the expander 4 times so far (16 turns to go--yikes). Turn number 5 is tomorrow. I've been comparing photos from day 1 to now and cannot yet see a difference in the width of my palate.

My bite definitely feels different from day to day, so at least something is happening. Some days my bite just feels really "off."

Even though I say now that I'm used to it, I am still COUNTING THE DAYS until this torture device (a.k.a. expander) is gone forever!

As a side note, I did something last night that I will absolutely not be doing again! For the first week I had to clean the gum area around the TADs with these small, super soft brushes that the ortho gave me. After that, I began brushing them with my normal toothbrush. So last night I thought "Why not clean the springs attached to the TADs with the Waterpik? The area is completely healed, right?" Wrong! It hurt so badly that I had to stop, put my head down and regain my composure! I was convinced that I had ripped the gum away from the TAD! It's fine now, but I won't be making that mistake again!

#14 Post by **sjs8906** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 2:34 pm

Oh, I did forget to add that since I turned the expander 2 days ago it feels like I have been punched in the nose! My nose and cheeks are so sore!

#15 Post by **sjs8906** » Tue Aug 10, 2010 12:32 pm

I'm not noticing any visual changes yet, but as far as the expansion is going, when I floss between my front teeth there is virtually no resistance. It used to be really tight when I'd floss.

I do want to add that I realize that this is not "true" expansion since I am an adult. I know the whole subject of adults wearing palatal expanders is an iffy one, often resulting in tipped molars. However, in my case, my molars already tipped inward toward my palate causing my molars to not fit together properly (you can see this is in my "bite" picture in my first post up there ^ ). As I needed very little space created, pushing my molars outward slightly should hopefully create enough space.

ANYWAY!

On the subject of my open bite, I see no change. My orthodontist estimated 8 months though so I didn't expect this process to be a quick one.