Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello everybody,
I've been reading through everybody's posts, and this seems like such a great forum for everybody who is going through this.
My story is a lot like many of the stories I have read through. I had braces as a kid for nearly three years. Through years of not wearing my retainer as I should have my teeth have regressed. I am now going to be getting metal Damon brackets for approximately 18 months as a result. I can definitely guarantee I will be wearing my retainers religiously forever this time around. I am correcting a 4mm Overjet. I am lucky in the sense that this is caused by dental positioning and not a skeletal issue. My ortho is confident that braces and elastics should do the trick. Other than a bad bite I really have minimal other issues. My front teeth are pretty straight which has led to everybody I tell about my braces adventure questioning if I am crazy! I have stopped even explaining. I am getting braces for me and if they think I am crazy-well they aren't paying for it. I am due to be braced in 13 days and I am confident that I will not be changing my mind.

Hi peacefrog and welcome to the forum! Congrats on starting your brace journey (be it 2nd time round)... I look forward to reading your future updates.

I am currently awaiting a letter from an Ortho, and if I am happy I shall be going ahead with treatment as soon as he can fit me in.

See you around the forum!

Well the day is almost here. First thing in the morning I will be having my braces put in and beginning this long journey.

Congrats! I bet you are SO excited. You will be fine and you'll be in and out before you know it! Good luck!

Nervous Newbie I hope your right. I am not too sure if I am excited, nervous or thinking what am I getting myself into, but I guess I will soon find out.

Good luck!

Congrats and good luck!

Thank you everybody for your support. I am officially through my first day with my new braces and I appear to have survived. Having them put on was so quick and easy I wondered what I was so nervous about. The worst part of the whole process was having the impressions done. I have had minimal amounts of pain, considering my ortho started me out first day with elastics. Those will take some getting used to, but all in all I feel that I am off to a good start.

So, I am 5 days in and I am actually starting to see a little movement. This makes me very excited for the changes ahead. Here are some photos from my first day-soon to be just a memory!

Wow, movement already! That is amazing! Hopefully that is a sign of good things to come and a quick, easy journey!

Way to go!

It's awesome to see you so obviously giddy with happiness in your pix!

I am following with great interest.

Elastics from the start eh? I thought that was something they worked up to?

OMG - your teeth look amazing NOW!!! If my teeth looked like yours, there's no way I'd have braces on at my age. How are your elastics going? I haven't been "blessed" with those yet, but I know I will get them sometime down the line.

VancouverJude: I think they typically wait to use elastics until all teeth are straightened out. Unfortunately, I am mostly correcting my bite-so for me that means 18 straight months of elastics. How has your first week been? Hopefully well.

Catgyrl Thank you for the teeth compliments. I definitely think everybody is more critical about their own teeth. I read through your story and your teeth are coming along beautifully. It is amazing how much your overjet has been reduced. Especially with you not having the pleasure of elastics yet. I guess they aren't that bad-like anything you get used to them I look forward to seeing your continued progress.

wow, you look amazing. My story is much like yours, at first blush my teeth seem fine, my problem is my bite and years of jaw pain. My braces will be put on Monday. After reading your story and seeing your pics, I am really excited. Thanks for sharing! I look forward to following you progress.

A vote of confidence; you have absolutely taken the right action and you are still young. Your teeth alignment and arches appear to be already very good that is a huge head start. I had a very similar situation, but I waited longer and my teeth began to shift and crowd with out overjet. I didn't tell anyone that I was going to get braces and just did it and then heard the same junk that you have "why did you do that". Good luck to you it isn't that bad.