I'm 32, have thought about braces on and off for at least 10 years. I had some crowding since I was a kid, partly due to some issues with a supernumerary tooth which left me with one front baby tooth for a while until I had surgery to remove it and the extra one to make space for my big tooth. I think this compounded a problem with a protruding tooth in front. Then as I got older and my wisdom teeth came in it seemed everything shifted even more and looked worse.
I did consult for traditional braces a couple times, but was reluctant because of the time and money involved. I also went to one office that treated me so awfully; the dentist/ortho didn't listen to my concerns at all, basically told me she wouldn't know anything until they did impressions, and then rushed me to the girl who would check on my insurance to see what I could afford. I did not go back there.
If you haven't heard of them, the idea with 6 month braces is that it's more about fixing the teeth that show when you smile. There are no stronger forces at work. Because the focus is not on making a perfect bite, the treatment is completed in a much shorter time. (In traditional braces, the way I understand it is that the teeth get straightened fairly quickly, then a lot of time is spent tweaking and making the bite just right. Since these braces don't do that, they're not a good fit for ones with major bite issues, although they can help with some bite problems.)
For me, the concern is the crowding, not the bite. The shorter time and less expensive price sold me. In the end, I won't have the perfect bites of you brave souls that are braced for 2 or more years. But I should have a straight smile that looks better and is easier to keep clean. Seems worth it for me to fix the #1 thing I've hated about my appearance for years!
My braces went on 6/16/11. I did need (and will probably still need more) reprox, where they take off a tiny amount on the sides of the teeth to make room for the movement. (With this I shouldn't need any extractions.) The first few days were the worst as I had some teeth pain/soreness and some cuts and sores inside my lips. Wax and painkillers helped a lot, and by the fourth day I was feeling much better.
The hardest thing to get used to has been the bite guards/molar build-ups that were done to keep me from biting down on my brackets. It made chewing at all pretty impossible at first, although I'm adapting now. Also, I went back and got the one side filed down a bit to make them more even, which feels better.
The brackets/ligs are clear/tooth colored (although there are tiny colored dots on the brackets, not sure if they will fade) the wire is white (whiter than my teeth, actually!) so they are not quite as noticeable as a mouthful of metal. But they still feel like a mouthful!
Felt by day 5 I was feeling some movement or at least some loosening of the teeth. No major changes noticed yet in my crowding. I will try and post pictures soon!
