Newbie here, and I'm excited to share my experience with all of you! This is my first time in braces, I have hated my teeth from the moment they started to shift into places they weren't supposed to be and they turned me into this self conscious person that I am today. I have always wanted braces, and I kick myself for waiting this long. But I have, out of fear. I have always taken care of my teeth to the best of my ability, not the dentists'. And after not visiting one for several years, my teeth took a huge plunge into cavityville, and were literally falling apart.
It came down to fear of the dentist, or no teeth. And the fear of the dentist stems from when I was a child, I had 4 baby teeth extracted by a dentist who had horrible bed side manner, and my Mom was at work, so my Grandma had to take me...and we didn't have the closest relationship, long story short...I was scared to death with no one to comfort me. Sounds silly, but it is what it is.
The next time I went to a dentist I was a teen, because of another cavity and this guy was a real jerk too. He ranted about how ugly my crooked teeth were like I wasn't aware. But my Mom couldn't afford it, and that was that. I steered clear of the dentists' office because I didn't want to hear about how ugly my teeth were. I already knew! So all that time I neglected the care for my teeth and one cavity led to another. Fast forward to being a Mom myself, my oldest son got his first cavity in 2008, and to the dentist we went. He got his first filling and the dentist was SO nice. He treated him so well, I wish I would have had that experience when I was his age. A year later, my teeth were really getting bad, and one of my wisdom teeth put me on the couch for a week during Christmas/New Years because it hurt so bad, and finally I called the dentist, the same one I took my son to.
He looked in my mouth and sighed. I seen that coming, as I expected the worst when I went in there...he checked every tooth over, and my gums. He mentioned something about me coming back to get started on them and I broke down crying asking him to pull the one that hurt so bad. So he did, after he looked at me like I was a basket case. He then referred me to an orthodontist, and I had made an appt. to go back and start treatment.
After thinking it over, and stressing about money, I didn't go back. I spent another year wondering why I kept putting it off, and telling myself it wouldn't be that bad, but knowing it was going to take a while to fix everything. Finally after a year and a half of pain, I finally said no more. I called my dentist in April of '11 and started fixing all of my bad teeth. He then referred me again to an orthodontist. And I told him I was ready to fix the mess in my mouth.
I had my first consult in May of '11 at the Orthodontist, they did all of the fun stuff and I had to sit in this woman's office for a good while waiting with my pictures of my teeth in front of me. Almost like they did it on purpose to remind me why I was there. And it helped let me tell ya! LOL She referred me to a periodondist to make sure a lateral incisor that is behind my central incisors had enough bone to stay in my mouth. Once I get to his office, he tells me I need my roots cleaned, and that I would need a skin graft over that incisor in the back before I could get the braces on. Oh JOY! (I'm fluent in sarcasm) So after all of that trouble he then tells me that the tooth doesn't have enough bone, and will most likely need to come out. So I went through the graft for nothing.
Once that was all healed up and I was given the ok for braces I jumped at the chance to make an appt. On the 27th of September I had my brackets put on, and I have a wire just in the front for now, until I have 8 of my teeth removed in December. So, I probably won't post until then but I wanted to get this info out before I forget it all. lol
A week in and my cheeks are just now getting used to the brackets, I can't bite all of the way down because one of my upper lateral incisors is hitting the bracket on the tooth below it, she put a band on it with extra cusion, thank goodness for that. My back teeth don't touch at all though because of it, so I have to **try** to chew, it's been a fun process eating. Thursday will be my first time eating out in public with a friend, I'm thinking soup...lol! I'll have to try and get some pictures soon of my ugly teeth.
I can not wait to see the outcome!
