Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello Everyone! I have been creating some vlogs of my orthodontist appointments and am planning to upload them on youtube soon; however, I have been looking to find somewhere to keep a journal of my journey with braces as a young adult. I am currently 19 but and turning 20 years old in 12 days. So I am considering myself 20. So I will start with a little back story. I have tried Clear Correct (very similar to Invisalign but a different brand) and it did not work out for me. My cross bite could not be 100% fixed with the trays but they expected a better outcome than what happened. The trays slowly stopped fitting correctly over my back teeth where my cross bite is. I only wore 8 trays and was done with the process. It was frustrating and I couldn't handle the trays being so uncomfortable. So on to my braces journey!

I have a cross bite, I also had 2 teeth that were still baby teeth ( I did not have permanent adult teeth to fill in their place so they never fell out), I still have all 4 wisdom teeth and they are impacted.

I went to 2 different consultations.

The first was an orthodontist who only uses the damon system. He said I would be in them for less than a year with wearing a lot of elastics through the entire treatment to fix the crossbite and that was the only option I was given at his office.

The second was an orthodontist who uses traditional braces and appliances. He gave me various options of braces, expander, surgery for my cross bite/palate, getting my baby teeth pulled, etc.

I went with the second just because I felt more comfortable knowing these methods have worked for so many other people and at this point I am okay with an expander due to the fact that i’ve gone though some treatment that didn’t work and just want to do something I know will fix the problem. It will be a longer treatment time but I am more comfortable with this orthodontist and knowing that it will be 100% fixed and that people for years have been using these methods.

I have chosen this treatment plan: pulling my two baby teeth and moving the rest of my teeth into the spaces to avoid needing implants, a palatal expander, and top and bottom braces for 1.5-2 years. Now being an adult and expander may not always work. My orthodontist said we will try it and if it doesn’t work or we need a new expander it is all covered by the cost of my treatment; however, if it does not work 100% and I want better results I will then have the option of getting surgery to cut my palate open and then use the expander to move my palate if the expander cannot break it itself. I am hoping that surgery is not the case.

I have started my treatment and am close to getting my braces on! The first thing I did after my consultation which was on 3/10/15 on was get a cleaning at my dentist(my orthodontist did not require this but I was due for my cleaning anyways). I then had an appointment at my orthodontist for records 3/23/2014. At this appointment they did impressions, xrays, and pictures. They also placed spacers on the top and bottom for molar bands and my expanders molar bands. At this appointment my orthodontist gave me a prescription to get the two baby teeth pulled. I needed these pulled by 4/1/15 because I was getting my molar bands fitted and the teeth on the bottom where one of the spacers would have gone were the baby teeth i was getting pulled. I will try to insert pictures to show the process as well so this makes more sense but they were the 5th teeth from my midline in the bottom on both sides. So I called my dentist to set up the appointment and they had a cancellation that same day and I went in that afternoon and got my teeth pulled. It was nice because I didn’t have time to get nervous about it! Once these teeth were pulled I went back on 04/01/15 and they took out all the spacers and fit my top molar bands one these were fit my orthodontist had the assistant take impressions with the bands in for my expander to be made. After the impressions they fit my bottom molar bands and glued them in and then put spacers back in the top to keep the space while my expander is being made which takes 2 weeks at my orthodontist.
Now for the molar bands. They obviously do not hurt your teeth because nothing is moving yet. But they did rip up the insides of my cheek because they have a grove the wire will go in and a hook for elastics. I went and bought some wax and used it for a day or two and my cheeks were fine after that. There was also a little thing I have been told is called a cleat on the inside of the band that rubbed against my tongue and made it raw. This lasted 3 days and I just used salt water and some peroxide mixed with mouthwash to relieve the discomfort. I don't even notice they are there now besides food getting stuck in them! Which I am just going to have to get used to with braces.

Now for the excited/nerve racking news!! I get my top and bottom braces and my palate expander on April 16th, 2015!! Ahh! 10 days left with free teeth besides my molar bands.

It has definitely been a world of dentist and orthodontist appointments for the last 2 weeks but I am excited that I am starting my journey and cannot wait to see the results of everything. I am nervous about getting the expander and learning how to eat and speak because I have heard it is difficult to get used to. If you have any tips/advice please feel free to let me know! I am excited to go on this journey and eager to read your stories!

One week until Braces go on! I have just started looking at colors and trying to decide which colors look best. I would like a color that is light and not to noticeable but a good color not just silver. Any suggestions on what colors look good? What color did you get your first time if you had traditional braces with the colored ligature ties and did you like the color you chose?

Also any tips for getting a palate expander(RPE) would be greatly appreciated. I am wondering what good food options are to get used to swallowing again as I have hear it is difficult!

Congrats on your upcoming treatment! I have Damon braces so I don't have ligatures, but I wanted to chime in that I think pale pink ligatures are soooooo pretty!! If my office had them I would totally have them put on, even though I don't need them haha. So, I'd recommend pale pink

Congratulations! I just started my treatment at age 20 as well!

Thank you newbite! I have been thinking a light pink or light blue!! It sounds like people love pink!

Igneous That is awesome ! I am glad to find others my age going through treatment!

FoxyFaye25 wrote:One week until Braces go on! I have just started looking at colors and trying to decide which colors look best. I would like a color that is light and not to noticeable but a good color not just silver. Any suggestions on what colors look good? What color did you get your first time if you had traditional braces with the colored ligature ties and did you like the color you chose?

Also any tips for getting a palate expander(RPE) would be greatly appreciated. I am wondering what good food options are to get used to swallowing again as I have hear it is difficult!

Hi, good luck for the 16th! I'm sure you will find it a bit strange at first but will soon get used to your braces and expander. So far I have had silver, clear, light blue, navy, green, black and (only one) hot pink. My favourite so far is definitely the black as it makes my teeth appear whiter and contrasts really well with the silver brackets and wires. The clear ones stained really quickly, the green was ok at first but three weeks on, I'm looking forward to a change. At my next visit, if all goes to plan, I'm letting one of the therapists have free choice as to which colours I get so will be able to comment on a wider range of colours in a couple of weeks time.

Thanks NeilH! I do plan to get black but ive heard its better to wait until your teeth are a little straighter for black. My top teeth arent bad. Only one slightly crooked tooth but my bottoms are very crowded and twisted. I think I will wait a tightening or two to get black but i do love the way it makes your teeth look white!!

I am hoping this works. My teeth look yellow but I promise they are much better now, this was during the clear correct treatment process and with the attachments (i'm sure like brackets) it makes your teeth yellow and nasty and theres nothing you can do about it. I had attachments on all 6 of my front teeth and 2 on the bottom sides.
In honor of getting my braces on and expander tomorrow here are my very beginning pictures at my first orthodontic consult when deciding to switch from clear correct to tradition braces and expander to fix my cross bite and crowding because clear correct was not cutting it. I now have the 2 silver teeth pulled and molar bands on my bottom molars and spacers on my top teeth. I will upload those here shortly.

The pictures below is after I got my teeth pulled before molar bands.


I did have a spacer grow into my gums! It was very sore and my orthodontist was closed for an entire week so I called up my dentist and they took it out and replaced all of spacers because I had 2 weeks in-between my appointments.


Here are pictures of my top spacers now after being replaced! No more clear correct attachments either!


Below are my bottom teeth now with molar bands and extraction site healing!


And lastly here are my teeth for the last time before braces!

Good luck for today! Looking forward to hearing how it went.

Good luck today!!!

I too am getting a palate expander and braces, so I'm interested in seeing how it all goes for you. I'm 22 and I'm getting braced next week.

Thanks everyone! I will post a better update later tonight when I have time. I have had them on for 4 hours and they do not hurt at all. My speech is not affect by my expander and I just ate a cheeseburger! Swallowing is the difficult park right now. I got a light blue color!

How is it going for you?

Hi! I'm a 23 yo female with crossbite and open bite and am looking into doing slow maxillary expansion. How is your progress over the last few months? Does it seem like the bone is growing/expanding (some people get a gap between their front incisors) or that the teeth are just being pushed out a bit?

[quote="FoxyFaye25"]Thanks everyone! I will post a better update later tonight when I have time. I have had them on for 4 hours and they do not hurt at all. My speech is not affect by my expander and I just ate a cheeseburger! Swallowing is the difficult park right now. I got a light blue color![/quote]

Is anyone here from the UK/ I have had braces on for a year and am unhappy with the results - I feel like I needed expansion but was not offered this and instead everything had been pushed back and inwards.

I can't seem to find any orthodontists in the UK who use appliances and expanders.