I am long time reader, visitor and lurker of this site and always pondered if I should get my teeth straighten.
When I was 11-12yrs old, I had the opportunity on the NHS to get my teeth straighten. Yet I declined the offer, because at high school it was never a friendly environment to have a mouth full of metal, get 4 tooth extracted for braces and to also wear the head gear every night. Just too much pressure and name calling if I did do it.
As time flew by, I always thought the appearance of my teeth was not much of a problem. It was until I went to university that I started to compare myself to other students with good teeth and smiles, thats when I finally came to realise that my teeth was terrible, stained, chipped and crooked as hell.
For the next 14 yrs onwards from 1993, I spent a lot of time procrastinating on whether I should have braces or not. Always talking to friends with braces about the cost and where they got their braces done, but yet not actually making the move to just do it.... From that point on, no smiles in pictures and hiding my teeth in public was the norm for me, a total loss of confidence image wise and on the dating scene too.
Then all of a sudden back in 2006, my sister was injured in a Road Traffic Accident and became paraplegic. This affected me a lot, life was too short, you only live once and if you delay and not take the leap of faith to do it, then you'll regret it for the rest of your life. Money is not everything in life, its happiness...
With that in mind, mid 2007 was the year when I finally step up and got myself in braces. In preparation, I did a lot of research, from Harley Street consultations right down to the small practice consultations. The price of having braces varied from over £10k to £3.2k. My final decision was made and I opted for conservation of teeth (extraction of 2 tooth instead of 4 tooth), specialised orthodontic only practices which can offer lingual and ceramic braces; and finally, a practice that can offer monthly visit adjustments of braces on Saturdays.
Summary:
2 tooth extractions on lower set of teeth in July 2007.
Ceramics braces on lower teeth in late July 2007.
Lingual incognito braces on upper teeth in Feb 2008.
I thank the Archwired website for helping me make up my decision to have braces, and giving me support and faith that its not just me having braces in this world from the countless inspiring brace stories.
These are the images of my teeth back in 2007 at the age of 33.
Picture 1 - A grin and a smile.
Picture 2 - Upper teeth.
Picture 3 - Lower teeth.
Congrats to you!
