Hello. New Here.

[BraceFace2o1o]

I must admit, I could stretch to a maximum of £3000 and no more and it had to be with a good payment plan. The Orthodontist I am going with lets his patients make monthly payments over 18 months (interest free), with or without a deposit, it's the patients choice if they want to pay a deposit. I was cheeky and asked if I could spread my payments over 24 months (my estimated treatment time is 18-24 months), and he kindly agreed and said he'd make an exception for me. Paying over 24 months is going to help me as I can barely just afford this, so those extra 6 months will reduce my monthly payments, which will help.

I remember the Ortho doing my upper impressions first, then the lowers. I think it's a good idea to let the team know of any issues you may have (like bad gag reflex) early on, just so they know... I think it will help them as well as yourself, you could then maybe ask if they could do the lower impressions first, then the uppers, there is no harm in asking.

[aveggiewriter]

Hi Crystal,

It sounds like you have a lovely ortho. 24 months would be ideal. I have a pretty good feeling about this practice. It's family run and they seem put patients before profit. The fact that they've chosen to open on the NHS when they could make a fortune by going private is a good sign. I was also pleased to see that we didn't have to walk past the fish tank, dodge the leather sofas and shout over the spam spam screen to register.

They've gone basic but functional and hopefully they'll put money into making the dental care more reasonably priced instead. They've got so many patients already and are filling a massive void in this area for cheap, no-frills dentistry. Patients have flooded in and even with costs low, they'll do well because there's no other option for most people.

I agree with what you said too. It never hurts to ask.

A

[aveggiewriter]

Hi Crystal,

I was also pleased to see that we didn't have to walk past the fish tank, dodge the leather sofas and shout over the spam spam screen to register.

No idea what happened there. Apparently I can't type the 'p' word, so I'll just say TV screen.

A

[aveggiewriter]

I'm still getting the hang of taking pictures of my teeth. Using no flash, it's too dark, the flash bounces off my teeth. Getting the right angles and not having the lens clouded by my breath. I'm counting the days now but am getting nervous too. I have no idea what, if anything, they'll be able to do for me.

Anyway, these are the new shots I took today and for some reason, the lighting is yellow so I look seriously jaundiced.

The top:



The bottom:



Staining on top teeth and major crowding:




Whole picture:



A.

[catgyrl]

Have you tried using the "macro" setting on your camera? It's identified by a pic of a little tulip, which allows you to get in really close to your subject. I use the macro setting, telephoto the lens a bit, and then using the flash I take my pics. They always come out looking like I have nice, white teeth (which I really don't... haha), and you get really good detail.

-Cathy

[BraceFace2o1o]

Using no flash, it's too dark, the flash bounces off my teeth.

I know exactly what you mean, my camera is the same (it's over 4 years old, so could probably due with updating). If I take a picture without flash the picture comes out too dark, with flash it just bounces off my teeth and the picture looks like, well, just a bright light! I have mine set to macro, but not even that helps... I find I have to get my camera (with flash on) at just the RIGHT angle, which isn't easy. I end up taking about 20 photos and only 2 of them are viewable.

I'm going to try and take some photos in good natural daylight without flash, see if that helps, because the ones I have been taking are in the evening with artificial lighting.

[aveggiewriter]

Hi Chrystal and Cathy,

I'm going to give natural daylight a try too. I use macro but I don't know how much it helps. Using the screen in the mirror is hard and my camera switches the screen off for power saving every five seconds. I'm trying to adjust this. I only got it recently and actually prefer my old camera. The right angle is also hard to find and I sometimes find my breath clouds the lens and makes the picture blurry. It's all trial and error. Or you could take full face pictures and cut them down.

I'll be following your stories. Can't wait to get mine started. The closer it gets, the more my teeth are hurting. Don't know why.

By the way, guess I should start signing my posts properly. My name's Alex.

[aveggiewriter]

Had my appointment today and it went well. I need a filling and deep clean and then can be referred to the orthodontist. I've started a 'teeth blog' with more details.

http://www.betterlateblog.blogspot.com/

Alex