Hello everyone! I have had a lifetime of crowded crooked upper and lower teeth. I guess it always bothered me, but never to the point of correcting it. In the last 5 years I've noticed that my teeth are shifting forward and the crookedness is getting worse. As a busy mom of two active children, a household to run and a job, will I have time to squeeze in Ortho appts for myself before the kids need them? My husband says I should get it done before he has to finance the kids.... Spread out the expense. So there is a wealth of information here, metal braces, self litigating braces, to extract or do without extraction and see what happens and if necessary then extract? I've had 2 consults thus far, both orthos say that straightening my teeth will be easy, but do I want to correct the overbite as well? Do I want perfection or will I settle for a B+ ( nice straight smile with a slight overbite). I'm confused to say the least, one recommended extraction of one healthy tooth, the other said no extraction is necessary, however we'll see where we are at at 6 months, then decide if it is necessary???? Seems like everyone does their extractions up front. Guess I need a 3rd consult. Also, the cost of braces varied between orthos 5200 all metal - 3Mbrand, or 5700 top 3M ceramic clarity and bottom 3Mmetal - both non self litigating, thus will be using ligatures. The second ortho estimated 6200 for Innovation C ceramic top and Innovation R metal bottom, both self litigating. I am overwhelmed with decisions to make. Both offices are fine, staff seems nice, the pricier one is a little more personable, where as the cheaper ortho seems to do a higher volume and I don't see too much info on the 3M products.
I just wanted to introduce myself as I lurk and read your stories. I must be over analyzing this. I have and xray appt at ortho #1 and a consult appt next week to get the details of what they have planned. Thanks for reading....
