What was your primary reason for orthodontic treatment?

[Anna5]

Cosmetic! I will get braces next week for a slight open bite.

[Sashii]

Mine is functional and appearance. I need to have a implant put in on my front tooth. I need braces to make room for the implant. Braces on there own would have given me a sunken in look on my face so I am also having jaw surgery to correct my overbite.

[isthistaken]

I went to the orthodontist for cosmetic reasons, but if any dentist had informed me of all the problems that I have, including a severe overbite that I wasn't even aware of, and the damage that was being wreaked on my teeth, I would have found a way to do it much sooner. I wouldn't give a quarter for any of the dentists I have faithfully and regularly been to until my current one who said "get thee to an orthodontist!"

[Spring1onu]

Started off as cosmetic. I didn't think my teeth were that bad, and overall I guess they weren't. But as I got older my teeth started shifting and what was once an alright smile (even missing my eye tooth!) began to not look so great.

I foolishly thought I could bypass ortho and having my tooth exposed & bracketed, so I opted for a bridge. Worst mistake ever!

Finally found a dentist who sent me to a great ortho and am now starting all over again with dental work. I have a 2mm overjet that needs to be corrected as well as some gaps to close and getting the impacted canine down....so now it's definitely functional.

[Spring1onu]

I went to the orthodontist for cosmetic reasons, but if any dentist had informed me of all the problems that I have, including a severe overbite that I wasn't even aware of, and the damage that was being wreaked on my teeth, I would have found a way to do it much sooner. I wouldn't give a quarter for any of the dentists I have faithfully and regularly been to until my current one who said "get thee to an orthodontist!"

Same here! Good luck on your journey!!

[30withbraces]

Mine are for oral health reasons. My overcrowding is so bad that I can't brush or floss properly, causing cavities. The amount of money I have spent on dentist bills to keep my teeth is good shape could have paid for my braces already.
Appearance was a very close second. I'm very conscious of my appearance and won't smile due to the gaps that I have so in my eyes, I'm killing two birds with one stone

[Sita]

I had always hated my teeth and smile and wanted it fixed. I was also concerned about my top front teeth because they had been moving slowly forward over the years and I was starting to get pain. Biting into things was also starting to become painful. My grandmother passed away in 2010 and left enough money that fixing my teeth became an actual possibility.

Honestly though I don't know whether or not I would have even made an appointment were it not for my mothers encouragement. She had always felt bad that she and my father had been unable to afford braces when the dentist recommended them for me when I was a teenager.

Anyway I went and had my consult and was informed that I had a traumatic malocclusion, among other things, that if left untreated would most likely lead to me losing my top front teeth within 10 years or so. Only my front teeth were actually touching when I bit down, and I have a very strong bite, and had caused some damage. As far as I was concerened after that there was no choice but to get them. I did not want to lose any of my teeth. And fixing my goofy looking smile? Icing on the cake.

[KatrinkaNoir]

Totally cosmetic. I'm sure there are functional issues going on, but I just hated being so embarrassed to smile.

[wildpig]

Function primary. Used to keep biting my cheeks front and back. Back was fixed with wisdom teeth extraction. Hope the braces will move the front teeth back a little and take care of the front cheek bite prob.

Also need crowns for the top incisors due to trauma yrs ago.... Figure i should have a good foundation for the crowns.

Cosmetic is a bonus.....

[Jester321]

Mainly functional with a slight amount of reasoning for cosmetic.

[marybee]

Both reasons. Cosmetic due to bottom teeth going wonky - not wearing a retainer and health reason due to jaw misaligned. Benefit: no more migraines and a beautiful smile once the metal is gone!

[MilkTeaholic]

I am doing it for my bite and functionality. Ironically, my fiancee loves perfect teeth so I joke that these are his "engagement braces"! :D

[EbonyQ]

I originally wanted to extract a very dominating canine (my brother did this in his teen and his teeth became straight after that) but my dentist refused, he wanted his good “neighbor” (orthodontist) to look at it. I think this was because of all my other bite problems that I did not see myself (deep bite, cross bite, scissor bite etc).

Because of my phobia it took him about 6 months to get me to agree to this and I went to this ortho.

This ortho and I agreed to just “make the teeth straight” because of my phobia and not fix the bite but even though they now are “straight” he have moved to fixing my bite (I guess he hopes that I have forgotten our agreement to just straighten them). I will let him fix it since my dental phobia is better and why not fix my bite while I have them on?

[Realizingadream]

You know, I was working for an office where they did stuff like cosmetic facial fillers, Botox, the like.

One day, I was chosen to be a "special patient" to have some Botox and lip filler, for various certification reasons for the office, if I wanted it.

And soon after I had had the lip filler, I noticed my front teeth were REALLY WONKY. The lush, full lips, really emphasized the crooked and off-center teeth. I almost cried! Maybe I DID cry. How I had overlooked it for so long, I will never know. My DENTIST never told me all the issues I had with my teeth.

So: my reason was cosmetic. But now that I have been in treatment for a bit over a year, I can see so much improvement in the "look" of the teeth. Almost more impressive is the functionality of my teeth. I can't believe how easy they are to clean, even with brackets and wires in the way. Without them being all jumbled up in there, I can actually get them clean! I could never do that before, I used to work away with floss and whatnot, and they were never as clean as I would want, nor as clean as I keep them now.

I am SO GLAD I didn't think I had icky teeth--although they were bad! I look at old photographs now, and marvel at how much the shape of my lower face has changed (for the good) in such a short time.

I am so grateful to my orthodontist for taking me as a patient, despite my advanced years and a few questions about my medical history (bisphosphonates, grrr).

Real