My Story, Braces at 28

[nicolie825]

This morning I finally got braces. I'm 28 and I've wanted braces since I was a teenager but my parents couldnt afford them. I have lower crowding, an overbite and overjet. I had at least 5 consultations before I chose my current ortho. Some wanted to pull teeth, which I was against if it wasnt necessary. I went with one of the conservative orthos I saw that said it could be done with no teeth to pull.

So I'm paying $6680 for my braces (I live in Los Angeles). I have Damon brackets, clear upper, metal lower. I will also be getting a Suresmile wire once my current wires do some initial aligning. My ortho said 12-18 months.

I've had them on for about 3.5 hours. It took about 1 hour and 20 minutes to put them on this morning. I had two assistants as one was being trained so I think it would have been even shorter if I wasn't a training subject. I was expecting a lot of discomfort and for it to take a lot longer, but it really wasn't bad at all. I don't have any pain yet. I took advil before my appointment and just going to take it every 4-6 hours with the expectation that I'll have pain at some point today. Bought soup and soft foods to eat. Luckily I don't have any molar buildups or bite turbos that I've read about people having. Just need to get used to these brackets. I have brackets on all my teeth but my very back molars dont have the wire connected. I go for my first adjustment in 10 weeks. Fingers crossed I don't have wire or bracket issues before then

Anyway, posting pics below. I have a lot of old fillings in my top incisors, which I will be getting veneers for after I'm done with braces. I have my consultation pics (dont mind the ortho's pen marks) and just a cell phone pic I took a couple hours after my braces were put on. Excited and nervous for this journey

[Hash]

Welcome , congrats and well done . Swallow everything for the first few days and then easy soft chewing has worked for me do far, but I am only over 2months in! Good luck will keep an eye on your progress

[nicolie825]

Welcome , congrats and well done . Swallow everything for the first few days and then easy soft chewing has worked for me do far, but I am only over 2months in! Good luck will keep an eye on your progress

Thanks Hash!

[KMC]

Good luck with your journey Nicolie, I'm getting my braces in a few weeks and will keep an eye on your progress to see how you're getting on.

[nicolie825]

Good luck with your journey Nicolie, I'm getting my braces in a few weeks and will keep an eye on your progress to see how you're getting on.

Thanks! I bet youre anxious to get started. I know I was and was happy I was able to move my bracing date up by a week! Lol

[nicolie825]

So its been about 29 hours in braces and I dont have any of the pain Ive read about. I have a slight soreness and I'm still sticking to soft food for now, but nothing I would describe as pain. Dont know if I'm lucky or still have pain in store for me in the next few days. Still taking advil every 6 hours or so just in case though!

[Roses]

I'd say if you haven't had pain yet you've got lucky! I had such bad pain not long after having them on :S Good luck on your braces journey! The tooth next to the middle ones on the bottom (professional lingo ) was in a similar position to yours! That's the one I noticed the most difference with when the wires straightened out.

[nicolie825]

I'd say if you haven't had pain yet you've got lucky! I had such bad pain not long after having them on :S Good luck on your braces journey! The tooth next to the middle ones on the bottom (professional lingo ) was in a similar position to yours! That's the one I noticed the most difference with when the wires straightened out.

Hoping I stay lucky then! Thats the tooth that bothers me the most for obvious reasons. How long did it take for yours to start aligning with the rest of your teeth?

[jaime]

Welcome to the boards! Our stories are very similar! I'm also 25, have crowding, overjet, and did 5 consultations. I was like you, I wanted to keep all my teeth if possible. Congrats on getting braced, I look forward to seeing your progress!

[nicolie825]

Welcome to the boards! Our stories are very similar! I'm also 25, have crowding, overjet, and did 5 consultations. I was like you, I wanted to keep all my teeth if possible. Congrats on getting braced, I look forward to seeing your progress!

I

Thanks Jaime! I already had my 4 wisdom teeth pulled and really didnt want another 4 teeth pulled if I could help out. If i absolutely needed extractions though, I was willing to have 1 lower incisor extracted, especially since thats the major issue with my lower crowding. I figured 1 extraction is better than 4 lol. But hopefully my ortho can get all these teeth to fit so I wont have to go that route

So 48 hours in and still no pain! Hope this is the norm for me. I had prepared myself for quite a bit of pain, but very pleased with not experiencing any while I get used to all this stuff in my mouth while I learn to eat again lol

[parsleysage]

Awesome pictures!!! I hope you see some progress very quickly What's a SureSmile wire?

[jaime]

I just noticed I said I'm 25, I meant 28! :gavel:

I'm surprised you haven't had any pain. I had general soreness only for about 48 hours, so if you're past that, it'll be interesting to see if you get any pain! Keep us updated, haha.

[nicolie825]

Awesome pictures!!! I hope you see some progress very quickly What's a SureSmile wire?

Thanks! For a Suresmile wire, the ortho scans your mouth and uses a computer to come up with a treatment plan. An archwire is bent with a robot based on the treatment plan. Since its done by a robot and not manually by the ortho, the treatment is more precise in that the teeth go exactly where theyre supposed to go instead of the ortho having to tweak things to get the teeth in the right position. Since its more accurate, its supposed to cut treatment time down by 30%. Out of all of my consultations, most said it would take 2-2.5 years in braces. One ortho gave me 18-24 months. My ortho gave me 12-18 months with the Suresmile wire so here's to hoping it works!

They have a website with more info if anyones interested in finding out more about it

[nicolie825]

I just noticed I said I'm 25, I meant 28!

I'm surprised you haven't had any pain. I had general soreness only for about 48 hours, so if you're past that, it'll be interesting to see if you get any pain! Keep us updated, haha.

I'm surprised too! From what Ive read on this forum and from talking to friends who had them, it seems most people experience pain when they first get them. No idea why ive been lucky (so far lol), but no complaints here!

[nicolie825]

Day 4 and still no pain. I can eat solid food, but only if i break it up into small pieces. I definitely cant bite into anything with my incisors and using my premolars to chew is a little sensitive so I'm just sticking with the back molars for chewing. Even though I know its early, I look in the mirror every chance I get to look for movement lol