Here's my Journey

[metalcolinman]

Hi Folks!

After seeing my sister with lingual braces and the success that she had I, now 29 years old, have finally come to a point in my life where I can finally do it myself! The internet has so much information out there so I took some time to research my options and get several consultations with the orthodontists in my area.

I had some doctors recommend Invisalign, some conventional ceramics and some the Incognito system. With my case being rather extensive I was hesitant to pursue the Invisalign system. I was told that I might not be able to achieve complete results which is unacceptable to me. If I am going to do something I'm going to do it right ya know? What's the point in making such an investment in time, money and pain only to achieve a near perfect correction?

So it came down to Incognitos vs. convetional ceramics. The price difference was absolutely a factor in this as upper/lower Incognitos were almost $2k more than upper/lower ceramics. I considered doing upper Incognitos/lower ceramics but then the price difference was only reduced to about $800. I am normally a very frugal person but managed to convinced myself that this time that I could treat myself to Incognito upper/lower. How could you put a price on your health right?

I managed to find a local orthodontist who has been actively installing Incognitos for a while and assured me that we could align my teeth just as well with the lingual braces as we could with the labial braces. He was also willing to collaborate with a surgeon in town to make my final jaw correction so I jumped in!

I have a Class III malocclusion with a lot of crowding and a strong underbite. It is difficult for me to eat certain foods and my smile has always been a bit of a soft spot for me in public. Today officially marks day four of wearing the Incognitos and I couldn't be happier to do this (despite my tongue feeling like it's been through a shredder). Photo below shows how truly Incognito these babies are. SO COOL!

I am going to use this thread to make updates on my progress and provide some experience and information for those who are interested in going down this path. Feel free to post or PM me with any questions or comments and I'd be happy to reply. Stay tuned for updates.

Day 4
Hi Folks!

After seeing my sister with lingual braces and the success that she had I, now 29 years old, have finally come to a point in my life where I can finally do it myself! The internet has so much information out there so I took some time to research my options and get several consultations with the orthodontists in my area.

I had some doctors recommend Invisalign, some conventional ceramics and some the Incognito system. With my case being rather extensive I was hesitant to pursue the Invisalign system. I was told that I might not be able to achieve complete results which is unacceptable to me. If I am going to do something I'm going to do it right ya know? What's the point in making such an investment in time, money and pain only to achieve a near perfect correction?

So it came down to Incognitos vs. convetional ceramics. The price difference was absolutely a factor in this as upper/lower Incognitos were almost $2k more than upper/lower ceramics. I considered doing upper Incognitos/lower ceramics but then the price difference was only reduced to about $800. I am normally a very frugal person but managed to convinced myself that this time that I could treat myself to Incognito upper/lower. How could you put a price on your health right?

I managed to find a local orthodontist who has been actively installing Incognitos for a while and assured me that we could align my teeth just as well with the lingual braces as we could with the labial braces. He was also willing to collaborate with a surgeon in town to make my final jaw correction so I jumped in!

I have a Class III malocclusion with a lot of crowding and a strong underbite. It is difficult for me to eat certain foods and my smile has always been a bit of a soft spot for me in public. Today officially marks day four of wearing the Incognitos and I couldn't be happier to do this (despite my tongue feeling like it's been through a shredder). Photo below shows how truly Incognito these babies are. SO COOL!

I am going to use this thread to make updates on my progress and provide some experience and information for those who are interested in going down this path. Feel free to post or PM me with any questions or comments and I'd be happy to reply. Stay tuned for updates.

Day 4
[IMG]http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c373/ ... 042AM2.jpg[/IMG]

[winwired]

Hey, good luck! I look forward to your updates and progress. The tongue gets better in a few weeks, if that's the only problem you have at the moment then you'll probably have a great time!

All the best....

[metalcolinman]

So far I'm almost 2 weeks in and the adjustment has been a challenge (mainly with eating) but like NPH says on How I Met Your Mother, "Challenge Accepted!" I have two wires that stick out of each side on the rear of my lowers and they really jab the sides on my tongue. My saving grace has been all the wax.

While I eat I have to make sure to watch my tongue movement to avoid the sharp wires. After I eat my meal, and the wax , I have to run to the bathroom and rinse then reapply the wax to cover those spears in the back of my mouth. I only got 3 little cases of wax but I feel like I'll probably need 30!

So I'm back to get those wires trimmed in 4 days. I'd say to anyone having these put on; make sure that those wires behind your molars are trimmed as short as possible and feel behind there because they can really wreak havoc on your tongue.

Happy holidays!

[IncognitoChris]

Hi,

Looking forward to reading your progress as you will be about 2 months ahead of me.

Good tip on the wires at the back and it's definitely something I will double check after being fitted. Let us know if you see a big improvement after you get them trimmed. Did your Ortho say how long your treatment is expected to take?

By the way, until I reread your first post, I honestly thought your photo was before being fitted. Couldn't see them at all and I know what to look for!!! truly incognito indeed.

Best of luck in your journey.

[metalcolinman]

Thanks Chris!

Unless I mention that I have them no one really seems to notice; especially now that my speech is improving. Every now and then of course my friends will try to get me to say something with a lot of 's' words for a good laugh .

I just had the wires that were sticking out behind my molars trimmed and WOW, my tongue feels so much better! I can now get away with out using any wax and eating has become much less painful. Now armed with my interdental brushes I feel like I can eat just a bout anything with enough care!

Armed to the teeth with these guys (a must have): http://www.amazon.com/GUM-632-Soft-Pick ... B001F0OMPS

[metalcolinman]

I forgot to mention that my treatment time was estimated at 24 month. Best of luck to you as well!

[metalcolinman]

I just turned the corner on one month today and I feel like I've really hit a stride with my braces . I know what I'm able to eat easily and what I can eat not-so-easily.

Things that require a lot of chewing like nuts get stuck in between the brackets and wires causing slight discomfort. The small pocket picks I carry around can't really get them out so the water pick is the real hero here. Other foods don't seem to really give me any trouble and I can honestly say that I feel like I can eat just about anything still .

I am, however very cautious about eating hard foods because of what I have read about people breaking brackets off. The brackets for my molars do slightly extend over the teeth onto the biting surfaces so I'm sure it's necessary to be careful.

I also read here that the Sonicare toothbrush is a must have for the journey and I couldn't agree more! It really makes quick work of cleaning around the brackets and my teeth/gums feel fantastic afterwards. My only regret is not having bought one before I stepped into braces! My sister had several cavities after her braces using a regular toothbrush so I'm hoping this will help me out a little bit.

I would highly recommend the HX6511/50 because of it's price/rating/ability to use the newer style Diamond Clean brush heads (http://www.usa.SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM.com/c-p/HX6511_5 ... toothbrush). It's also portable. My job requires me to be on the road sometimes weeks at a time and this comes with a nice travel case and doesn't seem to require any recharging while I'm gone.

If the next 23 months go as well as as they are currently, I can see my treatment being a nice smooth road! Hopefully this week my dentist can do a good cleaning for me and let me know if I'm missing any particular areas. I spend an extra minute or two now brushing so I'm hoping for good news.

[robbievega]

sounds great metalcolinman! hope my journey will be as smooth as yours. im getting upper and lower linguals fitted this friday. do you still use wax after a month? hows your speech/lisp?

[metalcolinman]

Good luck robbievega! It still seem a little rough at first but you'll do fine.

After over a month I don't use anymore wax and speech is really good. I speak over a radio all day so that helps out a lot. Still, there are certain times with particular phrases where I have to deliberately slow my speech down and enunciate my words. Otherwise the lisp does come out albeit just a little bit. I really think forcing myself to speak a lot in the beginning despite the pain and frustration helped.

I did recently brake off my first bracket from tooth #29 on my lowers eating a kettle chip ...and here I thought it would be a rogue nut that would pop one off sometime! I freaked just a little bit when I realized what I did but then I jumped online and read that it was nothing to worry about.

So I was able to take the band off of the bracket with the end of a clothes pin and put it in a plastic baggie. My orthodontist office assured me it was a non-event and they are set to reinstall it two weeks later at my regular checkup. I'm just glad I didn't eat it!