Second Braces Journey at 25

[atrixa]

Hi all, I thought I would document my experience on this thread.

I had braces (top and bottom) as a teen. It didn't fix everything- I don't think they do that thing where they file in between your teeth on the NHS, but it was certainly passable. However, they gave me the wrong type of upper retainer (one of those ones where a wire goes around your teeth and the plastic goes against the roof of your mouth) and as a result some of the gaps came back as they had removed my first premolars on the top. I stopped wearing it eventually due to emetophobia, where I was scared that I would throw up with it in. I have no anxiety now, luckily, and I shouldn't have any problems wearing them again.

I've been wanting a brace again since I noticed my overjet getting worse and worse (since 19 or 20). It was about 9mm before my first brace and now it's 5mm. I'm only just now in a financial position to do it (privately using 0% interest finance). I've chosen to just have a brace on the upper arch to reduce the overjet as far as it will go and fix the gaps. To have a perfect bite, I would have had to have both arches braced and also had the teeth on the bottom drilled down to push them back, too. I ended up going for the lower cost option as my bite isn't horrendous.

It's ended up at just over £2k with retainers on top and bottom (removable) then a fixed retainer on the upper arch to make sure they're retained permanently. The length of treatment should be max 18 months. I've gone for metal braces, I think the ortho is just going to do it sectionally, so I might not have brackets on every tooth. Not sure if traditional or self litigating (i'm not too fussed which I get anyway). I had my records appointment on the 27th, and my appointment to get the braces on is 17th Feb, so I'm very excited!

Appliance wise, I was told invisalign was out as it wouldn't do much for an overjet (I wasn't willing to pay that much anyway) and I wasn't into the idea of the ceramics as I always think someone just has mouldy teeth until I realise it's braces. Plus, they're bulkier than the metal ones. Lingual is way too expensive, so the metal ones will do!

Hopefully by my 27th birthday I'll have a smile to be confident about again. Here's some photos of my teeth as they are right now (bit scary, sorry!):

[tillybrace]

No your current teeth are not even close to being scary... i think they actually look better then mine at the momemnt and i am half way through treatment. Welcome to the chain gang, no orange jump suit required

[atrixa]

Haha, thank you!

My colleague at work knows I'm getting braces and she was asking questions about how it all works today. Everyone has been very supportive so far

[MooBoom]

People are pretty nice about it overall I've found, and your teeth aren't scary at all

I think it's great you are so clear on the type of braces you want, I agonised over the choices and was so self conscious initially (I have clear Damon brackets on my uppers and metal Damon brackets on my lowers. People only got weird about my braces if I was weird about them. Now I'm used to them, people don't even look twice. So if you're cool with metal everyone else will be cool too

[atrixa]

Thanks Moo Boom! The method I'm going for is to just be upfront about it or relax and forget I have them. A work colleague got hers last year and she did get one creepy comment from someone saying she looked 'cute' but that dude is creepy anyway.

[atrixa]

So, a week til the braces go on. I've already got quite a bit going on in my mouth right now.
I had a procedure done on Wednesday to remove a stone from my right submandibular salivary gland and I now have stitches in my mouth :/
I was really looking forward to eating everything I won't be able to eat in the next year and a half this week, but it's too sore

Oh, well. I'm currently deciding on what colours I want for my bands. Very tempted to try off white, assuming my ortho has them.

[atrixa]

My brace is on! Pics below:





I chose white ligs (my ortho doesn't have the best selection of colours, but I'm sure I can still have some fun) and I'll have to be careful not to stain them. Surprisingly, I don't hate my brace! I was expecting only sectional braces but the brackets are on every tooth on the upper arch, except the last molar.

The appointment to get them on took about 30 mins. It was the ortho's assistants rather than the guy himself, which is fine. It wasn't too uncomfortable, and I got fitted for my lower retainer as well. I'm to wear the retainer full time for a few days to get used to it, then switch to night only.

I got a set of the Vitis brand brace goodies, so that'll be fun to look through later.

Going home and nipping into the supermarket after my appointment was very weird. It feels like my brace is sooo huge and cumbersome, but I think that should settle over time. No pain... yet.

[atrixa]

I went and bought a few bits today. I found dental floss sold separately with the pointed end, disclosing tablets, a portable toothbrush, travel size toothpaste all in Superdrug, if any fellow UK metal mouths were wondering where this stuff is sold. I couldn't find any orthodontic wax, though.

So far, very little pain, although my retainer is causing more discomfort than I expected. I'll be glad to only wear this thing at night from Monday. A few sores from the brackets, but nothing I can't deal with. Oh, I ate porridge this morning and half of it came out in the sink. Gross.

[jem]

Boots always used to sell wax in their larger stores. But it was about £3 for a small box that my ortho sold for £1.

Good luck with your treatment.

Jem

[atrixa]

Boots always used to sell wax in their larger stores. But it was about £3 for a small box that my ortho sold for £1.

Thanks, Jem! I'll check there next

[atrixa]

I thought I would do a first week (or 9 day) update. For the first few days, the retainer was actually more uncomfortable than the brace! Not sure why that is, but it's fine now. After maybe two or three days, the brace started cutting my mouth quite badly, so I put some wax on every bracket overnight and that gave it the chance to heal. No problems in that regard since. I had them bonded on the Friday, and by the Wednesday I was feeling fine, not much pain and I wasn't as self conscious.

One thing I have noticed, though- occasionally when I talk I hit my bottom front teeth off my left central incisor and it hurts like hell. Hopefully that will settle down. At the beginning, my bite changed a bit, but that seems to have stopped. My front teeth are still quite tender if I put pressure on them, but that's fine, because I want them to move. Movement wise, my central incisors seem to be aligning nicely, but not much change otherwise. Pics below for comparison:

Day 1:
Day 9:
Day 1:
Day 9:
Day 1:
Day 9:

Sorry for the weird sizing, photobucket defies any logic, it seems. My overjet seems to have gotten slightly worse, as this prescription wire seems to pull the teeth outward as opposed to back in my face, which is where I want them. Hopefully next appointment, I can get a powerchain to close the gaps. I've managed to keep the white ligs white for now by not eating or drinking anything that could stain it. I'm switching to silver next time though so I can eat curry etc again and drink coffee. I might alternate between a colour and silver each time.

Hygiene wise, it takes me absolutely ages to clean my teeth at night, which is when I do all my flossing etc. I just brush normally in the morning and if I get the chance after lunch, then at night, I follow this routine:

1) Brush teeth for 2-3 mins with electric/manual toothbrush.
2) Use gum massagey brush (no idea what this is called, but they tell you to brush your gum line with it.
3) Large interdental brush to clean properly round each bracket.
4) Either superfloss or small interdental brush to clean inbetween the teeth. This is what takes ages. I find it really difficult to navigate the molars with either of these methods.
5) Regular satin tape floss on my lower (unbraced) arch.
6) Mouthwash. I'm using that weird Vitis apple mint one. I was wondering why in hell it tasted a bit like Apple Sourz until I realised it had the apple flavour. Ew.
7) Once I week I'll use a disclosing tablet to make sure I'm getting everything. The first time I tried this I didn't know how to use them properly (no instructions) so I didn't realise they were for after brushing, not before and that you were meant to rinse your mouth out with water before you went back in with a brush. Oh well, google has enlightened me.
Twice a week I use the vitis tablet things to clean my retainer. The water goes a very pretty blue.

[Skwiredmouth]

I went and bought a few bits today. I found dental floss sold separately with the pointed end, disclosing tablets, a portable toothbrush, travel size toothpaste all in Superdrug, if any fellow UK metal mouths were wondering where this stuff is sold. I couldn't find any orthodontic wax, though.

So far, very little pain, although my retainer is causing more discomfort than I expected. I'll be glad to only wear this thing at night from Monday. A few sores from the brackets, but nothing I can't deal with. Oh, I ate porridge this morning and half of it came out in the sink. Gross.

Hey I bought comfort brace and comfort cover for braces from amazon when I was visiting uk in dec because we dont get them here in aussie land. I am yet to try them as my braces havent hurt that much yet but heard they are good alternative to wax. Try them as well.

[Skwiredmouth]

Hi all, I thought I would document my experience on this thread.

I had braces (top and bottom) as a teen. It didn't fix everything- I don't think they do that thing where they file in between your teeth on the NHS, but it was certainly passable. However, they gave me the wrong type of upper retainer (one of those ones where a wire goes around your teeth and the plastic goes against the roof of your mouth) and as a result some of the gaps came back as they had removed my first premolars on the top. I stopped wearing it eventually due to emetophobia, where I was scared that I would throw up with it in. I have no anxiety now, luckily, and I shouldn't have any problems wearing them again.

I've been wanting a brace again since I noticed my overjet getting worse and worse (since 19 or 20). It was about 9mm before my first brace and now it's 5mm. I'm only just now in a financial position to do it (privately using 0% interest finance). I've chosen to just have a brace on the upper arch to reduce the overjet as far as it will go and fix the gaps. To have a perfect bite, I would have had to have both arches braced and also had the teeth on the bottom drilled down to push them back, too. I ended up going for the lower cost option as my bite isn't horrendous.

It's ended up at just over £2k with retainers on top and bottom (removable) then a fixed retainer on the upper arch to make sure they're retained permanently. The length of treatment should be max 18 months. I've gone for metal braces, I think the ortho is just going to do it sectionally, so I might not have brackets on every tooth. Not sure if traditional or self litigating (i'm not too fussed which I get anyway). I had my records appointment on the 27th, and my appointment to get the braces on is 17th Feb, so I'm very excited!

Appliance wise, I was told invisalign was out as it wouldn't do much for an overjet (I wasn't willing to pay that much anyway) and I wasn't into the idea of the ceramics as I always think someone just has mouldy teeth until I realise it's braces. Plus, they're bulkier than the metal ones. Lingual is way too expensive, so the metal ones will do!

Hopefully by my 27th birthday I'll have a smile to be confident about again. Here's some photos of my teeth as they are right now (bit scary, sorry!):

Your teeth are so pretty even at the start !! If I get something like this by the end of my braces I will feel so happy

[jem]

What type of retainer did you get?

[atrixa]

Hey I bought comfort brace and comfort cover for braces from amazon when I was visiting uk in dec because we dont get them here in aussie land. I am yet to try them as my braces havent hurt that much yet but heard they are good alternative to wax. Try them as well.

Oh, I'd never heard of those before! They seem a bit too pricey for my budget, but they could work.

What type of retainer did you get?

Essix lower removable (at least it's in the style of one). I'm going with Essix all the way after my brace is off. I had an upper Hawley one as a teen and I've only just learned that it was one of the reasons why my teeth relapsed. Because I have had extractions, apparently the wire wouldn't stop the gaps from reappearing, which is what I found happened.

Gross update: I've just tried to eat spinach for the first time and some of it has (somehow) gotten twisted around the brace and when I tried to swallow only the non- attached part could try to go down. *shudder* NEVER AGAIN.