Braces, what's your dental journey?

[N.W. 3,619]

I had braces between my freshman and junior years of high school. I had them put on in the fall and removed in the fall. I don't miss them one bit. XD I hated having them adjusted and then have my whole mouth sore for days on end, and those rubber spacers that were put on the week prior were the worst.  

[碇 シンジン 27,439]

I had to wear some crap on my teeth for 10 years and I guess they gave up after that and said my teeth are good now though I can't say I agree with them on that

[They call me Loyalty 1,952]

My dental structure is out order, having one of my canines over the gums, way above what would be a normal lineup. Wisdom teeth sticking out horizontally, not only pushing my lower incisors out of place, but also crushing one of my molars, etc.

Everything has an underlying reason, much like with the chronic heart disease in our genealogy, along with cancer and other illness. There's also one for our teeth issues.

Rearranging my mouth won't heal the generational damage inherent to our genetic tree. And given the countless lives my ancestry has invested in medicine, for naught, trying to fix something only present on the subtle layer, that is our dna. I've given up on any physical aproach to our conditions.

If it is to come, then let it.

[EightBit 286]

I got my braces off a number of years back. I wish it could have gone better. My orthodontist was very mean, and she often wouldn't stick the braces down right, so if there was an issue with it, I'd be the one to get the blame. I remember coming in one day not long after one of the brackets popped off, and she put her hands on her hips, looked at me with a condescending sneer, and with a dramatic sigh, said, "Well? What have you done this time?"

 

I just looked her straight in the eye and said, "My bracket came off while I was eating soup," as in I hadn't been eating anything hard and there was no possible way that it was my fault. Her face went bright red and she started to stammer and make excuses. It was hilarious. My dentist thought that it was funny, too, because she's constantly being rude to people that she considerers to be beneath her and he knows that well, so hearing that she'd been rendered almost speechless was the highlight of his day. 

 

If your othodonstist is ever rude to you, don't stand for it. Mine made my neighbour's daughter cry.

[Nsxile 28,869]

Having braces was certainly uncomfortable for me and made brushing my teeth a lot more awkward. Having them adjusted was also quite painful.  

[Lucky Bolt 35,218]

I needed braces (and still do) but unfortunately my parents could never afford them. 

I'm kind of glad I never got braces cause from what I've heard they can be a pain in the butt. 

But also having teeth that are not quite straight in different places isn't fun either. :| 

[DubWolf 18,482]

I had my front row teeth misaligned with my molars, and my front top tooth was angled which looked really awkward from the side.

Eventually got braces last year. Had to remove about 4 teeth total, including some baby teeth that never came out. Results were pretty fast  . My bite feels even now (before it felt like I had to bite sideways in order for the top and bottom to mesh right). Have to pay a decent amount a month though, although I guess it’s worth it in the end since it always bothered me.

Cant eat too hard food, or sticky stuff, like peanut butter . (Though I did eat a recess one time  ...).

[Dreambiscuit 11,139]

I have never worn braces; my teeth are fairly straight since I lost my baby teeth. I take care of my chompers because I don’t want to face the dentist, which has not had a visit from me since I was 11 or 12 years old.

I like crooked teeth and think they add character, same with braces.   

[Cash In 23,037]

I was told that I need braces since I was 11, though my parents couldn't really handle the expenses, so I never I got them.

[Treeglow Flicker 14,217]

I had braces during my teenage years. I had a couple of teeth that were set far back in my mouth that they wanted to move forward. I have a permenant wire fixed on the back of my top row of teeth to prevent them from ever returning to how they once were. Stuck with it for life aparrently. Apologies to any future lovers that decide to go exploring with their tongue. 

[TheRockAReader 53,950]

I’ve never had braces in my life.

 

Some people are shocked that I haven’t.

[Handsome Changeling 1,852]

Luckily all my teeth grew in perfectly, I think I got that from my mum considering she never needed braces when she was younger. But I had two friends who got braces and they both had them in for WAY too many years, complained of pain every time they saw their Orthodontist, got food stuck in them all the time, kept having their brace removal date pushed back due to problems completely out of their hands, honestly sounds like an obnoxious hell to deal with them. OH and years and years of having to avoid chewingum, chewy sweets and tough foods also sounds horrible.

[Troblems 5,622]

I sucked my thumb until I was 10, so I had a massive overbite. My parents told me that they would get me braces if I cut that shit out, I stopped that day. We couldn’t afford braces, but my dad was friends with an orthodontist through Toastmasters, and she did some of the work pro bono.

I ended up needing a baby tooth pulled because it was fused to the bone. I also needed head gear, a bite plate, and 4 years of braces. I remember in 6th grade after I’d had my braces for a while this kid that used to bully me named Phil world call me Bucky Beaver Teeth. It never really bothered me; I wasn’t a great target for bullies as I didn’t let their harassment bother me. I also thought he was hot. Foolish 6th grade me.

 I was supposed to have the bite plate for another 4 months, but got the stomach flu, threw up into the toilet and flushed the thing. The head gear I was supposed to wear to sleep in and it was fine for a few months, but at one point it was tightened by two notches on each side instead of one, and I started taking the thing off in my sleep and throwing it across the room. My mom used to scream at me that I was doing it on purpose. I wasn’t. That made me feel like utter trash.

 I wouldn’t call my teeth straight now, but I actually like them the way they are. If I were to fix anything it would be the bottom row as they don’t line up with the top. At all. I like how the top looks a lot. I had a retainer for a while but that shit stop fitting and was lost to the annals of time.

[Early Sunsets 2,110]

I was always scared to pull out my teeth, so there was a point in high school when I still had two baby teeth (junior year, I think. Man, that's really old to still have baby teeth). I almost needed braces because of that, but luckily my teeth are still mostly straight. A few molars on the roof of my mouth grew in slightly crooked because of that, but thankfully it never caused problems, so I never got braces. As to whether or not my wisdom teeth are going to cause problems, that's for time to tell. Both my sister and my dad got two of them pulled, but my mom never did, so I have no idea what's gonna happen there. My sister didn't get them pulled until she was 21, so I still have a couple years of waiting to find out.

[TBD 17,271]

I had mine about 2 1/2 years and have to pull out 8 teeth; four wisdoms teeth and four laterals. Having to take four wisdom at the same time is a pain. But luckily I have a permanent retainer on my lower jaw and only have to worry wearing one for the top at night. Overall the journey was nothing but aches and you feel a like a baby again having the urge to teething because of it.

[Retro*Derpy 3,328]

I had braces, and it went so horribly wrong that the dental team had to have an emergency meeting over it. Besides the molars on the top back of my mouth, all the rest on the front popped off. It wasn't a good experience. Plus decades later I don't use my retainer so my bottom teeth moved a little bit.

[Longhaul 8,064]

I had them, and they were complete torture.  They're part of the reason why I only see dentists when I absolutely, positively, can't stand the pain anymore and have to have something done.

[Avery 221]

The experience was great, the staffs there were amazingly nice and friendly. I enjoyed  looking forward seeing them.

[Treeglow Flicker 14,217]

I was forced to have them on the top row of my teeth by mother back during my early teens. Knew they would increase the ammunition for my bullies and had to put up with lame joke after lame joke for a little while. Ultimately, the braces did straighten out my teeth, using the retainer always felt disgusting and no elegant way to eat during meals. Decades on, I still actually have a wire on the back of my top row of teeth that I apparently have to keep for the rest of my life to prevent them from ever setting back to how they were. Don't really notice it, unless I think about it. Or when I get a small peanut shard stuck back there. Kind of wish I could get rid of it to be honest.

The wire that is. Not the peanut shard.

[Snoopy Fan 7,820]

I got braces when I was 13 years old and had them for two and a half years.

[Iforgotmybrain 6,960]

I never needed them, lucky me since both my siblings did.

[ExplosionMare 21,333]

I had mine on for a few years and they worked pretty well even though they really hurt. I got to pick the colors to put over top of the brackets sometimes, so that was nice! Can't remember ever having an issue with them but I remember once they tried to get my mom on board with having my jaw broken and since that sounded absolutely crazy, she refused to let that happen!

After I got the braces off, I had to wear a retainer and it wore it until it wore down and got all gross. I've considered getting a new one because my bottom teeth have shifted but I'm not sure how expensive that would be.

[DubWolf 18,482]

2 hours ago, ExplosionMare said:

I had mine on for a few years and they worked pretty well even though they really hurt. I got to pick the colors to put over top of the brackets sometimes, so that was nice! Can't remember ever having an issue with them but I remember once they tried to get my mom on board with having my jaw broken and since that sounded absolutely crazy, she refused to let that happen!

After I got the braces off, I had to wear a retainer and it wore it until it wore down and got all gross. I've considered getting a new one because my bottom teeth have shifted but I'm not sure how expensive that would be.

Breaking your jaw? Why D: ?

Ya know last time I went they were saying I could use braces as there was an issue with the bite, but I had already gotten them removed a few years back!! Obviously it's because I stopped using the retainer... they just kept giving me sores in my mouth (so I say), and yeah it looked kinda gross. I put it back on not too long ago. It felt pretty tight, like I could feel the shift in just a few years. Wondered if they'd help bring my teeth back a little bit like braces but, dentist would probably so no to that!

I'm not getting braces again anytime soon if ever. Maybe just get a retainer so they don't get worse but I'm not dealing with the hassle and expense of that again. Plenty of people are fine and they've never even gotten braces.

[ExplosionMare 21,333]

20 hours ago, DubWolf said:

Breaking your jaw? Why D: ?

Ya know last time I went they were saying I could use braces as there was an issue with the bite, but I had already gotten them removed a few years back!! Obviously it's because I stopped using the retainer... they just kept giving me sores in my mouth (so I say), and yeah it looked kinda gross. I put it back on not too long ago. It felt pretty tight, like I could feel the shift in just a few years. Wondered if they'd help bring my teeth back a little bit like braces but, dentist would probably so no to that!

I'm not getting braces again anytime soon if ever. Maybe just get a retainer so they don't get worse but I'm not dealing with the hassle and expense of that again. Plenty of people are fine and they've never even gotten braces.

It was a very extreme method to fixing my overbite. My overbite wasn't even that bad so they were definitely thinking about that method just for the money. I'm so relieved my mom stood up for me that day.