Braces, what's your dental journey?

[Venomous 18,813]

I have never needed braces

[Ribbonfree 2,382]

They were a bunch of things that were super pointy and hurt my mouth a lot.

 

lel But seriously I did have them for a good while, three or so years. Had the option of Invisalign like a few others have mentioned but I went for old silver ones to pay my dues. They weren't too bad except for some pain and disgusting moments.

[mars 4,861]

Actually, I've never told this to anyone except for a few of my friends because this is a very bizarre thing.

I had my braces on for eight years. 

I got them when I was fourth grade and had them removed in eleventh grade.

It's not that my teeth were that bad, it's just that I constantly kept breaking the rules of wearing braces so they would constantly get ruined/broken/etc. No way was I gonna give up popcorn or bubble gum. We (my parents and I) would constantly also forget when my appointments were, and sometimes we just didn't have the money to go on some of the visits so we'd skip them. 

So uhhh. Yeah, lmao. There was just a lot of factors. I eventually got them off and they gave me retainers and I left and never looked back.

And I lost my retainers so, whoops.

[ChikaChan 7,320]

I got braces ones I was just in high school,I could still taste the glue in my mouth even tho,I don't even have them anymore    

Edited July 2, 2015 by Princess_Moonlight

[Lisa 5,551]

I want to get braces, my teeth have become awfully crooked. I just have to convince my parents in to spending a lot of money. :s

[Magic Note 2,734]

I have braces on right now. I had to get them because I had a serious overbite issue, and my teeth were in terrible shape.

 

I was annoyed at first with having them, but now I'm sort of used to them by now.

[Pastel 7,627]

I had braces for over a year when I was ~14 (if I remember correctly).

I also had something else when I was younger because my front teeth were sticking out too much.

Edited July 2, 2015 by Blobulle

[Ousba1955 0]

Hi.. I had my braces 8 months ago in a family dentistry in Calgary. I am quite satisfied with the results. Talk with your dentist if your problem persists. It may be because of improper bracing.

 

[Lexamena 391]

Got braces at 17 and had to pay for them myself. I had a 110% over bite, three large gaps on top, two adult teeth stuck in the roof of my mouth, and two impacted wisdom teeth. As a result I wore braces 4 years with oral surgery to attach the dreaded chains to bring in the adult teeth had wisdom teeth removed. I refused the jaw breaking and instead used rubber bands to bring my jaw into the right position where it's been ever since. Plus I lost my only retainer.

[n0body555 334]

Never had braces myself but probably should have got them whle I was younger. THey've straightened themselves out eventually, somewhat.

 

It's a blur but as a child I've gone through surgery on my mouth(don't remember why). Used tog et a lot of cavaties and have them go untreated for a while. probably why...I went through a lot of silver teath. All of them fell out except for one, which I still somehow have today.  

 

"It was either last yera, or earlier this year I got all of my wisdom teeth removed. It was all good for a while.. Around 2 months later an infected started on the right side of my jaw making it really hard to eat, sometimes even talk. Just kept getting worse. Got an appointment immediately and had surgery later that day to remove a tooth and remove the infection.

 

And that's about it for me

[kaleidoscope234 30]

I never had braces, good reasonably good teeth so it was never necessary. I however had two tooths filled up when I was small, I'm never going to forget the pain...

[cmarston1 5,951]

Had one upper pair of braces, one full pair of braces, one retainer and, one ivisalign retainer.

All at different points of time of course,

[Denim&Venöm 16,462]

If I recall, I had braces for a year to a year and a half. Crooked teeth + some overbite. There was concern about the latter, that I may need jaw surgery. But luckily it never came to that. There are some foods I was told to avoid, but I ate them anyways and found no problems. The only issues I had were the straightening wire poking the back of my mouth and the parts on my front teeth grinding up against the insides of my lips, both leading to sores and me having to put a type of wax on them. 

[taryncoda03 52]

I had braces when I was in the 7th and 8th grade.  I had an overbite and I also had too many teeth in my mouth.  So I got some teeth removed from my face and then they slapped the braces on to correct the overbite and close the gaps from the teeth I had removed.  I was suppose to wear a retainer after I got my braces taken off but I only wore it for maybe the first month or so.  But my teeth seem fine to me, they haven't moved a whole lot.  My overbite isn't back yet anyway.  

[Sabrinie 391]

I've always needed braces, but could never afford them, so the last time I was at the dentist's they told me I will probably be getting some within the next few years...so future Sabrina, at about 25 will be looking awesome with her brace face

[Chronamut 355]

So this is what my teeth looked like on day 1 when I got my braces on Halloween last year. I had a major overbite and open bite plus my teeth weren't exactly straight. But my jaw was a bigger problem than my teeth were.

image.jpg

^^literally that's me biting down.

 

In February I had double jaw surgery and wisdom teeth removal. After 6 weeks of excruciating pain from my nerves coming back faster than normal and hunger pains from being on a liquid diet/no chew diet for exactly 6 weeks until my jaw bones healed I pulled through the first part of my journey. Let me tell you, the only part I hated more than not being able to eat real food was for the first week I threw up blood constantly. But this month it'll be officially 7 months since that terrible time in my life. This is the result of the surgery and braces so far.

image.jpg

 

I have a couple gaps on my bottom teeth right now but they'll close up sooner or later. I should be out of braces sometime in the summer. My orthodontist said I'll be in braces for only a few more months. A little less than two years total.

 

So what's your story, if you have one that is? If not, do you ever think about getting braces?

 

EDIT: its now been about 14 months into my treatment. The gaps on my bottom teeth are pretty much gone. I have to wear rubber bands all day in a sort of U pattern to help my bite close since I have tongue thrust(causes open bites) which I am working on fixing with these damn spikes my ortho put in my mouth a couple months ago. I'd say I think I kicked that habit but idk.

 

image.jpg

 

 

sigh.. so at 32 I have finally decided to get braces - my journey will be very similar to yours - but I have crowding and I still have all of my teeth.. but they will need to do surgery on my jaw too, they predicted 2 years.. so I am rather apprehensive as to the pain this is all going to cause.. but I just have to man up and get it over with.. I had my consultation and  molds made so in a few days I will be back at ortho to start the process..

 

I am paranoid something will go wrong or that it will get infected or I won't brush properly and get cavities - all my teeth are still in there and no cavities so yeah.. I mean it's not TOO bad but it's been a big confidence shatterer over the years so I find myself preventing myself from smiling as much as I should

[MHeath 3]

The journey has been one hell of a ride. At first it was too much irritating to get that braces into my mouth and waking up daily with that monster in my mouth. After 5 years removed it. But because of them, my teeth are reformed again. The only thing is who have to get a good dentist for yourself. There are many online websites like http://caldentalgroup.com/10-tips-to-a-healthy/, informative blogs, healing websites where you will get to know what care you should be taking after getting braces, dos and don'ts, etc. They aren't too bad!

Spoiler

 

 

[Halberd 88]

Had braces from August 2004 to November 2006. Biggest wasted investment my parents ever made.

The braces kept my teeth straight....for a few years. Then they shifted back into their crooked positions. This was with the retainer. Those years were awful, too. Lots of heckling from classmates and even some adults. For the longest time my gums were really sore due to the wire, which had this annoying tendency to poke out. Even when fixed, it still managed to do this.

My parents should have spent the money on a vacation instead. I still have all of my teeth, and they look no different than they did before I had braces. For this reason, I also have a serious distrust of anybody whose profession involves tooth and mouth health. I still get cleanings, but no cavities or fillings yet. I take care of my stuff. I just don't like dentists or orthodontists anymore. Same with most doctors...

[BlueStreak98 828]

I had braces for a few years. I absolutely hated them. Makes my teeth hurt just thinking about it.

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,671]

I'm 27 and have never been to the dentist

[Thuja 3,658]

I've never had the need for braces but I have had a lot of cavities, it doesn't really help things that I don't get my teeth cleaned regularly.  I might go to the dentist every couple of years or so.  I also ground some of my teeth flat due to stress and I think I've been clenching my teeth far too much lately so that might be another concern of mine. 

[Luigi 7,868]

Braces? I'm a baby. I don't even have my first tooth yet.

 

Spoiler

Realtalk: I had braces for two years. Felt so good to get them out before I got to play varsity football.

 

[Prospekt 10,984]

I had braces twice because the orthodontist wanted to start treatment before I had lost all my baby teeth. So the first "phase" was straightening what adult teeth I already had, and the second was finishing the job. Thankfully I didn't need any teeth pulled to help make room.

I'm getting my three wisdom teeth taken out on Monday. Not looking forward to it.

[Victoria Sponge 1,014]

I've never had braces, never needed them. I've just got naturally strong and well aligned teeth. My sister had them because she had a gap between her incisors that she thought was ugly, braces pushed them back together again.

[StormBlaze 991]

i'm the only one in my family who hasnt had to wear braces.

My Dad actually has night time retainers still, as he's been pretty bad looking after his teeth. Im just the only one of my siblings whose had fillings or teeth pulled.