I need some orthodontal advice....

[t3techcom18]

Hey everybody. I just wanted to say I'm a bit scared, but why you ask? On Tuesday, November 2nd (why did I have to get it on Election day?!?), I started my Orthodontal (braces) treatment. Here's the whole backstory:

My mom and dad, since I was 7, wanted to get me braces. Due to budget and time, we couldn't do it; until now. Over the summer, they began the treatment by (gulp), getting some space for the braces by removing 3 of the wisdom teeth, and leaving and raising only one of them. After that, thye waited a few months, and the orthodontist saw me again. They said I needed to get a Herpst (which makes me look like a terminator) for a year, and then have the braces for another year. For the past couple of weeks, they put seperators in my teeth to make room for the Herpst itself. The whole perpose of the whole Herpst itself is to make the lower jaw move forward, and specifically for me, to move to the right, because my bite is REALLY out of place. And so, this past Tuesday, the put the Herpst into my mouth, and with a last minute surprise, they put in 4 brackets on my 4 top front teeth! As of this moment, I am the BORG> RESISTANCE IS FUTILE> WE WILL ADD YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN> YOU WILL ADAPT TO SERVE THE..........Oops...I shouldn't have said that, but what else do you want from a loyal Trekker... :lookaroun :lookaroun :lol: :lol: . Anyway, I now have an arsenal of teeth cleaning stuff, and now brushing my teeh at night takes at least 15 minutes to a half hour. I having not a lot of patience with this.

So, fact of the matter is, if anyone has experience with this, please tell me some advice. This is getting really complicated on me, and so please tell me anything, big or little, that might help.

Thanks! :wave:

 

[maelstrom]

That sucks. I had braces for 3 years; all of middle school. How old are you? If you get really fed up with the braces, have them taken off, with or without your parents consent. I wish I had done that.

 

[Erika]

Awww. Sounds like a lot of fun :lol:

I've worked in the dental field for 11 years now. The best advice I can give you is to follow the doctor's orders (which you seem to be doing)! You'll be happier later, trust me. And don't skimp on the brushing/flossing.

 

[Gregory]

I didn't care for braces, but now I am really glad that I kept them for the three years I had them...

 

[nicholas]

I never NEEDED orthodontics because of medical reasons, so my mother never had me get them. But I wish I would have had them when I was younger. I have some crowding that, though not a huge deal, is one of the only things I can see when I look in the mirror, which is unfortunate. And getting braces as an adult seems to have such a negative stigma attached to it that I hate to even consider it an option. I wish I had braces as a teen. My advice, muddle through best you can. You will definitely be happier in the long run.

 

[Erika]

That sucks. I had braces for 3 years; all of middle school. How old are you? If you get really fed up with the braces, have them taken off, with or without your parents consent. I wish I had done that.

NOOOOOOOOO!!! :lol: You could have all kinds of problems down the road. What a waste of time, pain, and MONEY! Stick it out! You don't know how many patients I talk to at age 25, 35, 45 who are facing getting braces as adults becuase nothing was done earlier.

 

[nicholas]

NOOOOOOOOO!!! You could have all kinds of problems down the road. What a waste of time, pain, and MONEY! Be a man! :lol: and stick it out. You don't know how many patients I talk to at age 25, 35, 45 who are facing getting braces as adults becuase nothing was done earlier.

How ironic. You posted that at the same time I said it. LOL

 

[Erika]

How ironic. You posted that at the same time I said it. LOL

I edited the "be a man" part- I thought it was a little too harsh

 

[Atta83]

I had braces for two to three years i had a really huge gap in between my two front teeth and it needed fixing cause i got made fun of. I had them put on my freshman year of high school. So yeah i had braces, glasses, adn frizzy hair (I looked like Mia from Princess Diaries). I got them off my junior year, now my dentist tells me i need my wisdom teeth pulled....why couldnt of he said this years ago.....o vey. Good luck with the braces and follow everything your doc tells ya, like Erika said.

 

[ogryn]

I just remembering it hurting like buggery. For that reason, I didn't wear the retainer/ and mini-elastic bands at night as often as I should have, so mine only semi-worked really.

Oh yeah, and I bit my orthadontists hand quite hard as well. *shudders at thought of having to have impressions done again*

 

[t3techcom18]

That sucks. I had braces for 3 years; all of middle school. How old are you? If you get really fed up with the braces, have them taken off, with or without your parents consent. I wish I had done that.

Maelstrom- I'm 14 and in 8th grade, and I'm suppossed to be in high school, but that's a different story. Remember, I don't have the FULL braces, just the brackets that has been (apparently) super glued by the blue laser light thingy, and to take them off, would be a real pain in the you-know-what because my teeth hasn't strenghtened. (In other words, I put a hard thing in my mouth Ruffles [not saying that I did, but I had crackers instead], and you bite on it, and feels like your teeth are made of glass ready to shatter.)

Erika- Thanks for the advice! Yeah, I'm following the doctor's orders, since I now have a personal arsenal of teeth cleaning stuff as you most probably know, and I keep doing everything good, but...and my ONLY but...is the flossing. I only flossed every so once in a while when I was little, and I hated it because of pain of the spacing in my mouth, and not to mention the fact that I never have had a cavity in my whole life.
Question: Is it okay if I floss every 2 days? That's what I decided to do.
Another Question: I scrape my teeth at night, and they gave a sort of teeth gaurd thing you use while football players are in a game, and I can't use it because if I have something in my mouth while I'm sleeping, or I have too much time with my mouth open, I start to gag. Is there any substitute for that? Thanks again!

Atta83: I have glasses too (I prefer glasses over contacts; contacts just bother me most of the time. So yeah, I just added a new accessory to me. :lol:

 

[Erika]

Question: Is it okay if I floss every 2 days? That's what I decided to do.
Another Question: I scrape my teeth at night, and they gave a sort of teeth gaurd thing you use while football players are in a game, and I can't use it because if I have something in my mouth while I'm sleeping, or I have too much time with my mouth open, I start to gag. Is there any substitute for that? Thanks again!

Flossing every 2 days is still a lot more than most people do. Bravo! Just mak sure you're following the contours of your teeth with the floss and not just jabbing it straight into your gums.

For the nightguard, I can't really give you advice on that but to my knowledge the soft rubbery "football type" ones have been found to cause TMJ problems and are not really used anymore (people end up chewing them all night and doing a lot of damage to their jaws). But your doctor might have given you that as a temporary measure since the hard, fitted type of nightguard would not really work with braces. Sorry! I bet you wish you could fast-forward a few years! Hang in there :wave:

 

[maelstrom]

Every time I got my braces tightened, once every month, for three years, I went through at least two days of such excrutiating pain that I could eat nothing harder than mashed potatoes. I never wanted braces and I would've been fine without them. So I guess I'm bitter. If you want straight teeth and you can stick it out, then go for it. But, I have a tip! Eventually, they might put these rubberbands on the brackets that connect two teeth. They hurt. When it becomes so bad that you're crying, just take a pair of scissors and cut them off. I had scissors in my mouth all the time when I had braces. I'm such a bad influence.

 

[Erika]

Every time I got my braces tightened, once every month, for three years, I went through at least two days of such excrutiating pain that I could eat nothing harder than mashed potatoes. I never wanted braces and I would've been fine without them.

That's fine for you, but there are a lot of peope out there who will end up with very bad jaw troubles and other problems down the road without them.

So I guess I'm bitter. If you want straight teeth and you can stick it out, then go for it. But, I have a tip! Eventually, they might put these rubberbands on the brackets that connect two teeth. They hurt. When it becomes so bad that you're crying, just take a pair of scissors and cut them off.

But see, then you went through all that for nothing. And your parents paid a few thousand dollars for the experience. I still think that's a terrible waste. I don't know about you but I don't have a spare thousand bucks laying around.

I had scissors in my mouth all the time when I had braces. I'm such a bad influence.

:lol: Yes, you are :lol:

 

[tigger248]

What's a Herpst?

I had braces. I hated them, but now I'm glad I had them because my teeth are much better looking. I had a horrible overbite! Luckily, they fixed mine with a weird retainer thing that took up my whole mouth, pulled my jaw forward, and widened my lower jaw. I still have a slight overbite, but it's not nearly as bad. My lower jaw used to fit all the way into my upper jaw. I had bad bite marks on my upper gums (behind the teeth) because I would always bite that area when I'd close my mouth. Plus, my teeth were horribly crooked, especially the front ones. (I had a bike accident as a 5 year old and I thankfully was missing my two front teeth, otherwise they wouldn't be there anymore. I scraped open my gum and my teeth fell into place because all of the tissue that was holding them up was gone. It was icky.) I'd hate to think about what my teeth would look like now if I hadn't had braces. They were supposed to be on for less than a year and instead I had them 3 and a half. I, too, started middle school looking sorta like Mia. I felt especially bad because I'd just gotten braces on and my younger brother had just gotten contacts, yet my mom made me keep my dumb glasses. On a side note, I had all 4 wisdom teeth out at once. It was the most pain I've ever had!

Anyways, my point is, stick with it. It's no fun, and I know you hate the braces/dental devices now but it'll get better. You'll be glad you had this done.