Braces (again)

[KonamiKid]

Hi everybody! My name is Brian, I'm a 20 year old junior in college right now and I just had braces fitted on yesterday. I had braces during middle school, and unfortunately didn't wear my retainer for very long after and my teeth kinda got pushed around crooked from some wisdom teeth (that I prolonged in getting removed). I had my wisdom teeth finally removed last year after speaking to my sister's orthodontist who reccommended I try the Damon system.

Well, I finally *balls-ed up* and got them again after some prodding from family. Fortunately my mom's insurance plan provides a little discount on orthodontia since I'm still a student; a win-win situation for me Anyways, I am very excited to have my braces on and am looking forward to when I can get them off. I am very shy and do not have a lot of self confidence; I think that having a nice smile will help gain some confidence back and will make me feel better about myself. I know this is kind of stupid but I am a little nervous that students at my school will kinda look at me and laugh when they see me talk...I am hoping that I don't have to do any oral presentations in my future classes for this reason

Just wanted to introduce myself and I plan on maintaining a blog & pictures so I can keep track of my progress, and can look back and feel happy that I went through with this. This is a great forum so I hope if I have any questions you kind folks can help me out. Thanks for your time and for reading this!!

-Brian

[Sunny]

Hi Brian and good for you making this decision while you're still so young ... and also able to use your mother's insurance.

Hopefully you'll soon be feeling loads better and will forget you have the braces on and will find you're more happy to talk in public.

Good luck with keeping your blog, it's a great way to follow your own progress and receive motivation from others.

[Tara19]

welcome brian. I loook forward to following your blog...

[lauralea]

Hello all,
Im new to this forum and wanted to bounce things off of you guys.
I as well had braces for 3 yrs when I was in middle school. My teeth were quite a mess beforehand. After I got my braces off, I never really did feel as though my teeth were straight, my ortho put my top teeth in a 'step down' position, so I never really had the 'straight-through' smile. So basicaly I lost my retainers shortly after and never worn them again. 10 yrs later, my family dentist recomends me to go see an ortho again. During the consultation, he recommends that I get braces again on top and bottom for 10 months. My friends say that I dont need them, and Im just not sure what to do.
Also, he wants to put damon clear brackets on with tooth colored archwire, does anyone have information about this, I cant seem to get info about it anywere on the internet. How noticable are they?
Thanks

[Sunny]

Laura if you're not sure what to do, consult with a few orthodontist's and hear what each one has to recommend.

The ceramic brackets mean that it's not easy to see that the person has braces. Of course anyone close to you and looking at your mouth will notice, but any further away and they're barely noticable. The white archwires are not available in all sizes, but they make it even harder to see that a person has braces on.

To be honest ... most people don't notice we have braces. Why? Because most people aren't interested. We make them notice by talking about them ... whinging etc. I've never talked about having braces and in all this time, except at work, I've rarely had anyone talk about them. Of course to us it's a huge thing ... and so it should be, as it's a massive commitment and we follow every movement with delight.

Good luck with your research!