Braces at 48

[Geoff]

Greetings all

I'm 48, male and just this Monday had 3 of 6 bands put on my upper molars and spacers to make room for the remaining 3, and glue-on brackets for the rest, no wire yet and nothing on the bottom for now. I had two bicuspids removed yesterday, one on the top and one on the bottom.

When I was about 18, I had a top front tooth that was behind the other front teeth and a bottom canine that was sticking out in front. My dentist pulled those offending teeth, at the time I was just glad to get rid of them as there was no orthodontics in the foreseeable future. As It turns out, in the grand scheme of things, he "shouldn't" have pulled those particular teeth.

At present the plan is to move the front teeth to the right, the bottoms to the left, straighten crooked/crowded teeth, and close the gaps created from the extracted teeth.

I have to say, I'm going through a lot of the "what the hell was I thinking" right now, second guessing myself and worrying about things to come. I am hopeful that I my imagination doesn't reflect reality...

At any rate, this seems to be a good site and I will go over it more when I can to gain whatever insight I can.

Regards,

Geoff

[Sunny]

Hi Geoff

Great that your treatment is starting and here's to it going smoothly.

Make sure you drink plenty of water to keep your body well hydrated and use plenty of wax if any brackets rub, as this way your mouth will toughen without sores.

I started my treatment when I was 47 ... a good age, as no one takes any notice of my mouth as all my family and friends have busy lives!

Take good care of your mouth!

[Brace Face]

Hi Geoff

Well done for getting started. I got braces at 39 and my story is similar to yours in that I had teeth removed that shouldn't have been and now they all need sorting out to avoid potential problems in the future. It does all feel a bit overwhelming to start with especially if you are in pain too. I often think that if I had known the full extent of what was involved at the beginning then I never would have started. That said, I am VERY glad I didn't as I can already see results and that's exciting. You will hear it a thousand times but it really does get better and you do learn to tolerate it all. I find, when i'm feeling a bit disbondent, that looking at a photograph of myself with bonkers teeth encourages me again. Maybe try it! Good luck.