Taking the plunge 4/22!

[leannaaker]

I am 36 years old....crowded teeth and overjet forever. Parents weren't into dental care, and I have a huge dental phobia. Managed to get to the dentist every 6 months for several years, and am now taking the plunge!

I insisted on Invisalign when I first contacted the ortho, and then started worrying about many things..eventually decided on the 1/2 clear Damon brackets.

My ortho suggested jaw surgery. For a number of reasons, this isn't an option for me, and yes, I know the ramifications of that. :-) They say they can easily correct my crowding without the surgery, but it wasn't her first choice.

I teach 9th graders, so I'm not too worried about appearances (more than half of them have braces....).

My only worry right now is that my ortho says she "won't address my overjet" (Extractions are not an option due to my profile). I'm assuming this means that it won't be completely fixed, but surely it will be lessened some? I have a pretty large overjet. Haven't measured, but I can stick my pinky finger inbetween my top and bottom teeth with my mouth closed.

An orthodontist doesn't mean they *ignore* a problem, right? Only that they can't obtain optimal finish?

Thanks folks. I'm excited to begin this journey.

[catgyrl]

Hi leann-

I'm so proud of you that you decided to "take the plunge". I have a feeling that your ortho won't completely ignore the overjet, but that she probably can't obtain optimal finish. My overjet is pretty significant, too. I can cover almost the whole pinky nail if I stick it up between my top and bottom gap (see my blog for photos). I do have to have an extraction, and then they're gonna go to work closing everything up and moving my teeth back. I can't even imagine how this is going to progress.

You might want to clarify with your ortho what she meant by "not addressing" it. If you're like me, and get tongue-tied when you're in there, write down all your questions. That's what I had to do. I also called them incessantly for over a week, until even I got sick of hearing myself. haha

Welcome, and we look forward to sharing your journey with you!

-Cathy

[leannaaker]

Thanks Cathy! My overjet is as large as yours if not larger, and no extractions for me. I'm hoping for the best!

Thanks for your welcomes. I've waited entirely too long to do this.

[Sunny]

Hi and welcome!

I replied to your identical post in another thread.

Good luck with getting a clearer understanding of what your ortho can/cannot do, due to your decision not to have surgery or extractions!

[leannaaker]

Really frustrated. Here is her e-mail, which answers nothing:

As I mentioned on your consult, sometimes we have bite issues that are solely teeth-related, sometimes it is jaw-related and sometimes it is a combination of both. In your particular case, your top teeth are ahead of the bottom (leaving you an overjet) because your whole bottom jaw is set back in relation to the upper. And when problems are jaw-related, I cannot give you the ideal correction with braces alone.

Elastics and flaring of the teeth are an option to correct the bite when its etiology is on tooth positioning or when the jaw discrepancy is really minimal, which unfortunately is not your case. So when I say your overjet will not be addressed I just need to make sure you fully understand what the compromises will be if we don't go for the ideal surgical option. My goal is to make sure that your teeth are healthy at the end of treatment and that the crowding, which is your concern, will be corrected.

[leannaaker]

I have a huge dental phobia, gag reflex. What got me into this ortho (recommended by my dentist) is that they don't do impressions (I have to be sedated for them.

So now, if I want to go get 2nd and 3rd opinions, I have to be sedated for the impressions. Will any regular ortho office forgo the impressions if asked to?

Ugh ugh ugh.

[mikeg]

Interesting.. the impressions aren't that bad, but I can understand a possible gag reflex...

I'd be a bit worried about the ortho's that don't do impressions though.. although it all depends on yoru teeth... An ortho can look at your teeth/bite and know exactly what needs to be done.

The molds that are done are used to show the patient what needs to be done also...

I'm sure you can find an ortho that will understand your situation though and possibly treat you without them.

[leannaaker]

Hi Mike,

I had to have conscious sedation at the dentist to have an impression for a bite guard (and even then, I gagged it out several times and teared up twice). I have conscious sedation for any kind of filling, and nitrous for cleanings. My dentist says I have one of the worst gag reflexes he has seen.

It is really bad. It is the reason I opted not to do Invisalign...

I hope you're right about finding an ortho that would work with me.

I *have* to be sedated for impressions.

[Sunny]

Leannaaker I think your ortho has answered your questions clearer ... due to your case being due to your skelaton developing incorrectly it will not be possible to correct your overjet ... which is correct if it's not a dental issue. Without surgery, orthodontics has to work with dental issues.

Good luck with having more consults, but make sure you ask many questions of people who give different opinions to your first, to make sure you don't just accept the first person who says what you want to hear ... and then end up disappointed,

I do hope that you can find an ortho who may have some ideas of how to do some disgusing of your overjet. Good luck!

[leannaaker]

Thanks Sunny. I am getting a 2nd consult next week. I really want the best possible outcome without surgery and I am hopeful I can find someone who can work to disguise my overjet some.

[leannaaker]

2nd consult was a total nightmare.

Yes, surgery was recommended as my first choice. Other than this, they say my overjet will get larger, I will need a gum graft before they will treat me, more money, more impressions, and a night guard that looks gagalicious when I'm done.

I am going ahead with my brace date on 4/22 and hoping for the best. Time to put this behind me and get excited about the process.

[Sunny]

Good luck leannaaker!

Are you sure you shouldn't be having more consults, before commiting to be treated by a person who says there's no way to help with your overjet?

Please ask your ortho if he agrees that your overjet will continue to get larger? If the answer is yes, ask about how this will affect the future of your jaw joints? I was a school teacher for 15 years and my bite caused problems for my jaw joints ... and the work that teaching requires, made things far worse.

Good luck with your appointment!

[leannaaker]

Thanks Sunny. I will ask the original ortho about my overjet again.

I can't stomach more consults. Seriously, I broke down in tears twice today. I have a long history of dental phobia, and this appt., in particular, just about sent me over the edge.

I need to get started. I figure, anything I do will be an improvement. Worst case scenario, I finish, and am unhappy with my overjet. Then I can: get extractions or do surgery. At this point, I'm desperate to get moving forward and feel positive.

I'm in a real low point right now. :-(

[Sunny]

The consults can be tough and with you having a phobia, I suspect it's even worse. What you may need to do is to take a break ... then get someone to go with you to these appointments and help you with the questions and support you. It's very important that you don't commit to a treatment that isn't what you really want. You're going to be giving a lot of money, a lot of your time and energy to your treatment ... You need to be confident that you're getting the best that is possible. The result of not doing this is usually a very sad consumer, as a result of purchasing the wrong product. This type of consumer can end up feeling let-down, negative and depressed ... when really it was their choice to begin with, but usually they find it very difficult to accept that they're to blame.

Please take good care of youself ... and please don't feel the need to rush. You really don't need to get started and 'anything will be an improvement' is far from the truth. If you do extractions at the end ... your treatment has to begin again and the money and time you'd have invested would be wasted. If you think this is an option ... the extractions ... then do as the ortho recommends.

I agree you do need to move forward and feel positive ... but at this time it would sound like you need to do this first ... then get your teeth treated when you're feeling right about the treatment.

Good luck with whatever you decided to do!

[leannaaker]

I know what you're saying, but at this point, the benefit of getting more consults is not much for me.

Pros of going with current treatment:
no impressions
crowding fixed
narrow arch fixed
teeth easier to clean

Cons of going with current treatment:
overjet not addressed (don't know how I will feel about the overjet with the crowding and narrow arch fixed)
back teeth bit not addressed (don't care about this at present)
profile not addressed (don't care about this either

I'm going to hope for the best, go with no extractions with the thought that I can always get them later. I know this means longer (start over), but at this point, this is what I want to do. It is sounding like a pretty consistent thing that overjet won't be addressed at all without surgery.

[leannaaker]

Tomorrow's the big day! I'm making a big pot of soup tonight and going to take an advil before I go tomorrow. Will post pics tomorrow too. :-)

[catgyrl]

Tomorrow's the big day! I'm making a big pot of soup tonight and going to take an advil before I go tomorrow. Will post pics tomorrow too. :-)

I am so excited for you, leanna! It's well worth it... even when it feels like it isn't. Good call on the soup - I hope it doesn't have a lot of "things" in it that could get stuck in the braces. The first couple of days you'll probably want to concentrate on the new "full mouth" feeling and the tenderness, rather than scavenging for brackets full of veggies. I can't wait to see your pics. Have you practiced taking them? Remember, use the "macro" (flower icon) setting on your camera, if it has one. It enables the camera to take super close-up pics without blurring.

What kind of braces are you getting? Not that it matters - just curious/nosy.

[Phantom Muse]

Good luck tomorrow, leanna! I'll look for your pictures then!

[leannaaker]

I'm getting the Damon half clear brackets (I think they're the "3?")

I have a Waterpik so I'm ready to go scavenging.

My 9th graders were cute today (I teach 9th grade science). I told them why I wouldn't be in class tomorrow, and they all gave me their "advice" about what to eat, not to eat, and how much pain they thought I would be in. One girl said "tonight is your Last Supper. Eat corn on the cob and caramel apples like crazy!"

[Sunny]

Good luck ... here's to this being a good day for you!

[Phantom Muse]

Sweet students, leanna! My daughter (now in retainers) is the same age as your students and she has been my greatest support throughout this process!

Good luck tomorrow!

[lauralea]

Good luck and congrats with going ahead with everything,
I myself have a dental phobia, quite mild as compared to you it seeme. However I am personaly trying to work on this issue myself as well.

[leannaaker]

Thanks for the support, you guys!

Lauralea, I understand. Dental phobia is irrational, but it is there! Power to you for overcoming it get the braces.

[catgyrl]

Irrational or not... a fear is a fear. I have it, too. You'll be just fine tomorrow. What helped me (and may or may not help you) is to watch a couple of YouTube videos of people getting their braces. It helped me to know what to expect, and hey... if a 10-year-old kid can do this, I can do it!

Make sure you get some good sleep tonight, eat a good breakfast, and take your Advil (more than one, if needed. I took 4.) Then when you get home you can put on your prettiest lip gloss and take all those pics. (Or, maybe you want your lips to look as bad as possible - that way, the "after" pics will look even better! haha)

We'll all be there with you in spirit.

[leannaaker]

Here are some pics! Now you can see what I mean by "anything will be an improvement." I'm almost embarassed to post these, even after looking at all of the before pics here! You can see my top incisors have had cosmetic work done on them to camouflage crookedness. Those will be reshaped after, I'm sure. Can you imagine flossing this mess for 36 years?

[catgyrl]

HAPPY B-DAY, LEANNA!!

Thanks for posting these pics, leanna! Trust me, people on these boards don't look at teeth the same way as other (non-braced) people do. We're all in the same boat, and are not here to judge, but to be supportive. I don't know what I'd do without all my new friends here. And I can only speak for myself, but I'm rather fascinated with teeth now, and am always looking at people's bites, arches, etc.

Your front view looks nothing like the one with your head tilted backward, (just like mine!), so I guess we should be happy we don't walk around all day like that.

I have a feeling that once you start seeing improvements... ANY improvements... you'll be much more at ease. Strangely, even though I got these to correct my 6mm overjet... over the past couple of days all I can stare at is one or two teeth on the bottom that used to be a little crooked and pushed inwards, that seem to have straightened out and moved outward. The day I see the two brackets in bottom front move farther apart, I'll be doing a happy dance. I don't expect to see anything happen up top until my tooth is pulled next weekend.

I hope everything went well today, and I can't wait to see the "after" pics.

[leannaaker]

Alright, uppers are on! They decided to wait for my really smushed back incisor to come forward before the lowers were on. They also switched me from Damons to the Inovation ones. All clear, nice!

She also took about 40 minutes with me beforehand to go over all of the questions about my overjet. I felt a lot more at ease before I started. She told me by about month 6, I would have a good idea if the overjet with straight teeth would be acceptable, and that I could decide then about extractions (or even later, IPR, etc.)

She did say she would do what she could about my overjet, so that is good, though she said it won't be much.

I'm SUPER excited to finally be starting. I'm also realizing how yucky that one front tooth looks. I need to get it shaped back to normal and get the staining off of it. Yucko!

Here they are..TADA!

[Brace Face]

Wow....they look really good, super discreet and your teeth are so clean! Those will straighten up in no time. Good luck.

[Phantom Muse]

You look great! The clear really are nice. You'll see progress in no time, and that will be the push you need to keep going! Congrats on getting started, and good luck!

[catgyrl]

Yay!!!

So pretty and clean-looking!! I'm so proud of you. And I am SO pleased to hear that your doc sat you down for a lengthy discussion about what you can expect, and what she'll attempt to do. That must've been a huge weight off your shoulders. I've discovered that some docs aren't people of many words, and she may be like that (like mine is). Maybe it's the nature of their work, because they have to adhere to strict schedules to be able to attend to all their patients. I've found that mine is always willing to answer my questions... when I ask them. He even measured my overjet for you in the middle of doing my molar bands.

Maybe it's good that you only got the top ones done now; you'll have time to get used to them before getting the lowers and will know what to expect.

Possible dumb question alert: How will the "smushed back incisor" come forward without having braces attached?

Congrats again!! You did great!

[leannaaker]

Thanks!

The "smushed back incisor" is on the top (the one with braces). Maybe I should have said "set back" incisor.

I ate some broccolli cheese soup for lunch. Lots of little pieces stuck in the braces. But I will tell you one thing, that Waterpik is already worth its weight in gold. I used that thing for about 3 minutes and EVERYTHING came out. YAY!

[Sunny]

Looking great Leanne!

Wow your teeth are such a lovely shade ... looks like your dental hygiene has been excellent.

Good luck with your alignment improving and you loving your new look!

[leannaaker]

I'm crazy about my oral hygiene. My enamel is soft, so I use an Oral B, religiously floss every day, and use prescription fluoride toothpaste, and the Dr. Collins' restore toothpaste with Novamin.

...and yes, my dental hygienist is great and I go every 6 months!

[Sunny]

It definitely shows with your teeth Leanne ... that's great!

I also have soft enamel, but mines damaged due to me not knowing about the need to use a small soft toothbrush and to brush very gently. I've much better hygiene habits now ... but much of the damage I'd done is permanent.

[Candymomof3]

Congrats Congrats!!!! So excited for you! You will be so glad you did this....this reminds me of me in the beginning...when I saw my wires start to form a straight line, I knew I was on my way!!! When I started, mine were up down, here and there, and now...my wires are straight all the way across...take lots of pics along the way.
Because my uppers were crowded and my canines were up high...they pulled them down and this caused my teeth to move out and gave me an awful "horsey" look for a couple of months, but this was addressed last June when I started on elastics! they worked really great..I have before bands and after pics on my blog somewhere. The ortho took an xray after 2 months of wearing bands and the difference was HUGE..he was amazed that they worked so well for me. I still wear elastics, but only at night and my teeth have been brought back very well...no need for surgery....and I am SO SO SO happy about that!
Hang in there and enjoy all the changes that will occur, usually early on...It's amazing how fast things shift around!!! I'm at that stage where there are not much visual changes, but I still glance in mirrors and think woweeeee....after 20 years of WANTING to smile BIG...I finally can and not hate the way I look!
It's huge! Enjoy the ride!

[leannaaker]

I've actually seen your elastics pictures...they're amazing! I wish I was "eligible"...but it seems most of my overjet is skeletal, so they don't even want to try elastics on me. They are going to disguise my overjet some by tipping my bottom incisors forward, and *perhaps* IPR if I'm not happy with end results.

I'm still excited though! Straighten those puppies out!

Today the pain is less and my students (9th graders) were great today. They all would run in each period and say "lemme see 'em!!!!" They all said, "wow, I can't even tell you have them on," or "Those look great!" This was of course nice to hear. They all asked what I ate last night, etc. Nice to work with other folks who understand ALL about braces.

[leannaaker]

Seriously, as I move into day 3, I'm wondering why I waited so long to do this. How silly!

[catgyrl]

Seriously, as I move into day 3, I'm wondering why I waited so long to do this. How silly!

I second that! Yes, I have to think a little more about what and how I eat something, and spend a bit more time on my hygeine (which, frankly, was pretty awful anyway, so this probably saved my teeth!) I'm really glad you're having an easier-than-anticipated time of things.

Have a great weekend, and don't shy away from the sushi. Just drink a lot of water and swish it around. It'll get you through until you can get home and brush.

[leannaaker]

So check this out from April 22nd to June 7th. WOW!

[Phantom Muse]

WOW is right! Congratulations on such great progress!

[Sunny]

Fantastic!

Alignment is such an exciting time for people with teeth that are mostly crooked!

Keep with the great atttitude!