Doug's Journey

[Dougsey]

Hi Everyone!
Well, here goes! I've decided to get braces with my son and make the trip as a team.
I'm 52 and here's a pic of the disgusting smile I've lived with all these years. What do you think? Pretty bad, huh? This is an anonymous site, right? LOL!

I feel really self-conscious about braces but heck, can they be any worse than the teeth I have now? I'm really counting on all of you for support throughout this journey.
I have a spacers and molds appointment on 8/21 and braced on 9/2. I hope I don't chicken out.

[pjade1]

Good luck with the braces. I never thought at 52 I would be getting braces either because my teeth aren't that crooked but I got them because of my bad bite. My dentist kept suggesting braces so I finally did. I think it will be worth it in the long run. I am surprised at how many people don't blink an eye that I have them. I think you will be happy when all is said and done.

[lainii]

Good luck!

[dantocanada]

I'm a 40 year old professional consultant, and 60-70% of my job involves speaking. I was incredibly worried at first. The irony is that because I have all ceramic, and they are on the bottom teeth only for now (January I get them on top), nobody even notices them. And if I mention them, the conversation lasts perhaps for 30 seconds, and usually involves a comment about the fact that a lot of adults seem to be getting braces now a days, or they commiserate because they had them at one time. Absolutely nobody cares. It's like someone said on this site, it's like wearing glasses now.

[Dougsey]

Thanks pjade, lainii and dan!

Progress update:
Day 6 with spacers. No big deal... I've had some very mild tenderness but mostly feels like junk stuck in my teeth.
I had one of the spacer rubberbands come partially out when I had some Moosetracks icecream on Saturday. I was able to put in back in place using a couple pieces of dental floss to stretch it out.

[Dougsey]

Update:
Didn't chicken out and got braced today. I'm so happy to finally get the show on the road! The installation was really pretty easy. The only one glitch was that 3 molar bands went on fine, but the 4th one (bottom arch), which is on a crown... the spacers didn't make enough room for the molar band so spacers went back in on either side of that tooth and we'll try again at next appt. The bottom arch wire is still installed and ortho said it would be working on straightening that bottom arch.

[Dougsey]

1 month update:
Got the last molar band put on the tooth with the crown on lower arch (the spacers didn't make enough room to install on first appt) and got the lower archwire changed to the next size. No change on the upper archwire... not enough movement so another month with the same wire. I see a lot of change on the lower arch but none on the upper.

Doug

[Juicy2003]

Great progress already.

[TheKT]

Good progress Doug! I am 52 also and understand your reservations but am glad I did it. I am 9.5 months in and have a great deal of progress. You will get used to them over time although it never gets "great" - you will always long to have the treatment complete. With that said, it does get easier...

[Dougsey]

Hi All, I had my 2nd tune up this past week. New wires top and bottom so this is 2nd top wire and 3rd bottom.

Some good progress on the top over the last month... it's strange how they hardly moved the first month but moved a lot the second. A small black triangle has developed
now that the incisors have straightened out a bit but it's not that noticeable from a distance.

Ortho thinks we can start on closing the extraction gaps next month. That must mean the dreaded rubber bands? You can see I have a bit of an overjet so I think the plan is to pull all 6 front teeth back.

Hope you're all doing well!

Doug

[TheProfessor]

Looking good!

[tammyd2]

Wow you've had p,entry of movement! Congrats! Looks good.
Tomorrow I hit the 3 week mark and I have seen quite a bit of movement but when I compare pics, it doesn't look like much has happened which is strange. I can actually feet certain teeth are in different positions.

Good luck on your journey, keep the updates coming

[shredie79]

wow! I see so much progress! I would love to see these dramatic movements! Very nice!

[Dougsey]

Hi my metal mouth friends!

Had my 3rd tune up yesterday. Added a power chain on the top arch, elastics in class 2 configuration, new wires top and bottom and ortho did a
little IPR between the centrals to reduce the black triangle.

So we are now working on pulling the 6 front teeth back to close the extraction gaps shown in the pic above. Definitaly feeling a little tightness today but not painful.

The molar band on the crown I have has loosened up so I'll have to get it re-glued next week. It's slightly uncomfortable because the elastic pulls it up a bit. I
just push it back into position at meal time.

[mapleleafman888]

Insanely good progress Doug! I had those class 2's for 9 months, enjoy

HA! I love it, a tune up! lol