Braces at 33, with canine substitution (missing lateral incisors)

[swisscat]

Hi everyone! I am 33, and I had braces put on three weeks ago.

Here is my story. If someone has a similar situation as mine (anodontia / missing lateral incisors), I would love to discuss it!

So my lateral incisors are missing (never had them) and I always had this weird smile because of it. I also have a deep bite and cross bite problems. My parents took me to an orthodontist when I was around 12, and he said I needed braces and then implants. It was too expensive so my parents did not follow through, but some time later I had one lower central incisor removed because of crowding problem. I also had my wisdom teeth removed for the same reason.

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As an adult, I have always hated my smile, I always smile with closed lips. I went to an orthodontist two years ago but I did not feel confortable with the plan and it was much more expensive than I expected (something like 15k for lingual braces). I kept thinking that I should just live with my teeth, they are not that bad and think of everything I can buy with that money! And then this winter I went to a work event and someone took pictures without my knowledge. When I saw them, I felt so ashamed of my teeth, and I decided that I had had enough. I want good-looking teeth, or at least acceptable looking ones!

So I found an orthodontist who is used to put braces on adults. He was very nice and explained everything about my teeth and what could be done, but mostly he warned me not to expect too much. That I would not get a "perfect" smile, that it would be unconfortable for two years, etc. He told me that many adults expect too much and are not ready for the pain and disconfort. I actually liked his honesty and the time he took to explain everything, so I decided to go with it. He quoted me 10k, less if I go with the metal braces, which I ended up doing (I don't like the look of the ceramic ones).

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The plan is to reshape my canine as front incisors (canine substitution), no implants. I had the top braces put on three weeks ago, and I had no problem at all. There was no pain or disconfort, I only used wax for the first week or so. I can eat everything without problem. I worry that my teeth are not moving at all, because there should be pain, right? Oh well. I will have the bottom braces put on next week, and a lingual arch. I guess it will probably be less confortable then!

To be continued...

[swisscat]

I found the picture that made me decide to get braces. Ugh...

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[littlething]

Hi and welcome! Good for you for taking the plunge! I just got braced 2 weeks ago, and I still struggle with the thought of spending so much money on it, but I know it is and investment in myself will be worth it in the end.

I'm also doing canine substitution on top on one side...for me, it's not because I have a missing lateral incisor, but because one of them is so broken down that it needs to be extracted and my teeth were so crowded that it made sense to just fix the crowding as a whole instead of trying to cram an implant in there. My orthodontist (and dentist) also warned me that it wasn't going to be a perfect result, but considering I've hated my teeth all my life, I'm not going for perfect - just good enough! I wasn't sure how the reshaping would turn out and thought it might end up looking weird, but my orthodontist started reshaping the canine a bit before the brackets went on, and it actually looks pretty good (and he's not done working on it yet). He also showed me some before & afters of cases in which he's done canine substitution, mostly people who were missing their laterals like you, and they all looked REALLY good!

As for the discomfort, some people experience much less than others - so you are probably one of the lucky ones!

Good luck and keep us updated!

[buffon85]

do not worry! the pain is not the same for everyone! your teeth do not have a choice, they will move sooner or later!
congratulations for doing it! for me it is worth the money, the pain, the wait! it is our smile, it is the first impression we give, we should be happy with it and not hide it!
enjoy your journey, you have nice shaped, white teeth, i believe you will have a very nice result!
keep us updated, i am sure i have seen case like yours in the forum, but it is still very interesting!

[onwardsandupwards]

Welcome to the club swisscat and best of luck on your new exciting braces journey

Really great that you feel confident and comfortable with your orthodontist - that is so vital in making the whole experience much more enjoyable and anxiety free!
As buffon85 says, don't worry about the lack of pain, everybody has a completely individual reaction to braces and some don't experience any/much pain at all so you might be one of the lucky few! It may sneak up on you when you're least expecting it so make sure to be prepared with plenty of wax and soft foods

I look forward to seeing your progress!

[swisscat]

Thank you very much for the support! It helps so much to read the stories of everyone here and the kind comments. So I got my lower braces yesterday. And bite turbos, those incredibly ennoying things that make eating, talking and sleeping a new challenge. Oh well... at least I did not get the lingual arch yet, the ortho said that the bite turbos would be bad enough for now.

My teeth hurt much more than with the upper braces, mostly because one tooth has been moving already. I took pictures yesterday evening, but that one tooth that is so out of alignement had already moved a little since the morning. Today it is even closer to its final position. It's incredible and very exciting. On the other hand, this tooth is my only point of contact with the bite turbos when I close my mouth, so for now is is very painful. And sleeping was impossible until I stuck a large piece of wax (like wax for ear plugs) on top of the bite turbos, to soften the pain when I was sleeping with my jaw closed (I clench it in my sleep). That worked great!

The most ennoying thing right now is that my speech is affected. I talk to a lot of people at work, so I have to act confident while speaking exactly like I just had a tongue piercing. I try to avoid words containing the sound "S" but it's not easy I hope that it will be less problematic over time, but even if it is not, I will live with it, because... my face has changed! I was amazed when I looked at myself in the mirror. The position of my jaw with the bite turbos is close to the position it will be at the end, more or less, when I no longer have a deep bite and a cross bite. I always hated my face, it is broad and not symetrical. I thought nothing short of surgery could ever change it. And now my face looks longer, slimmer and a lot more symetrical! I could not believe it. I very much hope that the final result will look like this because it is such an improvement. So even though I talk funny and I don't like the look of my mouth with all that metal in it, I look at my face in the mirror to cheer myself up. This is a hard journey, but it is so exciting to be doing something for myself at last!

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[Embarrasedbygaps]

Hello I'm having my canines morphed into incisors too, I did have incisors but they were 'peg' shaped and I had a fair bit of crowding so would have had to have teeth out anyway so my orthodontist decided to just remove the pegs and reshape my canines. I've never liked my teeth and finally took the plunge at age 30.
I'd love to know how you're both going? I'm almost at my second adjustment and am seeing a lot of movement so far with almost no pain!

[feingfreaky]

Hi I'm also starting simular thing. jst had one peg lateral incisor removed and lower insisor and feel like a freak...cannot wait to get my brace fitted on Tuesday....feel like hiding away until these gaps have closed.. such a scary process...and I'm 34 so better late than never hey... how long do gaps take on average to start closing? x

[swisscat]

I can't believe it has been so long and I never posted any updates. Life has been a little crazy, and my braces have become so normal that I don't think about them much anymore. Next month, it will be one year since I got my braces... and I will probably have them until June or July.

So far I am very happy with the result!

Teeth are not straight but my smile look much more like a real smile now! I smile all the time

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You can see that the gaps are not fully closed yet on one side.

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[Shelleyt]

Wow! What great results so far! That's awesome

[Embarrasedbygaps]

Your teeth look great!

[swisscat]

Some news at last! Things have been moving veeeeery sloooowly... and then it was time to get my teeth reshaped!

It was decided that my orthodontist would remove four brackets, then I would go to a dentist (who is very famous and a specialist in using composit to reshape the teeth), and then the brackets would come back on. So this will allow for some last changes, if the dentist or the orthodontist are not totally happy with the result...

So here are my teeth a week ago, no reshaping yet but the spaces between the teeth are nicely closed:

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After the reshaping, the brackets are not yet back on.

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And with the brackets again! I am very happy with the result.

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[Yingl]

Hi guys! I am also 33 and wearing braces with the intent to substitute laterals with canines! I am wearing a Damon appliance and just got powerchains in the top! Holy crap they hurt! Hoping for the best...I’m glad I’m not alone in this

[damoz]

opposite here.. having the space opened up wider to make room for some sort of fake lateral incisors since the gaps are already about half a tooth size.. interesting to see the canine substitutions though

[swisscat]

It is interesting to see both solutions, opening the space to make room for fake teeth, or canine substitution... In my case, the second choice was the best, according to my dentist, so I had to trust him

I am quite happy with this choice, I thought that the canine substitution would never look natural, but I like the results so far.