My parents took me to see an ortho when I was in high school (16 maybe?) for my overcrowded teeth. I was not embarrassed about my smile, and the only reason the ortho could give for getting braces done is, "People with straight teeth do better at job interviews." No joke. My parents were only interested in getting me a consultation because I was nearing the age where the insurance would no longer pay for it. Since there didn't seem to be any reason to get braces beyond cosmetics, we decided not to do them.
I started gradschool in 2011, and I fully believe the stress is what caused me to start grinding my teeth. Never had a problem before then.
In 2014, I was rear ended at a full stop by a moving truck going 80 mph. I have since then suffered from 24/7 headaches. My neurologist has concluded that these headaches are muscular and stem from the muscles around my head seizing up during the car accident to try to keep my head in place from the whiplash. I'm on daily medication for these headaches, and the hope is that the muscles around my head will eventually relax. Since they haven't, my neurologist suspects that my nightly teeth grinding may be agitating the muscles.
I've spoke with my dentist about the situation and he referred me to the ortho I'm seeing. Ortho has assured me that properly aligned teeth can't grind. He's also treated cases like mine, and for a majority of them braces do improve their symptoms. The small number who aren't helped by braces are actually clenching their teeth, not grinding. I'm pretty confident that I'm grinding given the marks on my night guard and how my teeth feel on nights I forget to wear it.
So, now I'm getting braces. I'm a little miffed that insurance would have paid for it in high school when I had no reason to get them besides cosmetics but won't pay for them now that I have an actual medical reason, but I digress. Looking back, I still don't think I would have gotten braces before. I'm much better about my dental hygiene now. And I'm in a much better mindset where I actually want braces. Back then, I think I would have been really miserable about the whole thing. And now I'm actually excited about the idea of having straighter teeth. I'll be turning 29 in July, btw.
My sentence is 18 months and ortho doesn't think he'll have to remove any teeth but says he'll need to reevaluate as treatment goes. I'm really surprised about the whole thing because I've seen pictures on here of people with longer treatment times and less crowded teeth than mine. I guess we'll see. I also have a skeletal related underbite. No plans to fix that surgically.
Here's to a future of this
and less of this 
.I'll post pics once I get past the new member status.
). I was so scared during my first night with upper + lower braces - I was sure I would break all my teeth and the brackets.
Yes, I had the lip issue too, even with just an upper brace. I got them on the Friday and by the Wednesday, I was fine.
