I have been wandering around on this site for many months now while I make my decision to get braces. I must say, this is a great site and extremely helpful while my family is sick of me obsessing about my teeth. It is nice to know there are others out there going through the same emotions as myself.
My teeth are not that bad so people don't really understand why I am doing this. I never had braces as a teenager and I am currently 34. Where I grew up parents did not really focus on dental care. One day I realized there was no reason I could not have braces and get the beautiful smile that I deserve. This is a huge step for me and I am really nervous!!! My husband said he is not a huge fan of the braces but will support me, I think that is supportive??? Right? I just don't want to be 50 and thinking "I should have done it at 34." I stay home with my two young children and am in a pretty stable place in my life. Now is the perfect time to do this and I don't want to loose my opportunity.
Now after one year of thinking about braces and five ortho consults later I have decided to jump in! Yippee!!! I was told by 2 orthos that I needed surgical expansion for my overbite, class II and crossbite on the left. Two other orthos thought my palate looked narrower than it is due to my crossbite and could expand my palate without surgery. The fifth ortho was just a little nutty. Hopefully they can expand my palate without surgery.
In addition, due to my crossbite on the left, my face is slightly asymmetrical, something that should have been addressed as a teenager. My jaw bone formed a little longer on that side. Unfortunatley, this is now my bone structure and as as I get older it seems to be more apparent. I am told, without braces it will become more pronounced. Once again, my face is not super crooked, but I would like to stop it from getting worse.
So I am going to attempt a before photo and keep a log of my progress, wish me luck!!! Thanks for all the support and letting me know I am not crazy!
I am still figuring out how to post photos, sorry these are so big! Any advice? I used photo bucket and resized them to thumbnail?
Jamms Pre Braces Pics
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Jamms Pre Braces Pics
Last edited by Jamms on Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:34 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Thanks for the pic advise and support. I am using the same ortho my 15 yr old neice used in Encino. He has a good reputation and is much less expensive than some of the others. He uses the self ligating brackets therefore those are the ones I am getting, half metal, half clear. He seems to understand my situation realistically and feels surgery is way too radical for opening up my palate. My regular dentist feels the same way which made me very happy. I trust my regular dentists opinion. In addition my dentist has a few employees who used the same ortho for thier adult braces.
I will be back with more pics once I get braced! I am so excited and scared at the same time. Feb. 28th seems so far away right now.
Keep you posted,
Jammie
I will be back with more pics once I get braced! I am so excited and scared at the same time. Feb. 28th seems so far away right now.
Keep you posted,
Jammie