Expander! Extractions! Braces,hooray!

[Bracingfor33]

I will officially be getting my wires put on in exactly 1 month from today!! This isn't the beginning of my journey, I have been sportin' a sweet(not) palette expander for 36 days. This torture chamber of the mouth thing had me really down this past week. Not seeing results sucks. But my orthodontist is awesome and talked me off a ledge this afternoon.
So a little about me seems due. Im a 33 yr female who hasn't smiled in 20 years. Like, literally. Every photo of the most important, most special days of my life,have a lousy toothless grin. This has been especially hard because I am a happy person! I love to feel happy and I love to spread happy too. I just wanna smile!
I had a trauma when I was a child that, to make a long story short, jammed my top front teeth up into the gums. By the time they came down, the unaffected teeth had moved leaving no room for the front teeth. Unfortunately I had a drug addicted mother and an alcoholic father who didnt care enough to fix it. But I digress.
Originally my ortho plan was to wear a palette expander for 8 months and braces for two years. (This was decided after I said no to surgery. )One month in, and no change. So now I'm contemplating extractions of both top central incisors; which are not in the best shape anyways as one is grey from a root canal and the other is chipped. To me, this sounds amazing in theory, but I'm not sure I want to permanently remove 2/4 front teeth!!
So as I said, the braces go in in a month. I have 30 days to decide on the extractions or to stick with the original plan. I would love to hear about your braces stories and I will continue to post updates hefe if there is a lot of chatter here

[atrixa]

A month to go! It'll fly by. Mine are going on in a week, yikes.

I don't smile with my teeth in photos either. I also hate sitting talking to my hairdresser either because I really notice my teeth when I'm talking in the mirror. However, that should all change in 18 months time (or thereabouts!).

[Bracingfor33]

Yes! I especially hate when they're washing my hair! Or when someone is sitting and you're standing.
People really take for granted smiling, talking, and even eating. I can not wait to do the same lol! Good luck and keep me posted on your journey!!

[Grapefruit47]

Congrats on your journey to a perfect smile i started my journey 4 months ago and i still have my expander. The plan is to have it on for 6 months total which would mean 2 more months. But when i asked my orthodontist if it will be removed in 2 months he didnt answer my question. I am very pleased with my results from the expander. I will note that your results will highly depend on how often you are turning the expander. Theres a lot of youtube videos were you can see results from expander so id suggest you check them out. Ive seen some videos on there of people turning theirs about 30 times. I only turned mine a grand total of 18 times. I turned mine once a day for 2 non consecutive weeks. I didnt see much results my first month but after my 2nd month i started noticing gaps and 2 teeth that were previously pushed back came forward which made my smile look much better even without having braces.

I didnt get a bottom expander. I asked my ortho about this and he said that it wouldnt be necessary. That by shifting my top teeth my bite will readjust and my lower teeth will naturally conform to match my top teeth even if we did nothing. Im not 100% convinced but thats what he said. Tbh im glad i went the expander route versus extractions. I was told i had a narrow arch which i never noticed cuz i dont smile and that extractions would make my smile more narrow and my lips/face look sunken. But theres many stories on here of ppl having great results with extractions so do whatever you feel youd be most comfortable and satisfied with.

[Jeska0113]

Do not lose hope. i have had my expander for about6months now and don't notice anything either, but i know it takes time.my treatment time is also 2 yrs but6 months! getting front teeth removed? yikes ! Risky bet isn't it. Do your research on removing/if you want to keep your incisors.

[Bracingfor33]

Thanks for the responses! I actually have a slow expander, so no turning My results are non existent to this point, but I'm 2 months in and I don't want to stop now.
About the extractions.. apparently I was too late to edit my original post and it read central incisors. It should have read lateral.
I have done some research (who am I kidding, I'm obsessed) and see that my palate will be narrow, but I feel like atleast they'll be straight. Maybe I should just keep the expander in for the quoted time and see what the braces will do???
Is there a point during straightening that you wouldn't be able to have extractions? Like, where they couldn't move the teeth to close gaps? So many questions lol!!! It's nice to have this place; you're all better than any Google search

[Bracingfor33]

The braces are on! The braces are on!!! Twenty years....The pain is beautiful!!

[atrixa]

I'm so excited for you! What type of braces do you have?

[Bracingfor33]

Tbh, I don't know. little metal brackets with a ni-ti (?) wire.??
Thanks for sharing in my excitement! How's your journey going?

[atrixa]

Sounds like you maybe have damon? I have the traditional metal where the wire is held in place with coloured ligatures. My journey is going well! I'm seeing good movement- there are gaps opening and closing all over the shop and my teeth are aligning well enough. I can now eat almost normally.

[Bracingfor33]

I must have traditional too then, I have the rubber bands holding the wire on as well! I went with white this round. I figure when I feel confident enough to smile, I'll get some cool color.
I bet it's exciting to see movement! You weren't able to eat? I have some soreness, but nothing's stopping this woman from eating lol! Ibuprofen has helped me... I believe I must have a high pain threshold because I've seen several people complain of the pain being "unbearable".

[atrixa]

I also went for white! I might just get silver next time, though- I'm dying to eat curry and tomato based stuff. Yeah, eating was a nightmare at the start because my molars were too sensitive. It's great that you've not got too much pain! It seems to vary for everyone.

[Bracingfor33]

I had my two lateral incisors extracted today. Procedure was quick and easy!
I am curious to see how long it takes the gaps to close. I have a "v" arch so I am hoping those front teeth will straighten right into place fairly quickly.
Anyone else have extractions of incisors?? How long did it take for your gaps to close?? Are you please with the results?

[Bracingfor33]

Updating post
I had my ortho remove my expander a couple weeks ago. A, because I could no longer stand the horrific speech deficits and B, it wasn't working. The orthodontist agreed that it wasn't going as planned, but he wanted to keep it in as an anchor. An anchor?! I knew there had to be another way to anchor. So he finally caved after a few shed tears on my part. ( Don't judge me ) He then tied my last 3 teeth on each side together to work against my high canine. He says he was worried my front teeth would migrate upward if left alone.
Since getting the braces put on I have noticed a marked change. I have developed a small gap between my central incisors and they are flattening out nicely. The only problem I am having is that my brackets keep de-bonding. 1St time there were 3 on the right and one on the left. This round the last bracket on the right popped off literally 2 hrs after being put on. I don't know if this is normal or what but I almost feel like I've been getting sub-par care ever since I had him remove the expander before he was ready to. Am I paranoid?
Having braces, for me, is a love hate relationship. I love the changes I'm seeing, I hate the food sticking and the rips in my cheeks. All in all, worth it!!!

[atrixa]

I've never had a bracket pop off (touch wood, lol) either this round with braces or last time. A lot of people with braces I watch on Youtube report brackets popping off all the time though. Sometimes it's because they're eating hard or crunchy food and other times it's because it wasn't bonded properly, by the looks of things.