Metal Mouth Message Board

Congratulations! You must be so excited!!

I'm 51 and have had my braces for 4 months (this is my second time, I also had them as a teen). I am SOOOOO happy to be braced again, because I know my teeth are going to look great, even as the rest of me slowly falls apart.

Hi, Whitney -
sounds like you have a lot ahead of you, and I'm certain that at several points along the way you will wonder why you're going through all this, but just keep thinking about the end goal: proper breathing, and beautiful smile! It will all be worth it in the end.

The first time you brush in public may feel weird, but you'll get used to it right away. Better to be self-conscious while you're brushing your teeth than to be worried that you have food caught in your braces.

absolutely get a second opinion. Another ortho may be able to accomplish the same goal without extracting a perfectly healthy tooth. If not, you know you're doing the right thing with the extraction.

Yesterday was my second adjustment (I go every 8 weeks). My rogue bottom tooth (central incisor, I think) was finally hooked up to the wire at 3:30 in the afternoon. By last night it was evident the tooth had moved and today, 20 hours after being wired, it's almost into it's proper place!!! I still ...

I would never choose to lose a healthy tooth if I could avoid it. When I was looking for an ortho the first one wanted to extract a perfectly healthly lower front tooth - the one right next to the right midline tooth. That would mean my canine (insisor if it's on the bottom??) would have shifted ove...

Mary, I'm with you. I gush about my braces when someone notices them, they must think I'm so strange. Then I make them look as I point out all the positive changes in my teeth since I got them on. Again, they must thing I'm so strange. But I really am very proud of myself for going through braces (f...

The term "deli slicer" is dead on target. When I first got the coil on 4 weeks ago, I thought this would be a breeze. But as it opens - yikes!! The wider it opens the sharper it gets. It is working its magic, though, and opening a space for my rogue bottom tooth where but a few months ago ...

ditto on the Peroxyl.

I had to look twice at your photos to even see the rogue tooth. It's nicely hidden by the wire. If you have a bracket on it, it might be more noticeable. If it were me I might wait until after the wedding to get the rogue tooth bracketed.

Wow - I just googled Sarpe surgery and TADs and now I really feel bad for you. Compared to what you've just been through, having braces will be a breeze.

Ellen

I don't know what sarpe surgery or a TAD is, I just have plain old braces, but I feel so bad for you. The only advice I can give is to not give up. Almost as soon as you get the braces on you'll see improvement in your teeth and it will make the experience worth it. None of us are in braces because ...

Hi, Margie - I know just what you mean about the worrying about the brown spots. One of the brown spots was on the left edge of the lower right middle tooth, the one that had been overlapped by the lower left middle tooth. I was so afraid that it was some sort of enamel erosion caused by the overlap...

My ortho gave me a Sonic toothbrush the day she put my braces on. I love it. Fortunately, mine was "free" (she probably tacked on the price to the braces) but you're investing a ton of money anyway into your teeth, you might as well get a great tooth brush.