1 Year today

[Dark_angel]

I decided to visit today and i didnt realise it was a whole year since i had my braces put on. I'll post some pictures when i get the chance to upload them but i dont feel much progress has been made and my bite feels totally off. I still have gaps from my extractions and i feel like treatment will go on forever.

I know you'll offer me some encouragement to keep going the rest of the way and i'll try and get my pictures up by morning.

[simplywired]

I think it's important to get the pictures asap! Compare the photos today with one year ago I'm sure you'll be pleased. I sure wish I had a whole year under my belt! Seems like 2 years is about average time in braces - if that's true for you, you have a year to tweak things to perfection. I'm anxious to see your pictures. Good luck.

[eaglesoaring]

Wow!! A whole year, huh? Congrats on that! I'm sorry to hear that you are discouraged. When I've been discouraged, I've made myself look at my original pics...(as unattractive as they are), and that helped me to look on the brighter side. I've had a few times where I feel like nothing is happening, and I'm wearing these for nothing...but then, I'll catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and realize that my bottom teeth are actually showing (they didn't used to), or that my "fang" teeth are completely gone, or I'll look at my original pics, as I said above, and remember how they used to look. No, they're not straight, yet, but they're better than they were!

Anyway, my point is...well, just hang in there! Do your best to stay positive (although that's not always possible...it's not always easy to stay chipper and happy about it when you feel like progress is at a stand-still...but try), and just know that it'll be worth it when you're treatment is finished.

Please post some pics!
We're here for ya'.
eagle

[Julie08]

Congratulations on your one-year anniversary. That's an important milestone!

[katmc_tx]

Hey Dark_angel Congrads on your anniversary!!! I know all about needing encouragement so here goes... You've come so far already and I'm sure its been challenging because having braces has a lot of life changing adjustments.
Anyone who can go years with having these foreign objects in your mouth longer than a few days deserves to be called brave, strong, courageous and you should be very proud of yourself for doing this to improve your life.
I'm a little over three months away from my one year anniversary and I'm like wow cant believe its been a year but at the same time I'm like, its only been a year .

But we've come this far and will do whatever it takes to make it through the rest of the way. Good luck with the rest of your treatment!!

[donnamac]

Hey Dark_angel...It's been 1 year for me, too! Actually, the time has passed rather quickly, and I've had quite a bit of change in my teeth. I started out with a rather wide gap between my top front teeth, and now that is all closed. There was a tooth on bottom that was not even in the first wire I had, but now it is all straight. I had a little setback today, though. I was all fitted with my closing wire and had to go get a cavity filled. My regular dentist removed the bracket from one tooth and cut the wire. Wouldn't you know that my ortho was out of town for 2 weeks? I only got the band today and a regular wire on top, but no more elastics for me. I was really surprised how much that tooth without the bracket had gotten out of whack. It was like it had a mind of its own!
Hang in there...You'll see some progress before you know it.