New to board (but not braces)

[this old mouth]

Greetings all!

Have followed the progress and successes of the good folks on this board for the past 19 months, and finally decided to stop lurking and say howdy. I got braced for the second time one month before my 58th birthday, first time was in my teens, took five years with bands on EVERY tooth. Had four bicuspids and two wisdom teeth -only grew two - removed. Was in headgear for two years but fortunately only had to wear it at night. Had a conventional retainer for a few months which was then replaced with something that looked like an athletic mouthguard and tasted like an old tire. Made me drool on the pillow at night and I gave it up after about one year.

Have a truly impressive deep bite and the hardest jaw bone outside the La Brea tar pits. My upper central incisors were so retroclined they were chipping the lower teeth. One tooth actually cracked in half diagonally and had to be bonded. My orthodontist has only wired the upper jaw so far in an attempt to create some clearance so I won't bite off the lower brackets, should they finally be applied. After 19 months and PAOO from canine to canine on the upper jaw the incisors are still not completely vertical. Ortho wants them to flare out a bit before proceeding with brackets on the lowers. Have an adjustment on Tuesday and if there's still little progress then we'll have to decide what is an acceptable outcome.

Wanted to thank everyone for sharing their stories and advice. It has been a great help as I do this dance for the second time.

Carmella

[isthistaken]

Best screen name ever!!!