Regrets?

[pcspinheiro]

It is of course more than ok to get braces just for aesthetics, and I suppose a great majority do it for just that. However, in my case, even that was made much worse, because all my front teeth were leveled by their tips when they have large differences in their vertical dimensions. Basically my smile was gone and no amount of complaining over 1 and 1/2 years moved my former ortho to change things back. I'm 50% glad with my current relapse as my smile was somewhat restored, though the crookedness came back too... I still can't believe I was braces for 2 years and in just 3 months my teeth are almost at their initial positions, except for the ones I lost. Aesthetically I will also end up worse because I'm now missing an upper premolar on one side and there is no way in this universe to get me to extract the contralateral tooth.

[wendydong]

I still can't believe I was braces for 2 years and in just 3 months my teeth are almost at their initial positions, except for the ones I lost. Aesthetically I will also end up worse because I'm now missing an upper premolar on one side and there is no way in this universe to get me to extract the contralateral tooth.

i am having a talk with my ortho again about my upper arch again, which was straight and fine before, now it's all slanted, and more V shaped than my U shaped arch before. My friend who had braces in her 20s kept telling me that once she took braces off, her teeth went back to original in one year...

So i don't know if i should just have the braces off and see what happens.

Did you have any teeth that got intruded during braces? do they grow back after u debrace?

[assertives]

I think it depends from person to person. I've heard of people who never wore their retainers after debracing and their teeth did not move. But have also heard of people who experienced relapse even when wearing their retainers faithfully. I guess that's why it's usually not advisable to just remove the braces prematurely and let the teeth relapse because what if they don't move or move in a way that is not ideal and you end up with a new position or crooked pattern? The outcome is not as predictable. I guess if you do choose to debrace prematurely anyway, it would be good to be mentally prepared for the what ifs and whether you are able to cope with it.

[kplatt2010]

Hi there - I'm 52 and completing a second sentence in braces. First time around, I was a teenager and back in the day you wore a retainer for two years and then you were done.

Before the braces, I had a serious overbite. I think over the years, the teeth shifted where I had a small overbite but crooked bottom teeth and serious bite issues the last few years. My three kids each had braces. The first kid was non-compliant with the retainers and had crooked teeth within two years. Using the first child as an example of what will happen when your non-compliant with retainers, kid 2 and kid 3 have been super compliant and have awesome looking teeth.

If I ever get out of these braces, I'm told that I will have a permanent retainer on my bottom teeth. I think that is why I picked him; I wanted permanent.
Karla

[pcspinheiro]

I think it depends from person to person. I've heard of people who never wore their retainers after debracing and their teeth did not move. But have also heard of people who experienced relapse even when wearing their retainers faithfully. I guess that's why it's usually not advisable to just remove the braces prematurely and let the teeth relapse because what if they don't move or move in a way that is not ideal and you end up with a new position or crooked pattern? The outcome is not as predictable. I guess if you do choose to debrace prematurely anyway, it would be good to be mentally prepared for the what ifs and whether you are able to cope with it.

Oh I wanted the relapse! I hated my teeth while in braces, told my Ortho this within 6 months or less but she just didn't care and did nothing about it. Yes, my teeth got crooked again but my smile improved greatly because she had levelled all my upper front teeth by their tips. Now they'll look a little more normal. So yeah, were it not for my extraction gap and I'd be ok with it. Totally!

[Delilahbear]

I posted above about being 66 and having an orthodontist appointment. Well I had it on Tuesday and the Ortho was very nice and told me everything about my teeth and told me that braces were up to me. My tipped teeth will require periodontal surgery first prior to the braces. I will need bite turbos and he told me the road would not be smooth and would need a permanent bonded retainer so the teeth wouldn't re-tip. My husband and I discussed it and decided that since chewing was an issue and I have a pretty good overjet causing wear on bottom teeth that it was best to go ahead with the braces.