Worthwhile to get braces at 38?
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2020 11:17 pm
Allow me to introduce myself:
I am Khan (not my real name, just a fan of the Star-Trek villain). I have had an overbite that I have had as long as I could remember (since childhood), and I have recently discovered that it is considered a deep overbite (lower front incisors about 80-90% covered). I am now looking into whether or not I should consider braces.
Some background: I have Asperger’s syndrome (high-functioning autism) and a sensory processing disorder. I was that that kid who would be picky about socks. The seam HAD to be right at the tips of my toes. If they weren’t perfect, it was like nails on a chalk board. I’m also pretty sure I needed to have tags cut off the back of my shirts when I was young. I was picky with food as well. Lima beans and squash were (and still are) a total brown note for me. I will vomit if either touch anywhere inside my mouth. I was also that kid in first grade who covered his ears one day in the school gym when there was a concert because, as Huey Lewis put it, it was just “too darn loud.”
It’s still a joke (I’m not laughing) to my older brothers and later my nephews and nieces that I “scream like a girl” when some rather unpleasant sensory event happens to me.
Oh, and I also was not very fond of brushing my teeth as a kid, and as a result, I racked up the fillings (and one crown) through my teen years. I never liked the aftertaste. How I ever managed to never need a root canal is beyond me. I also was not fond of having anybody work inside my mouth, and as a result, I was a bit of a jerk to my dentist as a kid. Thankfully, those days have passed, and I eventually learned to tolerate dental cleanings (and the fillings I still needed to have done in my late 20s). Oddly enough, I actually came to enjoy the water pick and looked forward to it at every cleaning; I found it really, *really* soothing.
Suffice it to say, I don’t react well to some senses, though it’s not *quite* as bad as when I was younger.
Now, onto the braces. I am pretty sure I would have reacted badly if I were forced to wear them as a kid. As in, I would find a way to rip them out as a kid. My dad has *plenty* of tools lying around the house and garage. I was bound to find a set of pliers and wire cutters rather quickly. I am pretty sure the reasons that I never had them put on are threefold:
1) Looking at my parents’ smiles these days, it was pretty evident that neither side of my family considered orthodontic work a priority.
2) If my childhood dentist ever had the thought cross her mind that I would need braces, she would have dismissed it quickly because I did not take care of my teeth, and that it would have been a pointless battle.
Today, my overbite is such that my lower incisors just barely brush the extremities of the gums above my upper incisors. Secondly, I do have a lower incisor that is just a little bit out of alignment with the rest of my teeth (which apparently is the same with both my parents <_<). My teeth do look generally straight otherwise (just not perfectly so), but then again, I don’t have a wide smile. In fact, my smile itself is crooked due to the muscle responsible for pulling down my lower lip on one side never working. So my smiles have never revealed many teeth.
Right now, the only thing I could possibly attribute to the overbite is a TMJ disorder that has only really ever flaired up about three or four times in my adult life. Two of those instances around Thanksgiving time, however, so that is what prompted me to even start considering braces. However, it has come to my understanding that it is not agreed upon that braces can even help with the TMJD, and in fact, braces have *caused* TMJD in some people.
At the moment, I don’t know that there are any other issues that could attribute to having the overbite.
Right now, I can say that I’d rather not do any orthodontics if it would mean having to pull any teeth (I was just NOT functional for two weeks after having my wisdom teeth taken out), or if I would have to have my jaw broken. I may also want to negotiate a grace period that will allow me to terminate if I decide after a month or two that I am unable to tolerate the braces. If all the consults I go in for say I must do one of those things, then braces are out of the question for me.
However, if those barriers are cleared, I still have concerns. What might come of a deep overbite if left untreated? I have heard that gum recession could happen where my lower incisors meet the upper gums, but on the other hand, I also have heard gum recession is a side effect of braces as well.
I am also concerned about pain management. I tutor K-12 students, several of whom wear braces. I saw what happened one day when a 13-year-old came in for tutoring right after having his braces tightened. His concentration was just not there. I had to call his parents to bring him some pain medication halfway through our session. I don’t have much faith that pain medication is going to help me because it does not work on my dad at all (seriously, when he was in the Navy and had his wisdom teeth taken out, he came back after four hours wondering when they were going to give him something for the pain. He was *already* given enough codeine that should have put him down for 24 hours!) and I fear I may have inherited that trait.
And then the matter of retainers. How common is it that one really needs to wear them for life? I can just see myself getting complacent with the retainer after a few years, and I have heard some people who had some mild shifting when they stopped wearing their retainers after a few years.
I’m not interested in aesthetics. I would only be interested in preventing medical issues. I think the only gain I can think of is that it would be easier to get a strand of floss in spaces where it is rather tight. As such, perfectly straight teeth is not a priority for me.
So...Would braces be something I should seriously consider? Or is a deep overbite something that isn’t going to be serious enough to deal with?
I am Khan (not my real name, just a fan of the Star-Trek villain). I have had an overbite that I have had as long as I could remember (since childhood), and I have recently discovered that it is considered a deep overbite (lower front incisors about 80-90% covered). I am now looking into whether or not I should consider braces.
Some background: I have Asperger’s syndrome (high-functioning autism) and a sensory processing disorder. I was that that kid who would be picky about socks. The seam HAD to be right at the tips of my toes. If they weren’t perfect, it was like nails on a chalk board. I’m also pretty sure I needed to have tags cut off the back of my shirts when I was young. I was picky with food as well. Lima beans and squash were (and still are) a total brown note for me. I will vomit if either touch anywhere inside my mouth. I was also that kid in first grade who covered his ears one day in the school gym when there was a concert because, as Huey Lewis put it, it was just “too darn loud.”
It’s still a joke (I’m not laughing) to my older brothers and later my nephews and nieces that I “scream like a girl” when some rather unpleasant sensory event happens to me.
Oh, and I also was not very fond of brushing my teeth as a kid, and as a result, I racked up the fillings (and one crown) through my teen years. I never liked the aftertaste. How I ever managed to never need a root canal is beyond me. I also was not fond of having anybody work inside my mouth, and as a result, I was a bit of a jerk to my dentist as a kid. Thankfully, those days have passed, and I eventually learned to tolerate dental cleanings (and the fillings I still needed to have done in my late 20s). Oddly enough, I actually came to enjoy the water pick and looked forward to it at every cleaning; I found it really, *really* soothing.
Suffice it to say, I don’t react well to some senses, though it’s not *quite* as bad as when I was younger.
Now, onto the braces. I am pretty sure I would have reacted badly if I were forced to wear them as a kid. As in, I would find a way to rip them out as a kid. My dad has *plenty* of tools lying around the house and garage. I was bound to find a set of pliers and wire cutters rather quickly. I am pretty sure the reasons that I never had them put on are threefold:
1) Looking at my parents’ smiles these days, it was pretty evident that neither side of my family considered orthodontic work a priority.
2) If my childhood dentist ever had the thought cross her mind that I would need braces, she would have dismissed it quickly because I did not take care of my teeth, and that it would have been a pointless battle.
Today, my overbite is such that my lower incisors just barely brush the extremities of the gums above my upper incisors. Secondly, I do have a lower incisor that is just a little bit out of alignment with the rest of my teeth (which apparently is the same with both my parents <_<). My teeth do look generally straight otherwise (just not perfectly so), but then again, I don’t have a wide smile. In fact, my smile itself is crooked due to the muscle responsible for pulling down my lower lip on one side never working. So my smiles have never revealed many teeth.
Right now, the only thing I could possibly attribute to the overbite is a TMJ disorder that has only really ever flaired up about three or four times in my adult life. Two of those instances around Thanksgiving time, however, so that is what prompted me to even start considering braces. However, it has come to my understanding that it is not agreed upon that braces can even help with the TMJD, and in fact, braces have *caused* TMJD in some people.
At the moment, I don’t know that there are any other issues that could attribute to having the overbite.
Right now, I can say that I’d rather not do any orthodontics if it would mean having to pull any teeth (I was just NOT functional for two weeks after having my wisdom teeth taken out), or if I would have to have my jaw broken. I may also want to negotiate a grace period that will allow me to terminate if I decide after a month or two that I am unable to tolerate the braces. If all the consults I go in for say I must do one of those things, then braces are out of the question for me.
However, if those barriers are cleared, I still have concerns. What might come of a deep overbite if left untreated? I have heard that gum recession could happen where my lower incisors meet the upper gums, but on the other hand, I also have heard gum recession is a side effect of braces as well.
I am also concerned about pain management. I tutor K-12 students, several of whom wear braces. I saw what happened one day when a 13-year-old came in for tutoring right after having his braces tightened. His concentration was just not there. I had to call his parents to bring him some pain medication halfway through our session. I don’t have much faith that pain medication is going to help me because it does not work on my dad at all (seriously, when he was in the Navy and had his wisdom teeth taken out, he came back after four hours wondering when they were going to give him something for the pain. He was *already* given enough codeine that should have put him down for 24 hours!) and I fear I may have inherited that trait.
And then the matter of retainers. How common is it that one really needs to wear them for life? I can just see myself getting complacent with the retainer after a few years, and I have heard some people who had some mild shifting when they stopped wearing their retainers after a few years.
I’m not interested in aesthetics. I would only be interested in preventing medical issues. I think the only gain I can think of is that it would be easier to get a strand of floss in spaces where it is rather tight. As such, perfectly straight teeth is not a priority for me.
So...Would braces be something I should seriously consider? Or is a deep overbite something that isn’t going to be serious enough to deal with?