19 Years Old - 3rd Round of Braces

[krissytron]

I'm just your typical nineteen year old Video Game Art student who suffers from severe bad luck and sesame constantly going poorly. Right before turning eleven I got braces, finally had them removed at fourteen. I had a retained with two pontics attached (missing upper lateral incisors, have always missed them). I'm from a small town and my orthodontist was only in for three days out of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). About a month after having a retained, early Friday morning my dog chewed apart my retainer and we had to wait until the orthodontist was back. That Tuesday, we learned that the teeth moved too much (crazy how just a few days can screw up the next few years). So a week after that, I get braces put back on at 14. Back then, the pontics weren't so pretty so they were basically two little white things attached on the wire, but they didn't bother my gums and they were kind of fun to play with. Fast forward to about halfway through my sixteenth year and they finally get removed (again).

After this treatment my dentist, not my orthodontist, put in a bridge which was allegedly going to be the equivalent of a retainer. So once the bridge was in, it was supposed to last from 3-5 years. No. In the eleventh grade, my bridge fell out in the middle of class, making me look like Spongebob. I rushed to the bathroom called my mom and she rushed me over to the dentist. Get the bridge back in. It fell out once or twice after that, but I'm pretty sure I've just started blocking these memories from my head. Anyways, October 2014 I called my dentist because I felt as though the bridge was loose and I was worried since it was basically my retainer that held my teeth in place. And I didn't want to lose the amount of pain, work, and money that went into fixing my teeth and preparing them for implants. I went in and the dentist insisted the bridge was fine. I knew it wasn't but my concerns were simply ignored.

In February of 2015, I had a regular dental checkup with my dentist and guess what he concluded? My bridge was loose and my teeth had shifted due to this. I would need braces again in order to fix my teeth AGAIN. At this point, my parents have spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to fix them and yet again it has all amounted to nothing but more pain and suffering and dollars down the drain. I have always felt guilty about this and as a child, I did not want braces due to the expenses, when I was fourteen, I did not want to waste more money and once again right after turning nineteen I did not want to financially ruin my parents more. Unfortunately, my mother and I got into a fight over it and she basically guilted me into getting braces for the third time. Early April, with a new orthodontist in town, I got the horrid train tracks back on, but this time they were clear ceramic ones that stain easily after one simple meal yaaay!!!!

Since getting this round on, the pontics LOOK much better, but I have had an overwhelming amount of problems with them. In October while attending college, seven hours away, my pontic fell out and I had to drive all the way home to get it fixed. It was loose several other times since then and a bracket popped off my bottom right molar another time. So I've had to miss classes and drive all the way home for several fixes. Now as I'm typing this, the one pontic is stabbing into my gums and is detached from the bracket. And I just drove home for this past weekend to make it to an appointment Monday to have my braces tightened and receive the lovely elastics that I have so much enjoyed over the years. So I guess I'll be heading back to town soon, missing more classes, to get this stupid thing fixed. And they said the treatment time would be just a year this time; however, in December when I had an appointment they said at least another ten months.

I never imagined I would be having braces on my 20th birthday and never could have anticipated the issues I've had this round. I'm beyond frustrated and part of me just wishes I'd drop dead in order to stop wasting my parents money. I am fed up with these awful braces and am sick and tired of living in pain. I've had braces for about seven years on and off, I am sick and tired of them.

Sorry for ranting, I don't have any friends with braces who would understand my issues right now (you know, since most of my classmates are between 22-45 and majority of people with braces are children and teens).