Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello!

My name is River and I am an old, old 21 years old. Well, old to be getting braces for the first time. Nowadays, it's common now for people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s to be getting braces for the second time, but for someone with my type of crowding?? Getting braces for the first time? At every ortho consult I've had (many) doctors have been absolutely aghast at why I would wait so long to get braces.

Well it's kind of a sob story. I was born into a family built like an avalanche, and have been on my own since I was 16. Only recently did I manage to find the funds for braces, so here I am, with my big, crooked, hot pink grill. Gotta love a good comeback story.

Behold my vampire fangs:

Before:


After:


That is, after the extraction of 4 wisdom teeth, both upper first premolars, the lower left first premolar and lower right second premolar. Insert a lower lingual holding arch and some kind of similar appliance on the roof of my mouth, and voila, we were ready for braces! I finally got them on... August 22. That's two days ago, and they're feelin' fine!

I get my lowers on at my next adjustment. How exciting!

Welcome, I too got braces at 21 for the first time.. Same sorta story. Anyhow, just stick around and everyone will be happy to help around here

thanks, jaswi.

I get my lowers on on October tenth. I'm thinking of getting purple ligs. I'm so excited! I love my braces- they're like bling. They're my newest accessory!

hey,
im 23, and just about to get braces.... just wanted to say that it was great to hear such an upbeat post about your braces... i love the fact that they are your newest accessory and that you are embracing them.

Lots of people (myself included) are constantly thinking of how to hide them. but hey your pink ones look great a bit like a grill-verybling!! any way im ranting but you cheered my up about my future in braces!

Laura

Aww, that makes me happy!
I just like my braces I guess (except whilst eating lettuce). They're a part of my personality now. And there really is no hiding them! I think there are ways you can make braces appear more subtle- ceramic brackets, clear or silver ligs, etc. And that's cool. But they're always there, and you're not really fooling anybody, so why not go crazy and embrace your new look?!
There is all kinds of positive space- blogs and forums and what have you- all over the internet, about people who are really glad to have braces, and love watching their smiles straighten out.
And in some countries, braces actually ARE a fashion statement, and a symbol of class.
It's great to have braces!

I'm 28 and I'm getting braced for the first time! Good luck with your brace journey! Keep us updated with photos!

Hi everybody!

I decided to post a picture of my upper arch so y'all can see what I've got to work with. I still have he two big spaces on top from where my premolars were extracted. Same story on the bottom, but no braces there yet so it's not nearly so exciting.



As you can see my my left (your right) lateral incisor has no bracket and is completely left our of the arch at the moment. My two front teeth and right (your left) lateral incisor are in ship shape, totally straight. They are MUCH easier to floss between ironically enough. I guess they're drifting.

The wires that are pulling at my canines are criss-crossed and very sharp. I wish those teeth would start moving already. Of course the main arch wire is right underneath that high canine (my right, your left) which may be keeping it from moving any more.

I am really getting anxious for my next adjustment, October 10th, which is also when I get my lowers on.

My first adjustment was yesterday, October 10, and omg OWW. That hurts. I also got my bottom braces on. Double OWW.

And umm... first adjustment and ALREADY a POWERCHAIN!



It's major asymmetric on the bottom because I got a first premolar extracted on one side and a second premolar extracted on the other. I've got "stops" on both molars to keep them from moving forward too much, and HUGE, super tight suspension cable cross ties on both my lower canines. and cheese and crackers do they hurt!



On my upper right (scary vampire) canine, I've got a purple power chain hooked to my second premolar, tugging the canine back. More cross-tie wires underneath, uber ouchie. The upper left canine doesn't hurt at all today, but all he has on him are a couple of wires.



I almost forgot! check out my crazy crooked archwire underneath my vampire fang it looks like \___/ so that my canine won't hit the wire and stop moving (like it did last month). I'm so excited to see what happens this month.

Especially because my o-ties (and powerchain) are the most glorious purple ever. I feel sexy!

Hi shinyRiver!

Nice job on the lig colours!! They look fantastic!

Hey, your teeth look almost just like mine! I'm going to have to get a TPA also. I just bands last week and will get the rest of my brackets this week, but no wire until after I get my 4 teeth extracted (sounds like the teeth I'm having pulled are about the same as yours also). Thanks for the posts and pics - helps to see others with similar issues!

Hi River!

Your name makes me think of River from Firefly. Have you ever seen it? Excellent series.

Congrats on having all your braces (well, almost all of them, except for a few teeth) on now! I hope they are hurting less today.

-Kristiana

Haha Kristiana!

Everybody says that. I was a hippie in high school, (pre-firefly) when I got my nickname. Oddly enough, however, I'm a HUGE Joss Whedon fan, (yaaaay buffy!) and quite pleased when I saw Serenity. Since then, people have stopped asking me if I was named after River Phoenix! Which is awesome! River is SO a girl's name too! My fiance didn't know River wasn't my real name for like 3 months after we met. EVERYBODY calls me that.

But I'm not a hippie anymore- just a backpacking, camping, kayaking girl... Going kayaking next weekend, hopefully my lower teeth will have stopped hurting by then!

Thanks flesh_was_sweet, your comments are always appreciated! And good luck jjjmac, can't wait to see your braces story!

Hello River!

I too have "fang" teeth. I'm 41 and I am finally having my issues addressed! Both canines are high like your one but they are going to pull these on 10/31 Halloween!!! Then on the following Tuesday 11/4 I will get braces!

Good luck and I will be checking back to see your progress! As soon as I get some pix I will post!

suzeeq22 they're pulling your fangs!!?! I didn't know they could do that!

Hey, River

Just to say hi and let you know that I totally like your attitude towards braces! I have metals too, so there is no way to hide them -the best way, thus, is to be proud of them and smile big!

Thank you for your positive attitude!