Getting Braces in Australia

[Frenchsmile]

Decided to rectify the look of my teeth at the "Young Age" of 44 here in Melbourne. My 1st appointment was on March 7th. My Orthodontist is from New Zealand and she was very professional during my first appointment! I think that she was also impressed with my decision to get some orthodontics treatment done, she said it is never too late to improve your look and make some corrections to your teeth.
Male patients also care for their look! Well Let me tell you that I spent one and a half hour with the Orthodontist and she started the procedure of taking digital pictures (About 10), measuring different angles of my face, face line, jaws alignment. Then she took prints of the upper and lower jaw (Strawberry Flavour mould!!) I am looking at about US Dollars 4500 for a treatment over 18-20 months including retainers and follow-ups. She already indicated that I need a visit to the Dentist for one extraction.
I need an "Overjet" correction and my lower teeth also need correction. I had 2 large X-Rays done and next an appointment for my treatment will be an evaluation!
Wearing Braces is still some way off but I was already asked which type of braces I am thinking to wear May be Ceramic on the upper and Golden on the lower teeth. What do you think ? Of course I am very excited and I am looking forward to this treatment! I am very apprehensive about the way I will look and the whole treatment will be a challenge (Friends and family reactions! )

I don't know how painful the process will be and what I should expect when the braces are put on.
I hope the readers can give me some good advice and reassure me. I don't know how I will feel the first days I'll wear braces for about 20 months and it seems seems a long time.

How do you feel about your new braces and yourself after a few days ?
Was your braces color the right decision ? Are you self conscious people look at your braces right now ? Do you feel having a real Metal mouth ?

4th April 2004

Finally got the Treatment Plan. Bad News. Need to get one bridge removed and also one tooth extracted.

Then, I need to get an operation on the upper jaw to remove a tooth fully grown into the jaw ! Not looking forward to that one.

So I'm still a long way off the braces session ! Lots of pains ahead !

See you all for my next update and thanks for your feedback !!

[Guest]

Hi Laurent, nice post. I like your idea of a survey, but bottom line, go with what you want - you're the one who has to wear them.... Good luck deciding.

[aussierob]

Hi Laurent, welcome to the forum from a fellow Aussie (in Sydney) 34 y.o.

My orthodontist recommended metal braces for me, that's what I got and I don't regret it (I appreciate the cost savings too)

After 5 weeks in the braces there are still people at work (I talk to and eat lunch with every day) that are just noticing I have metal braces!!! I'm thinking "how can you miss these things" but honestly they haven't even realized until now.

Looking forward to hearing from you about your progress and experiences with whatever you choose as your treatment!

Please browse the topics here to get a feeling on the braces experience (pain? naaahhhh) I've posted a bunch of pictures in my own topic in this area, hope this is the kind of thing you wanted to look at:

viewtopic.php?t=2545

[chrisk]

Hi Frenchsmile

I'm a West Aussie and i've had my braces since end of June 2004. I have ceramic uppers and metal lowers and i am really happy with them. They are not really noticeable unless you are up close, and because i've always had big issues with my huge 15mm overbite, i didn't want my teeth to be any more noticeable by having upper metals. My lower metals can only really be seen if i smile.

My sister, who is a lot more outgoing that i am, has gold braces upper and lower. She got hers on just before Christmas 2004. Her overbite is 11mm but my teeth have always been 'out there' more than hers. (Until recently i could not close my mouth over my teeth without it being forced, whre she could.) I prefer my ceramics to her gold braces. If you have the type of personality that is very outgoing and confident, then you could probably carry off the gold braces. If you are more shy and reserved, go for something less noticeable. On the cost side, my braces cost just under $5000 Australian and hers were slightly less. It was $50 extra for the 6 ceramics, and i think hers were $10 extra per tooth for her gold braces, so where mine were $300 extra, hers were about $220 extra over standard metal braces.

The first couple of weeks were quite hard, as i felt like i had been kicked in the teeth. This settled down after that. Sometimes i had trouble with one tooth that was really sensitive. That has now settled down and doesn't give me any trouble. On the positive side, within a couple of days of getting my braces, i found lovely gaps opening up which made my teeth so much easier to floss. The ortho is now closing these gaps prior to my upper and lower jaw surgery in the next couple of months.

Since i've had braces i don't cover my mouth when i smile anymore, as i'm so pleased that i've finally got around to doing something about fixing my teeth. I can now touch my top and bottom teeth together (something else which i have never been able to do before) and this is all in only 8 1/2 months. I feel a lot more self-confident with braces than i ever did without, perhaps because i'm fixing something that has always bothered me.

Although it seems like a long time, once the first couple of months goes by and you get used to the extra time it takes to look after your teeth and eat, the time really seems to go fast. I'm almost half way through my 18 month 'sentence' and anxiously awaiting my surgery date which will be in the next few months.

Best of luck in your braces journey.

Chrisk

[chrisk]

It said Error code: Debug when i sent it so i clicked a couple of times. Sorry.

[chrisk]

Ditto, but corrected now.