Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi all ,

I was hesitated about writing my stories , but I finally decided to do so , I though it might be useful for someone who is in same case of mine , and to get your feedback on my updates, I've been reading this forum for a month and like the way you people communicate and encourage each other

First of all , am 29 yrs old , I care about my appearance like how any lady does... and hate how braces look on the face , anyway, I think I have a nice smile , and to be honest I love my smile and how it looks on the photos I take. I had braces when I was arround 14 or 15 yrs old which was to fix some crowded teeth which was simple not that crowded , and I had them for almost a year and then I got my retainers. I hat braces

Why did I decide to have braces again ??

I hate braces , but it's at the end for a medical condition( I keep telling this to my self ). I suffer from a pain which called TMJ .
for 4 years nver thought that this killing pain is b/c of my misalignment in the jaw.
My teeth are perfectly aligned except :
1/The left side upper jaw is not aligned with lower jaw , means I have crossbite , so my upper jaw is inside the lower jaw which shouldn't be the case.

2/In my right side, I've a gap of an extracted teeth which is the first molar , and have always been afraid of getting an implant , and so the second molar has moved to this space when I finally decided to have an implant !!!

So my braces are to fix those two condition.

I've consulted two orthodontists , long story short : the first one decided to extract my two molars at the bottom. And apply a jaw expander cuz my upper jaw is smaller than the lower jaw.

The extraction it self made me not getting back to that orthodontist

Then I went to another orthodontist , whom tried to convince me with not getting brAces cuz I have a perfect smile and all the points as they consider from a beauty perspective are also perfect , and he wanted only to fix the leaning tooth as I name it and then have the implant ,, and get used to the TMJ pain !!!

but I decided to have a full braces cuz I want to kill that pain from the root.
He said I don't need to extract any molars , which was a relief but I was thinking how can both jaws be aligned then !! It's his job so will go with it and see.

My treatment will need to have the quad helix jaw expander for 3 months or more to expand the upper jaw.
And will fix what needs to be fixed on the lower jaw , the leaning second molar and one tooth on the left side which is close to the first molar. And basically have both jaw aligned.

I had my expander for 20 days now and the braces for 19 days ,,, will keep posting photos and update on my braces adjustment .

My TMJ is what finally drove me to gtting braces as well. I have an overbite with my top teeth leaning in toward my bottom teeth, this caused crowding on my lower arch and caused me to have to pull my jaw back out of alignment just to close my teeth, add to it teeth grinding massive headaches and jaw aches.... = braces for me. I actually haven't had a jaw/headache since they put these awful bite turbos behind my teeth to take the pressure from my jaw.....

Good luck with your journey!!! congratulations on taking the plunge!!!

Good luck and welcome!

Thanks EbonyQ

Thanks BetsyBug (Elizabeth) happy to know that you have decided to fix the jaw .. The TMJ has many impacts beside the headache , many was trying to convince me that I should live with it it I couldn't . it has even impacted my sleep and it causes neck and back pain because of the tooth grinding .

Good luck to you too ,
You and I are in the same journey I believe . It has been 23 days since i got braces , I still suffer from the neck pain , the TMj is b/c my both jaws are not aligned the expander will need some time to do its work .

I wanted to post photos but didn't have time to upload them , will do this later but here I will write some update on my braces :

I got the braces on the 12 feb 2012 . With the quad helix expander :

Braces are not painful at all , but the expander was a nightmare for the first 2 weeks , cutting my tongues and it is difficult to speak , now I can barely feel it , I got used to it but I still have little difficulties with my speaking and its obvious , I can tell that from the faces when I speak with my colleagues at work or with the family .

One week after I got the braces , I had an appointment with the ortho to do striping (IPR ) to the lower left cannine , this is to make some space for the tooth rather than extracting the 3rd molar which the ortho didn't want to do.

My next appointment is is on the coming Monday 9 April.

I do brush my teeth 3-5 times a day , after every meal , and try to stay away from the sugar and most important I do floss them. Twice a day.

My first braces was on 12 march ,, sorry but didn't know how to edit

Here are some photos ( the quality are not so good ):

I have Clear braces on the upper tooth and metal braces in the lower tooth , i have molar bands :


and ths is my crossbite ,



this is the quad Helix Expander of my upper jaw :

# 1st adjustment Today 9 April

I had my ligs changed , with the same archwires and had them tightened .

I don't see big changes yet , but I Can feel slight changes with my bite .

My next appointment is after one month where my quad helix expander will be adjusted .

Good luck on your journey! Congrats on making it through your first adjustment!

Thanks smilingoutloud22,, good luck to you too
I can't believe i made it through and had my first adjustment .

Hi Noni!!!

I just couldn't live with my jaw hurting and the grinding and wearing on my teeth. I had to do something. No one tried to talk me out of it except my mom who is so terrified of dentists that she doesn't even go anymore.

Good to hear you survived your first adjustment!!! Sounds like things are going well!
I survived mine as well today. Not alot of new news. I got a new wire on top, ortho said I'm doing an A+ job at oral hygene same wire on the bottom but they tied two of them with steel ties and put the other ligs on in a figure 8 pattern to make them tighter. Whew am a little achey now. Hopefully my teeth don't hurt too bad in the morning oh and I got some new pink ligs.....LOL.

Hi elizabith , I know no one can understand this jaw pain except those who suffer , every body thinks its like a normal headache but its not .
Even many dentists tried to tell me that I grind my teeth unconciuosly when I feel stress !! But that was not always the case.

I am proud that you have decided to solve this as well ,, we both are in the same journey and had the first adjustment in the same week

Ya things are going well with me , as I said can't see the change but I feel that my bite is getting changed every day .
I like that you change the color of your ligs , I am still not very confident with wearing those braces so maybe I will wait a while until I take this step .
Don't you think that feeling achey is good thing here ,, pain means a progress and I'm totally fine with that as long as its solving a problem

I agree no pain no gain.....but it would be ok with me to do it in small doses lol!!! My teeth are crying tonight even with ibuprofen but I will survive.

Your teeth look great they are trying to muscle mine into a straight line right now. I don't know how my bite is changing because the turbos are keeping my teeth from meeting right now but I'm sure they are changing none the less.

So The Schedual has changed ,, i woke up yesterday with swoolen tooth , my wisdom tooth is infected and it hurts too much , I went to the orth today and he decided to extract it . I will be in antibiotics for a week and then will have this devel painful teeth extracted .

I am so scared of this process , I haven't extracted any of my wisdom teeth so this is the first to come out.

My next adjustment was supposed to be this week. But now it has been postponeded until undecided time .

My ortho checked my teeth today as well and he is so happy With the progress . The lower premolar is almost in line with the other teeth and it was brought outward .

My crossbite is also progressed a lot .. Many gaps have been developed, I'm unable to bite very well my teeth only touches very slightly from the left where I have my crossbite but I can't bite correctly yet

Photos will be uploaded soon to show you the progress

Wish me luck ,, my extraction appointment is next Sunday

it is almost 2 months :