I am part Indian and my dad had tried to get me set up to have my braces taken care of for free from the tribe. It ended up being a bust because they wanted my teeth to be exactly perfect and they claimed that I hadn't taken good care of them so they weren't good enough to have braces, that was in 2004. But it didnt bother me much since I would have to travel around 150 miles to get to the place. In the summer of 2007 I was at a trip at my dad's house and he and my stepmom were talking about calling around to orthodontists in the town that I live in. Weeks later when I was at home they called and had called to an ortho. They came down too and we had a consultation at the ortho. I was soooo nervous, even though I needed braces REALLY bad. I was always ashamed of my smile. I hated seeing the "preps" in my school getting bracees when they didn't even need them. Well I had my consult and then a week later I was back to start the process. I was exstatic that my dad had agreed to pay for them. I got my brackets all on on August 22nd, 2007. A week later on my 16th birthday I had to go get 4 teeth extracted. They screwed up the appointment and only pulled two. I began my Junior year of high school and on the 2nd day of school the dentist had a sancellation so I had the other 2 teeth extracted. Not a great way to start school! I finally for my wires on on sept. 10th. It was soooo horrible. People hadd told me that you would have about 2-3 days of pain and it would be gone!...... HA were they wrong!!!! I had 3 months of constant pain! I lost about 20 pounds from not being able to eat anything(and i'm not kidding!) After my pain had died down to just when I had adjustment I began enjoying braces. I noticed my teeth really changing in November of 2007. I loved the way they were looking and I was FAR to be done. My orthodonist had been saying that my estimated date that they would come off was Feb. 2010. Well..... I have far passed that date. It sucks to have them much further but I am glad with how they look. I am getting my braces off tomorrow! It will be Exactly 4 YEARS and 1 MONTH!!!!!!! WOW! I haven't seen anyone's time this long on here! I keep happy with them that I was asking them what their longest patient was, its 5 years. I guess I won't make the record! But I am soooo excited to get them off. Although I'm a little nervous too. I'm nervous on how I'm going to look. Sadly, when they come off I have dental work that needs done. I was going to have my dentist do the work that was needed and they refused to do the work while my braces were on. Well since I well over passed the date they said I would be done I no longer have medical insurance and cannot have the dental work done in the town I live in.
I will still be pleased with the way that my teeth will look without braces on them. And I'm reallllllly excited because tomorrow I'm getting a top and bottom retainer and they are bothe glittery glow in the dark!!!!.... I am glad with getting braces... If I could go back in time I would change some of my dental hygeine habits! But its too late now! The best part of getting my braces off is that I will go back to college and not have braces!....Good luck to all out there in their braces journey!
