Adult Braces - My Journey : Braces as an adult

3-21-14 Day 3 update. The following day the bracket that was on my crown (back molar) popped off. The ortho asst said it may and if it did not to worry about it. I guess because it isn't one of the teeth that has a wire through it right now. So I will make sure to let her know my next appointment. First few days teeth were too sore to chew. Ate ice cream, pudding, potato soup and mashed potatoes. Feeling like I may be able to chew a little tonight for dinner, going to try. Front tooth is still pretty sore to touch but since the wires and brackets aren't on my back teeth so those aren't too sore. Brushing and flossing takes a lot longer than without braces. Flossing really hurts. A lot of the teeth are really tight and its hard to get the floss between them and afterwards my teeth are pretty sore. The inside of my mouth, there are a few spots that are really sore because of the brackets hitting there. I have been putting wax on the brackets that bother me. I also have made sure to continue putting chap stick on all day. Night time my braces haven't bothered me. So far my teeth haven't bothered me enough to take pain medicine or Motrin. I'm someone who wont take it until I absolutely need to. I'm sure my next appointment when the full wire goes on including my back teeth, I may need to then. Made my appointment for my extractions, it's set for 4/1/14 at 2:00pm. I am getting two of my top teeth pulled, the first tiny molar on the right and the 2nd on the left. Insurance wont cover extractions for braces so I am going to a different dentist that charges $160 per tooth. Hopefully my next ortho appointment I remember to ask them if they can show me my before pics and I will take a pic of them and put them on here as well. Which will have a better view of how crooked my teeth really are. My next update will be when I get the extractions, hopefully that goes well......

3-18-2014 Day of getting braces on top teeth. Today I got my top braces on. First they took an x-ray, then took pictures of my teeth and of my profile. Then they made a mold of my top and lower teeth. It was gooey and I started to bite down and the orthodontist assistant told me not to because I was biting her finger..oppss lol. Once they were all done they put a conditioner on my teeth and put the brackets on. Then they put a wire only on my front 7 teeth leaving the snaggle tooth without wire because I have to wait to get my extractions so I have room for that tooth to go down. Plus they want to focus on my front tooth that's turned almost sideways to straighten out. They also didn't put the wire on my back teeth yet, she said they will do that at my next appointment. She let me choose what color bands I wanted on the brackets. I got really pretty light pink bands to go around my braces. It didn't hurt at all getting the braces put on. Just felt weird and I could feel pressure on my front teeth. They went over everything I can't eat and how I need to brush and floss my teeth. They gave me a travel kit with everything needed to clean my teeth on the go.

Its now been 3 hours since I got them on and so far they don't hurt. But I was told they will start to hurt and to take Motrin as much as needed. She said that I will only want to eat soft foods for about a week that my teeth will let me know if chewing hurts. The braces feel weird on the back of my lips, definitely got to get used to that. She said to make sure I wear lots of chapped stick. When my orthodontist said for me to smile after the braces were on, I covered my mouth as I was smiling....bad habit. She said how they make me look younger, which is a plus ;). I told her I promise I wont cry this time. She said that I made her and the ortho asst. tear up on my last appointment and that it's people like me they enjoy doing what they do. Which made me feel good. My next appointment isn't until Tues, May 6th at 3:30pm (7weeks later). Below are the photos of my top braces Day 1. Again, sorry my teeth aren't pretty, but I am overly excited I am finally on my way to having straight teeth and a beautiful smile ;).

Front view braces - Day 1

Left side view braces - Day 1

Right side view braces - Day 1

Well here it goes, I am a 41 year old mom, finally deciding to get braces. I thought maybe by posting a blog of my journey it will help another adult thinking of getting braces too. Growing up as a child my parents never took me to get braces even though I really needed them badly. Once I became an adult I had my first child the day after my 21st Birthday and my 2nd 4 1/2 years later. I always put my kids needs in front of mine and always thought braces were too expensive to get when I had other things such as bills to pay for. Recently when I went to get some dental work done my husband told me to "just do it" when I mentioned it would be nice to get braces, to actually smile in pictures. I spoke to the dentist during my appointment and they told me after I get my cleaning done to make an appointment for a free consultation with the Orthodontist. So this is where my journey begins....

3-11-204 Day of consultation. I was very nervous and unsure if I would have a lot of work needed done 1st in order to get braces. In my mind I thought I was going to leave my appointment upset because it was going to be a challenge, since I'm an adult, to get braces on soon. I had panoramic x-rays done. I actually started laughing while having it done because this thing spinning around my head like a UFO was pretty funny to me. Only took about 10 secs. They asked me questions about my concerns and went over my teeth. The orthodontist was very nice and easy to talk to. She said my gums were healthy and hygiene was good. I have an overbite so she said I will need to have my top braces on first then the bottoms on 6 months later. She also said I would need to have 2 top teeth extracted and one bottom tooth. As soon as she told me I will get started on my braces on my next appointment I busted out crying. Very emotional because this is something I have wanted to do for so long but always felt like it was a burden financially to the family so I put it aside. Felt like a big baby though lol. But my husband reassured me saying that its something I've always wanted and its a big deal to me, and that it was understandable why I would be so emotional. Which made me feel better. I made my appointment and it is set for Tues 3-18-2014. Not for sure yet what all is going to happen on that visit. But she did say she will put the braces on my top teeth before I get the extractions. Then 6 months later she will do the same with the bottom. Still excited and scared, but very anxious that I am finally getting this done for myself. Next Tuesday cant get here quick enough! I took pictures today of my front view and sides. Yuck...cannot wait until I never have to see those crooked teeth again! :) The cost of my braces is $7261.54, my insurance gives a discount of $2541.54 so my total cost is $4720.00. I am on a payment plan. I will pay $99 down and then 154.03 will be directly withdrawn from my checking account the 18th of every month starting 4/18/14. My last payment should be 9/18/2016. Both me and my husband were both like, if we knew it would be that easy we wold have done this a long time ago. But all along I always thought you had to pay for it all upfront or at least a big chunk of it. Which I never wanted to do, because I always felt there were more important things to pay for. I am going to post the before pictures below. Sorry they aren't pretty :( Never ever would I post pictures of my teeth, but since these should be the last ones that will ever be taken before braces and maybe telling my journey will help someone else, then here it goes.....