Braces; Worth it...?

anyatara

anyatara

Scooby
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Okay, so I was gonna start this thread by making random comments about my teeth, but that's, ya know insane [Anyone say 'I say quirky' I'll beat 'em over the head with a shovel...😀 :lmao:]. So, anyway, moving on from that weirdness, I'm getting a tooth taken out in two weeks, and my dentist said, after that, if my teeth don't straighten themselves, he'll get me booked into the arthodontist, but only if I want to. My teeth aren't that bad, and my Mum said it's entirely up to me, but I just don't know if braces are worth it...are they...?
 
B
Blondie Bear
I said quirky. . . . *runs*
I wish I had gotten braces as a kid. I have a horrible overbite. My parents couldn't afford them so I never got my teeth fixed. Now they drive me nuts and at 31 I am saving up to get them. Our insurance only covers them up to age 19 so I have to pay out of pocket for them and they can be really expensive.
 
Once I have insurance I'll have to look into that. I'm lucky my teeth have always come in late cause I'd never have been able to get my wisdom teeth out (they're still in there) if they'd become a problem (which they haven't yet). But I'm sure I'll have to before I get any kind of teeth-straightening thing. Mostly I have an overbite (not so bad I look like a horse, but annoying), and really crooked bottom teeth.
 
Huh, that's a good point. 🙂 I think I'm probably gonna go for it. Has anyone HAD braces? 'Cause I'd really like to know now how much it hurts =/
 
I had braces, depends what type of braces you get but I had a clip on first and then fixed braces (train tracks). The worst parts for me were having 4 teeth out, and the brace tightening is quite unpleasant! Once you get used to them though you forget they're there.
 
I had braces. I'd actually recommend that you wait. Of course, then you run the risk of not having the money to pay for it or not being covered on insurance, so it's up to you. I had really crooked teeth when I was a kid, so I got braces when I was 12 or so. They were taken off roughly 2 years later, but I had to wear retainers until I was 18. One (the bottom) was supposed to have been permanent, but it fell out. The other, (top) I just wore at night. I followed all of the rules to the letter. No caramel or popcorn or dark soda or anything. I brushed my teeth six times a day. I was extremely preoccupied with making sure that I didn't get permanent braces marks on my teeth.

In college, my wisdom teeth started giving me problems. All four were impacted. There was no room for them. They pushed against my other teeth. They hurt. I had them taken out. Now, as a result, my teeth are kind of crooked again after having gone to all of the time and trouble (and my parents' expense) of correcting them. It's not bad enough for me to want to go get braces again, but it is very noticeable. With that as my experience, I'm gonna say that if your teeth aren't really all that bad, wait until after your wisdom teeth come in (or don't) and wreak whatever havoc they choose on your mouth.

As far as whether or not it hurts goes... well, yeah. Again, my teeth were really crooked, so it might be different for you. I had appliances and rubber bands and everything but headgear, man. Getting them put on doesn't hurt all that much. Adjusting to them does. And when they tighten them every month, it sort of feels like you've spent all night grinding your teeth. It was manageable pain. It was really a more annoying type of pain than anything more dire. In addition to that general ache, the little metal brackets will sometimes rub up against the inside of your mouth and cause sores. The occasional rubber band will snap. It wasn't the most painful experience of my life, but it wasn't fun, either. All in all, I'd say it was worth it in the end. I wouldn't let the pain be the deciding factor, because while it does hurt, it's not usually a huge deal sort of hurt.
 
I didn't get braces, and believe me, I'm kicking myself for that. It wasn't like my parents couldn't afford it or anything, I was just worried about all this metal in my mouth not looking good. Now it's 3 years later and if I could turn back time I would go to my former self and force these effing braces on me. What I have is called 'offener Biss', no idea how you say that in English. It means I can't really use my front theeth cause they don't close wide enough (hope you understand what I mean). This causes I always have a hard time closing my mouth (that looks so forced), it's hard for me to pronounce different kinds of 's' and it just doesn't look good. Looking back, I would've preferred 2 years of braces than having my teeth like this for the rest of my life.
So yeah, I'd do it.
 
Braces are really not as brilliantly fixing as they appear. And in all honesty dentists sometimes only give out the information they believe they should.
I mean my dentist when I was....fifteen said I should get braces. I really didn't want to so well, I didn't. I mean my teeth weren't overtly crazy; I just had one tooth that was slanted slightly behind my front teeth and a few of my bottom teeth were too close together. So I didn't really see the point. Years on, my teeth actually fixed themselves and now all seem to be in perfect line (this may have something to do with the fact I never developed wisdom teeth).
A friend of mine though did have them and it messed up her teeth something horrid because, after having them at thirteen, her teeth changed again at eighteen and all the work the braces had done was completely reversed and made te situation worse.
So like I think Palabra said; wait it out. If you really want braces and feel you need them, do it, but if you think they're okay and you can wait to see how it all works out I say go for that option. Celebrities have gotten braces in their thirties after all.

And since you said 'Mum' I'm assuming you live in England so your dentist bills are covered by the NHS so it doesn't matter how old you are as, yes it may cost, but the NHS will take a lot of the expense away. (I may be wrong there, but I think it's correct)
 
Out of curiousity, does anyone know how they fix an overbite? I've been told they have to break your jaw (to which my response was, what is this, the 19th century?), but I've also been told that the rubber bands on braces are meant to pull the jaw back into alignment. I'm not a dentist, I don't know.
 
J
Joyce Summers
Break jaw and re-allign it I believe is still the way. They wanted to do that with me. I replied 'no one's going to look that I might chew slightly to the right!!' Plus, you know, I didn't want anyone breaking my jaw for any reason.
palabravampiress
palabravampiress
Break the jaw, but I said no. They then tried some sort of experimental appliance, rubber bands, etc. on me. It worked, but only until the wisdom teeth came in.
Blondie Bear said:
Out of curiousity, does anyone know how they fix an overbite? I've been told they have to break your jaw
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jup, that's part of why I didn't want braces. It was this all or nothing deal for my dentists, so not only would I have had braces for 4 years, 4 teeth out, but also an operation where they apparently cut your jawbone up and insert pieces of plastic or something so your whole jaw moves to the front.
 
:buble_eye What is this, the 19th century? Haven't they come up with something a little less Spanish Inquisition-y yet?
 
FunnyBunny310 said:
jup, that's part of why I didn't want braces. It was this all or nothing deal for my dentists, so not only would I have had braces for 4 years, 4 teeth out, but also an operation where they apparently cut your jawbone up and insert pieces of plastic or something so your whole jaw moves to the front.
Click to expand...

Yeah. They wanted to do that to me. I was like, "umm... no." And no way was my mom going to force me to get a jaw-breaking operation for cosmetic purposes. That's crazy!

So my orthodontist actually got all excited and tried this experimental appliance thing with rubber bands and the whole hardware store thrown in for good measure. He was really excited about this. I kid you not. I'll bet my young, pre-wisdom-teeth mouth is in some dentist book somewhere. Anyway, it worked. This was also really exciting to my orthodontist. My teeth were pretty and white and straight and my overbite was gone. And then the wisdom teeth screwed everything up.

So they can do it without surgery. I promise. Maybe not in every case, but it's been done. It was done to me. Then again, I had no history of even a single cavity and, like, perfect dental hygiene, so maybe having fillings or something changes things. Anyway, if your orthodontist wants to break your jaw, do some research on alternative methods and get a second opinion. Just wait to do all this until after the wisdom teeth. :-( Can you tell I'm a little bitter about that? Let's not even get into the whole my-wisdom-teeth-post-surgery-holes-got-infected thing. *Shudders.*
 
I had fixed braces for 4 years from when I was 12 - 15 and then the year after that I had a retainer on both the top and bottom teeth. I also had to have 4 teeth out before I had the fixed braces. While I'm happy with the end result, your teeth kind of find there own way to lie, so my bottom teeth aren't as straight as they were when I was 16.

My only horror story (and I believe it was like one in a million chance of happening so don't let this put you off - they took pics and everything) was that my gum ripped over my bottom front 2 teeth. I've had to have a gum graft. They took gum from the top of my mouth and grafted it over the bottom gum. Everything is fine now and it was all done under local anesthetic, so it wasn't anything too serious.

I'm glad I had the braces, because I can only imagine how bad my teeth would look now 🙂
 
I had braces for two years. I got them my sophomore year of high school and had them removed at the end of my junior year. I had a gap in between my upper two front teeth big enough for a new tooth to grow in there, and some slightly crooked teeth on the bottom.

Braces don't really hurt. Except for the first week when you are adjusting to them (I lived off of milkshakes, cuz it was tender to bite down), I didn't have any pain, even when I went in and had them tightened. You just get used to it. I also had an overbite, and let me tell you they do not have always break your jaw and realign it. I'd say some overbites can be fixed with the rubberbands that hook from the top to the bottom.

Once I got them taken off, I had perfectly straight teeth, and I still do. But i didn't have any trouble with wisdom teeth, I have all four of them still in my mouth. If you're not lucky enough to have enough room to keep em, I could see how you might run into some trouble. I have retainers that are on the back of the six teeth in the front on top and bottom, and they don't bother me at all. That prevents the teeth from being moved in your mouth again. Most orthos keep them retainers on for only a few years and that might be why people after trouble later on. My ortho recommended that I just leave them on permanently, and I have chosen that option. They really don't bother you (except for when you try to eat corn on the cob!)

It's a good choice. I would consider having your teeth bleached after they removed too, because if you weren't super good on your brushing, you can have small stains where the braces were.
 
I might have to get braces soon (urrrgggh) but I think you should or you might regret it later in the furture!
 
I girlfriend of mine just recently had her braces removed. She got hers as an adult and it has made a world of difference. I've also heard arguments that you shouldn't get braces if you are still developing because they can never be sure if how they've fixed your teeth as a teenager will fit your mouth as an adult or something but I wouldn't really know if that's true or not.

I had to have a wire in between 2 of my back teeth when I was 16 for about 6 months to straighten out one of my wisdom teeth. Used to chew the heck out of it because it stuck out and got it replaced a few times which was painful.

And as for overbite fixing? I know this sounds incredibly stupid but when I was little my dad used to make me bite on a spoon for a bit a day to push in my overbite and now I basically don't have one. Did it work? I have no idea....but as far as I know, that's one of my weirder teeth experiences...
 
I've had braces and while they can be quite obnoxious and painful sometimes, I don't regret having them and I definitely recommend them. Braces can do a world of good.

Since having mine removed a couple of my teeth moved again but I have people say how straight my teeth are a lot. lol
 
Horror stories slightly scary, but, I don't think I'll have a problem with not enough room for teeth, because as my dentist keeps telling me 'I have really small teeth and a big mouth' Yes, I'm slightly insulted by that 😛 Anywho, I'm not 100% sure I need them yet.
 
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