Adult Orthodontics

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Hello Lovelies, 

I don't know if any of you have been in the same boat as me, but I have wanted braces for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, my parents weren't in a place to provide that to me growing up. Now that I have a job with benefits (and co-ordinated benefits with my hubby- score!!) I am now able to achieve this dream of mine. 

I started my process May 2013. It has been so frustrating and frankly at some points excruciating. My biggest complaint is my expectations with time. I was told that the whole process should take 1.5-2 years. I am almost 1.5 years into this, and we only JUST put on brackets on my upper arch (my problem area). Every timeline that has been quoted to me so far has been way off. I had a palate expander (torture device) on for almost 7 months which was supposedly only going to be 3-4 months. Then, I had a distalizer on for almost 9 months which was supposed to be again only 3-4 months. 

I am wondering your experiences with this. Is this normal for all orthodontics? Or is it just my orthodontist, or because I am an adult (I am 27)?

Honestly, I did no shopping around. I went to the orthodontist in my dentist's office and she showed me great results, quoted a great price and timeline and I agreed with her treatment plan and started right away. Now, I realize that she really doesn't have a lot of adult clients. I don't think I've seen any patient of her's over the age of 15. 

Did I make a big mistake? Does anyone have any words of advice or insight?

If you want to know more about my experiences, I have three videos on youtube. Two are live, and one is currently being uploaded. 

www.youtube.com/user/skentel

Cheers, 

Sara <3

 
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I had braces put on at age 29 and I didn't experience anything that you are going thru.  I had 4 teeth pulled (because my mouth is small and I have big teeth) and then the upper and lower brackets were put on, then wired up a week later.  I wore my braces for 2 1/2 years, because I had moved to another state with different insurance, so I had to find a new ortho to handle my case - it extended my wear time by 6 months.

I don't even know what a palate expander is. I certainly didn't have one!!   Good luck - it seems that you had much more prep work than I did.

 
I'm 30 now, and looked into orthodontic work a few years back, and found it to be quite a confusing experience.  Basically, my upper jaw is too small, so I have crowding issues which is coupled by issues with jaw alignment.  I went to three practices and had vastly different opinions.

First dentist (I don't believe he was an orthodontist) did Invisalign, but said it wouldn't fix the jaw issues, it would maybe straighten out the alignment with the eye teeth somewhat.

Second person I saw was an orthodontist who said he could fix everything using a palate expander and Damon self-ligating brackets (the ones without elastics).

I saw one more orthodontist, and this is where it got strange.  He first wanted to do surgery to separate the upper palate (some claim ir  becomes 'fused' together after a certain age), two years or traditional braces, followed by a second surgery after to correct the jaw alignment.  While the previous treatment was about $5000, this one was over $7000.

Being confused by this these vastly different approaches, I asked my dentist, and he contacted the two orthodontists to inquire and suggested just going with the non-surgery route.

Unfortunately, I kind of stalled, thinking I needed yet another opinion.  I may revisit this eventually, but I found it amazing how different approaches can be.  I often wish that I just went with the second option, as I would have been finished by now without any surgeries.  But yeah, that was my experience with getting a couple different opinions.  Maybe I had a unique case, but found it amazing how much these two varied at getting their end result.  From what I hear, if you can avoid surgery in adult orthodontics, that's definitely a plus.

 
It's not always easy when your a child, either. :( /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> I wanted to go into my orthodontics horror story, but I don't want to scare anyone (and this was 20 years ago - technology has changed a lot!) but the end results ARE worth it, no matter how difficult the process is. :smilehappyyes:

 
Aww, CaseyR, I feel for you girl. That was a part of the reasoning why I didn't look elsewhere, I was happy with what my orthodontist had suggested and didn't want to get too many options because I am a very indecisive person. All I really knew going into it, is as you said, surgery should be avoided if possible. I can only imagine how confusing it is to be told from a doctor that you need surgery... and then you don't want to blow it off and go another route just to end up needing surgery in the end and going through it all twice. 

My orthodontist is doing pretty much exactly what your second opinion orthodontist suggested to you. I have videos up on my youtube about my experiences. It sounds like we have very similar issues. My upper arch was too narrow which cased crowding. The palate expander really sucked really badly for the first few weeks. It did get easier and it did get to a point where I even forgot that I had it. It worked wonders. My arch isn't anywhere as narrow as it used to be. I will insert a picture so you can see what the palate expander did for me. I know some dentists think you need surgery to "un fuse" the bones, but from experience I would have to say you don't. 

My orthodontics cost $5,500 total. There have been a couple of unanticipated appliances which didn't increase the cost at all. If this is something that you want, and you are able to afford it, I really hope that you figure out what you want and get your beautiful smile :)

Shalott, Thanks for responding. I suppose you are right, horror stories can happen regardless of your age with orthodontics. I have to say, I am really curious as to what you had to go through!

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@@saraskentel I wore braces from the time I was in the 3rd grade until I was in the 8th grade. Like Biancardi, my teeth were too big for my jaw, so I had eight teeth pulled. Even with the pulling, the lower front incisors didn't fit, and had to be filed down over the course of several months before my "permanent" braces were applied. This is not something I would wish on my worst enemy. If you've ever seen a documentary about anyone who files their teeth into points, that was exactly what I had to do, except on the sides of my teeth, over and over again every week for three months. It was the worst experience of my life.

Because of the positioning of my back teeth, they couldn't adhere the braces normally and had to use metal bands around all of my back teeth, that cut my gums every time the braces were tightened. For over a year I left the Orthodontic's office bleeding every time. For a 13 years old, it was the very definition of hell. When they were finally removed, I was left with a permanent retainer on those bottom, filed incisors to always remind me of the horrible time I went through, and to be grateful for my now pristine smile. :D /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 
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Unfortunately everyone's mouth/teeth are different. I'm sure your orthodontist is doing what's best for you, and in the end I hope you'll be happy with the results! My husband is 35 and currently using Invisalign, he wanted to get rid of his Michael Strahan smile. :p /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 
Aww, CaseyR, I feel for you girl. That was a part of the reasoning why I didn't look elsewhere, I was happy with what my orthodontist had suggested and didn't want to get too many options because I am a very indecisive person. All I really knew going into it, is as you said, surgery should be avoided if possible. I can only imagine how confusing it is to be told from a doctor that you need surgery... and then you don't want to blow it off and go another route just to end up needing surgery in the end and going through it all twice. 

My orthodontist is doing pretty much exactly what your second opinion orthodontist suggested to you. I have videos up on my youtube about my experiences. It sounds like we have very similar issues. My upper arch was too narrow which cased crowding. The palate expander really sucked really badly for the first few weeks. It did get easier and it did get to a point where I even forgot that I had it. It worked wonders. My arch isn't anywhere as narrow as it used to be. I will insert a picture so you can see what the palate expander did for me. I know some dentists think you need surgery to "un fuse" the bones, but from experience I would have to say you don't. 

My orthodontics cost $5,500 total. There have been a couple of unanticipated appliances which didn't increase the cost at all. If this is something that you want, and you are able to afford it, I really hope that you figure out what you want and get your beautiful smile :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Shalott, Thanks for responding. I suppose you are right, horror stories can happen regardless of your age with orthodontics. I have to say, I am really curious as to what you had to go through!

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Thanks for sharing your experiences and videos!    It definitely gives me a better understanding of the process.  The whole thing has definitely been more complicated than I first imagined.  I also inquired about 'lingual' braces that go behind the teeth, but the first orthodontist didn't seem so interested in that option as he said he often had to pull teeth when he does them.  It's been a real eye-opener for me as I thought the Invisalign process would fix things in my case; I was soo wrong!  I'm sure you'll be happy with the results once the process is done :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />  I may look into it again as it's always been something I kinda regret not pursuing when I had the chance earlier.  Now that I've hit 30, I should probably move a little quicker on certain things lol

 

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