I guess my biggest problems are the narrowness of my upper arch, and the fact that there is no biting or chewing surface on my back molars, they're all kind of at weird angles to each other on my "bad" side. This actually makes sense, as I became a vegetarian at around aged 10 (much to the amusement of my dear Mum!). I ate meat as a small child, but as I grew older, I grew "lazy" and it was put down to my not wanting to chew. Of course, no one saw at the time that I was just simply unable to chew as my permanent molars came in - so I chose the life of a vegetarian. Now I was taken to an orthodontist as a child, who had two upper premolars removed (must to the disgust of my current ortho Dr O). But the more I think about it, I believe this guy was just a dentist who dabbled in ortho and really had no clue what he was doing - he certainly didn't help me much.
Fast forward to my being an adult and responsible for my own dental health, and arriving in a country where everyone seems to either have braces, or have had them...Americans just seem to value straight teeth a lot more than us Brits, and so I'm joining in! Now I first met Dr O back in 2005, and couldn't ask to have a more wonderful ortho - so I haven't had any other consultations nor do I think I would consider doing so. I really have a great relationship and bond with Dr O, so I'm very happy to go through my treatment with him.
I'm finally ready, I have three appointments set up so far. I'm celebrating my 27th birthday on the 11th January with a 7am visit to get my records appointment taken care of. I will then have a final meeting with Dr O on the 20th January to discuss my treatment and get my spacers put in, and then bonding/banding on the 3rd February. I'm having ceramic uppers, and regular metal lowers. I'm in a job where I meet with a lot of people and represent my company, so I am conscious of how I look and I don't want to feel self conscious of these things in my mouth. I don't mind the ceramic brackets so much, I think they look quite subtle with pink or clear ligs. I rarely show my bottom teeth, so I'm not worried about having metals on the lowers.
I am excited to get this journey started, and finished. I'm very conscious of smiling on my "bad side", to the extent where I have been in tears at Target watching pictures printing out where I'm smiling and I see I'm showing off the "bad" side with a wide smile. I also really hate how narrow my arch looks, although that has been somewhat alleviated now with a Rapid Palatal Expander from Dr O, that I had for around six months. One thing that has always bothered me was my wedding photos, Ryan and I have been married for nearly two years now, but we have not yet had a wedding. I want to be able to smile in my wedding photos, and not look back on the day and cringe at my teeth. I guess my problem is more the cosmetic issue, but Dr O is more concerned with fixing my bite for the long-term health of my teeth.
I'm also a little anxious and sometimes left thinking "what the hell am I getting myself into?" I sometimes feel too old to be going through this approaching 30, but inspired by meeting lots of people in their 40's, 50's and 60's who are getting braces. At the end of the day, the next two to three years of my life are going to pass regardless of whether or not I fix my teeth, so I might as well get on and fix them!
So here we go, as a final note - this is the damage we're looking at...
A very narrow smile, plus that little premolar that is just hiding. Not to mention whats going on with the molars back there! There is a little crowding and rotation on the lowers, but nothing too terrible. My arch has a somewhat concave shape to it, which really isn't all that attractive!
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