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| Clear braces definitely do you a favor when you talk and smile and don't want the thing that people immediately focus on to be your metal mouth. I still feel like myself! But hey, if you can rock the metal braces, go right on ahead. (Mark this moment in history, I still prefer not to smile with my teeth in photos.) |
It's a bit late, but I got my finally got my braces on about two week ago. It felt like a huge triumph, because it meant that my treatment plan was finalized -- no more going back and forth, the decision has been made, the contract has been signed, the surgery will happen this fall, and in about a year or so it'll all be over and done with!
They put on full top and bottom braces, as expected. I was given the option to have clear ceramic braces on my top front 8 teeth at no additional cost, and of course I said yes. They told me the clear braces work a teeny tiny bit slower than metal, but that wasn't a big deal since my top teeth needed less adjusting than my bottom ones anyway. I got clear bands for all of my braces (no more of that multicolored, rainbow-in-your-mouth middle school stuff) so it would all match nicely and be as unnoticeable as possible.
They put on wires that were quite thick and didn't bother to start out with thin ones to ween me back into having braces because I told them I knew what to expect and could handle it, and I wanted this whole process to be sped up as much as possible. If that meant bringing out the heavier gear, then bring it on.
At first it was a really strange feeling because of all the foreign equipment in there, but I remember thinking, Hey, this isn't too bad, right after I got up from the orthodontist's chair. 6 hours later, the soreness set in. And it was really, really sore. Like all braces, they hurt for the first several days, so I was stuck eating somewhat mushy things for about 4-5 days. It took about a week for the soreness to go away, and now I'm totally used to the braces and can eat whatever I want (well, expect super crunchy/chewy things like steak and baby carrots because deep down the roots of my teeth are still constantly shifting). One thing that is still annoying is all the food that gets stuck in my braces; I always cover my mouth when I talk after eating now and carry a toothbrush on me at school for after lunch.
As for the aesthetics, I'll have to admit, the portion of my treatment I had been dreading the most was getting my braces on and the way they'll look as they make my underbite appear worse and worse. A bit shallow, I know, but who can't help but to worry about their appearance. Now that I've had them on for a while though, they're not so bad at all. I've accepted the way I look with braces, and no one else seems to even notice them (thank you clear braces).
I can definitely tell my bite has shifted. The way my teeth fit together feels very different when I bite down, and there is a noticeable change in the size of the gap between my top and bottom teeth. They used to be so close that they almost appeared to be touching, and now it is easy to tell there's a gap. It doesn't look great, but it's progress!
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I'm biting all the way down, and the gap has definitely increased in comparison to my original bite (pictured below).  |
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| You can also tell that my bottom teeth have already started to become angled outwards, compared to my original bite (pictured below). |
