Foo - Braces

Im getting frustrated with these things. I've had braces for about a year and a quarter. They say that the braces have straightened out my teeth very much, huge improvements over what it was when i started. But my jaws are not lined up correctly and they dont take them off until my jaws are lined up correctly. Well what disadvantage is it to have my jaw not perfectly align? can some dental student or whatnot clue me in?

it'll make chewin harder. you'll die of starvations i tells ya.

Man I had braces three times. The first time I got them off, the Dr wanted to try a new type of retainer. Bad news, all my bottom front teeth turned wrong in the first month. So back went the bottom braces. After I got them off again, the top experimental retainer had turned a few teeth wrong, so back went the top braces. I think I got them off about three days before high school graduation. Al totalled I spent 6 years in combinations of headgear and braces.

Yeah they suck. I've had them for about 15 months and I'm supposed to get them off this summer. They seem to get my teeth about perfect and then do something and they shift back alittle bit. I'm not sure if that's intentional or what.

I'm supposed to be wearing rubber bands on the left side, but I rarely do. They don't notice it unless I mention them at the appointment so I'm not sure how necessary they are.

The annoying thing for me is, I chipped my right front tooth pretty badly in wrestling a while back and my regular dentist, who is very good btw, won't cap it until I get the braces off which is annoying. They'll put a seal on it, but that doesn't fix anything cosmetically.

Im supposed to be wearing these rubber bands on my right. I just dont know why its necessary that my jaws line up perfectly. You know ive been eating food all my life and no problems have come. My teeth are straight. :(

A friend of mine ripped his off with pliers.

Remove all your teeth and just get dentures.

I never had them. Could have used them, but at 22 I am too late. Had a choice between straight teeth or a dog.

My brother decided he would rather have guitar stuff. Of course we both grew up with my father talking about how he suffered for years, and he teeth got crooked again as soon as they were removed.

I had braces when I was in high school, but my teeth are all crooked again. I like them that way, though. Perfect is boring.

perfect looks unhuman. My dentist has teeth that are so straight and white they look like plastic. Im sure for the 10 years she spent in braces to achieve this, she can enjoy food far better than the average joe/jane

My mom wanted me to get some, so she took me to the dentist. He was like "well, your teeth are off by about 2 millimeters or less, but if you really want them, I'll put them in for you, but I don't think they're necessary". I was like "no thanks".

If it's not necessary, I wouldn't sweat it, but if you're getting headaches and migranes and stuff, maybe it's best to just deal with them.

Koffee

but the thing is, I never had head aches or anything. I never wanted them in the first place, the ortho lady just said I need them, my upper jaw was not wide enough and my jaws were not growing in a line and all sorts of fun stuff. argh, why do we need a perfect mouth?

I never had them. Could have used them, but at 22 I am too late. Had a choice between straight teeth or a dog.

My brother decided he would rather have guitar stuff. Of course we both grew up with my father talking about how he suffered for years, and he teeth got crooked again as soon as they were removed.

My gf's 23 and she just got braces.

I've seen people getting them later in life. I mean, did the dentist say there would be problems later in life if you didn't have the braces put in? You really don't want to deal with migranes or having your teeth off centered when your wisdom teeth come in or something.

Koffee

My gf's 23 and she just got braces.

Yeah, didn't Oprah have braces a while ago?

Yeah, didn't Oprah have braces a while ago?


NO.

NO.

Um, okay. Sorry.

I got braces when I was 31. I had them for just over 2 years. I had a canine tooth that was completely blocked out (it was in front of the other teeth, and above where it should have been). Everything looked great when they finally came off. I was supposed to wear a retainer afterwards, but I got the flu really bad and didn't want to be throwing up with it in my mouth, so I didn't wear it for 3 or 4 days, and my teeth had shifted just enough to make it impossible to go back in. That blocked out tooth has been slowly shifting back to where it was. My lower teeth are great, because I have a permanent retainer bonded to the inside of my front 6 teeth. I'm actually considering getting that tooth fixed again.

As for your rubberbands, only wearing them occasionally will increase the amount of time it takes for your teeth to shift into position. The longer it takes, the more money the orthodontist makes.

Good luck with them.

Hey, braces are GREAT... for the orthodntist. He's got the Mercedes, tuituion for the kid and his ocean front house got washed away for the second time in five years. Hell yeah, braces are a good thing.

perfect looks unhuman. My dentist has teeth that are so straight and white they look like plastic. Im sure for the 10 years she spent in braces to achieve this, she can enjoy food far better than the average joe/jane

Yeah, but it's the shallow billionaire she can snatch (or already has) that counts.

We had a leading politician in Australia say once that he regarded a good set of choppers as one of the things he considered attractive about a woman. The media picked up on it and he went to hell. It was one of the reasons he was dumped not so long afterwards as a party leader. Pity. At least he was honest. And he stayed married. And he kept his integrity.

My kids suffered braces (thanks to their mother) through teenagehood. And they look great. Nuff said.

I had braces for 6 years. My teeth are nice now, they're not perfect, but I like them. I stopped going tothe orthodontist as soon as he gave me my retainer, now I just wear it at night and everything feels fine. The wierd thing is that my teeth never looked that bad in the first place. I don't get it. I guess all the advice I can give is to wear your elastics as much as possible (or at least make sure to wear them when you go to bed)and hope that it fixes your mouth as quickly as possible.

Remove all your teeth and just get dentures.

Forget dentures... Implants! That's the way to go. Get a few strips of titanium bolted onto your mandibles, pop these pearly white enamels on (or gold if that's what you're into), and you're good to go.

Im supposed to be wearing these rubber bands on my right. I just dont know why its necessary that my jaws line up perfectly. You know ive been eating food all my life and no problems have come. My teeth are straight. :(

PHANTOMCOW
WEAR YOUR RUBBER BANDS

Take the advice of an old man dude -- I've got a little gap between my front teeth that drives me crazy. If you've GOT the braces, and you've GOT the rubber bands, just wear 'em.

We spend all day wearing lycra and getting farmer tans. We'll need every advantage we can get!

My gf's 23 and she just got braces.

At this point I think the braces would be worse than the slightly mis-aligned teeth. One canine needs to come out about a mm, and the other needs to go in about a mm and both are ever so slightly twisted. I can only imagine the pain of having a tooth shoved back into my head just so that it matches the surrounding ones. And having to wear a retainer for the rest of my life? You have got to be kidding.

I've seen people getting them later in life. I mean, did the dentist say there would be problems later in life if you didn't have the braces put in? You really don't want to deal with migranes or having your teeth off centered when your wisdom teeth come in or something.

Koffee

It would have been purely cosmetic. My wisdom teeth are already out, and I have TMJ so there is no way I am paying an arm and a leg for someone to crank my mouth open for hours at a time just for fun. There are more convenient and fun ways to satisfy any sort of masochistic desire I might have (which would explain fostering for jack russell terror rescue).

Yeah, but it's the shallow billionaire she can snatch (or already has) that counts.
If anyone said they liked me because of my teeth I would mess up theirs.

Supposedly, to get teeth that perfectly white you are actually looking at porcelain. They shave off the fronts of the teeth and cover them with perfectly white porcelain. Nasty.

Supposedly, to get teeth that perfectly white you are actually looking at porcelain. They shave off the fronts of the teeth and cover them with perfectly white porcelain. Nasty.

Veneers.

Veneers.
Yup. No thanks!

dude they make toilets from that

OT: JRTs are awesome -- if I ever go back to the farm where he/she will have room to run, I'm getting one.

yea i know I've gotta wear the rubber band. Well for 24 hours i have only taken it off to eat, thats the best ive done for a while

If anyone said they liked me because of my teeth I would mess up theirs.

Supposedly, to get teeth that perfectly white you are actually looking at porcelain. They shave off the fronts of the teeth and cover them with perfectly white porcelain. Nasty.


It's gross. I don't think it looks natural. Isn't it healthier just to take care of your own teeth? You'd think with all that money, they could do just that and avoid the veneers altogehter.

Koffee

tom cruise needed braces. don't worry about how your teeth look if it's just looks yer worried about. he got laid for years with funky off center teeth.

well. Ive had them since Jan 20, 2004. So its been a little while, Im hoping that within a year I can have them off. At least my teeth has straightened out reasonably well. THis is a positive

Man I had braces three times. The first time I got them off, the Dr wanted to try a new type of retainer. Bad news, all my bottom front teeth turned wrong in the first month. So back went the bottom braces. After I got them off again, the top experimental retainer had turned a few teeth wrong, so back went the top braces. I think I got them off about three days before high school graduation. Al totalled I spent 6 years in combinations of headgear and braces.

OMG, that is HORRIBLE!

If your dentist didnt pay for that PAIN, I suggest you go to court!

I wore braces for 4 years, rubberbands and all. They glued the new type of retainer on, which really sucked and took hours to do. I never went back, pulled my retainer off, then had to have the glue removed. I have quite an over-bite again, :mad: and now I'm wearing my teeth down from the bottoms rubbing behind the top ones. WEAR YOUR RETAINER!!!!!! Otherwise its a waste of time and money. I now have a ledge worn into the backs of my front teeth and its gonna cost me. I doubt they can save them, and I'll end up with veneers :(

Blah overbite. If I could wear braces to fix that I would.