Orthodontics

Never had braces although I begged my mum for years to let me wear them. My teeth are not particularly messy but I'd like to have that Hollywood smile

@TM48 I have a small mouth too.

BrookeLynn

In this case, having your wisdom teeth removed would probably free up some space for braces to more properly position your teeth for a better bite, etc. I had my wisdom teeth removed when I was about 20 because they were infected and severely impacted. This freed up lots of space with my upper/lower jaws for major orthodontic work I had done when I was 42 years old. Check out my previous posts if you want details about my wisdom teeth/braces experiences. Please let us know how it all goes.

I had fairly severe TMJ issues in high school that got to the point where I almost couldn’t eat without taking Advil. Basically the discs between the upper and lower jaw had slipped out of place and I ended up having multiple appliances to get my jaw back into proper alignment. One of the appliances actually caused my teeth to shift apart and one caused my bite to be off so then I went through braces and rubber bands to correct all of that mess. This was all from senior year of high school through my junior year of college. My teeth have shifted some again but nothing major and it doesn’t bother me. I do have a night guard now to help keep from grinding my teeth at night.

I had braces as a teenager. Then they shifted when I was in college because my parents did not want to pay for my wisdom teeth to get removed.

One wisdom tooth grew in sideways so I had all 4 pulled when I was 20. Then last year, may 2019, I got Invisalign. I finished Invisalign feb 2020. I wear retainers every night because they told me my mouth is too small for permanent retainer bars.

I got a good discount on Invisalign through my previous job. And I was ecstatic when I paid it off fast. It made a huge difference when I went on job interviews last summer.

The only things I did not like so much were these dots of composite they put on my teeth called “attachments” and the 2 times that they did some filing between my 2 front teeth.

I am still trying to re-learn how to smile again because I was awkward for a while. When I was a kid, it was because my teeth were too huge back then. This time around, I feel like I look like a serial killer when I smile. Haha

UPDATE 2:

Who's had braces?

=> In my thirties, I had to wear fixed braces on my top and bottom teeth until the end of last week. I had choose clear ones for the top and regular metal for the bottom. I will now get a retainer to wear for the next couple of months or years. I chose a hawley one, because I may have developed a slight braces fetish...

When did you have them and for how long did you have them?

=> I got them off last week after approximately two years. That was earlier than expected.

Did you have any other "appliances" to go along with them?

=> I needed to wear a headgear along with my braces, so embarrassing.

If you haven't had them, do you wish you did?

=> I wish I did get them earlier, they are quite embarrassing as a guy at my age. But now that the treatment with fixed braces is finished, I am glad I did it...

I had braces as an adult, age 42-45. See my info (profile) page for more details and check out my various posts on the subject. At age 72, I still wear my Hawley retainers 2 or 3 nights a week...

Does anyone remember orthodontic fixed braces in the mid 1990s? It's when I was at school, they somehow seemed to be tighter and more likely to cause a lisp? It was around the end of the period where larger style steel brackets were used with the "ligature wire" instead of the coloured elastomers.

Does anyone remember orthodontic fixed braces in the mid 1990s? It's when I was at school, they somehow seemed to be tighter and more likely to cause a lisp? It was around the end of the period where larger style steel brackets were used with the "ligature wire" instead of the coloured elastomers.

I´ve had my fixed Braces from 1995-1997. I had smaler brakets with the little elastomer rings on each braket to hold the wire. In the end a ligaturing wire was used.

From 1990-1993, at age 42, I got full metal braces, with headgear (worn 24/7...except to shower and eat), powerchains, rubber bands...THE WORKS! Believe it or not, None of that caused a lisp for me. However, I knew people who had palate expanders on the roof of their mouthes and they had REAL problems talking. The ONE THING that really did cause me to lisp, however, were the Hawley retainers I had to wear full time for a year, after the braces were removed! At age 72, I still wear these retainers a few nights a week, while sleeping.

Just remembered, this month marks the 30th anniversary of getting braces put on. I had them installed over three appointments: Dec 3, 1990, impressions were taken and spacers were placed between all my molars (OUCH!). On Dec 10, 1990 I had full metal bands fitted and cemented to all my back molars. That took about 2 to 3 hours. Then, a week later, brackets were glued to all my other teeth and wires were placed and tied to all the installed hardware. That’s when the fun and pain began for the next 2 1/2 years.

Overall, wearing braces was a good experience for me.

I had braces as a teenager, full metal smile. It must be embarrassing to wear them as an adult...

Silke85

At first, I was almost mortified to have braces put on at the age of 42. But, I HAD to have them due to severe headaches from TMJ and very deep overbite problems. My teeth were really NOT at all crooked, but my bite was really bad. At about three months into my braces, I was given the choice of having two upper pre-molars extracted OR wearing headgear, 24/7 (except to eat and shower), for TWO YEARS! My orthodontist was really surprised when I told him I’d do the headgear. It really DID work very nicely moving all my upper teeth back about 3/4 inch through my upper jaw over a period of about two years. He later told me that only one other adult patient of his selected wearing headgear 24/7 like I did. Some tried it for a short time, but later went ahead and had teeth extracted.

Overall, my experience with orthodontics was very positive and not very uncomfortable, or painful.. I still wear wear my Hawley style retainers at night...at age 72!

@TM48

Hard to imagine that you were never embarrassed about your braces. How did the women react, how colleagues at work, friends?

@TM48

Hard to imagine that you were never embarrassed about your braces. How did the women react, how colleagues at work, friends?

Silke,

I was in my early 40’s when I went through all my orthodontic treatment. I worked in a small office with mature people who were, at first, surprised to see me with braces, headgear, rubber bands, etc., but after a day or two, not much was mentioned. Whenever anyone said anything about it, I was always happy to tell them what I was having done to my teeth AND WHY I was having it done. Really, after a while, no one cared. I think wearing headgear in public (24/7) was the toughest thing to deal with at first, but even that didn’t bother me after a week or so. You certainly don’t see many people, including kids, wearing headgear in public because, oftentimes, there ARE OTHER methods, like multiple extractions, jaw surgery, etc., that will achieve similar results. Even though all these “brutal” options were offered to me, I did not want to go through all that to correct my TMJ and overbite conditions.

I had braces for several years as a teenager. I didn’t like it at the time, but what I would give to be braced again!

I had braces for several years as a teenager. I didn’t like it at the time, but what I would give to be braced again!

What kind of braces did you have as a teen, and what kind of braces would you like to get now? Did you have to wear retainers after your teenager treatment?

I had braces in 2015 - 2018 and i loved every single day in braces and i miss them and i am 67 years old , had appliances and tads

I had braces in 2015 - 2018 and i loved every single day in braces and i miss them and i am 67 years old , had appliances and tads

Braces in your 60’s! I thought I was an old braces guy having them in my 40’s. See my profile for details of my braces experiences. Please tell us what appliances you had and what was it like having TADs? I’ve seen vids of TADs being installed. Looks rather painful! I hope they numbed you up for that!

@Annie2

I had braces in 2015 - 2018 and i loved every single day in braces and i miss them and i am 67 years old , had appliances and tads

what in deatil do you love about wearing braces? are you wearing any kind of retainers now?

Lol riiiight.

Had braces since summer 2018. They should be finally coming off soon (so I've been told).

They're white/clear.

8 long years, they kept extending what started as 2 years and adding more things I needed. Supposedly my teeth were moving not as planed and slow.

Got them on at about 15, still have them today (18 ). Had expanders and rubber bands as well. will need a retainer when they come off.

@amashupdawg How do you feel about your braces? I had braces twice, and often was a bit embarrassed about having to wear them. I had fixed clear ones. What type do you have?

I had braces when I was 12 up until I was 15. No special appliances. Just had a lot of chains and wore bands for a while. It was a love hate relationship for me. I was developing my fetish for dental work but I also hated the pain of tight braces. If I could do it over again, I would. However, it would be with a hot female orthodontist.

I had an extensive orthodontic treatment when I was 11. It was successful according to plan. But afterwards I think I did not need it and that the side effects were greater than the benefits. I think this is true about most cases, especially when the treatment extends trirough most of the preteen and teen period with retainers and the like thereafter. And even with retainer the result is not be stable over many years. The treatment and retainers curb the natural growth of the whole face, the cranium and the neck also and cause lot of damage of respiratory, kind, neurological kind, and shape of face. and the spece inside the mouth gets too small, even though the teeth may gat alligned better . This branch oversell itself manyfold of its worth.

When I was 13 I got them for 4 years, I would like them again too

I currently have braces. I wear rubber bands with them on occasion, and I did use to have to use headgear, but I’m finally done with that!

I had braces from I believe 16 to 18. They were embarrassing on me, but I always loved seeing them on others. I had rubber bands as well, and something called a tongue cage.

I've never had or needed ortho treatment, but from a medfet/submissive point of view, getting a humiliating mass of metal in my mouth would have me on cloud nine.

My dream treatment would be fixed braces with power chains, a herbst appliance, and an upper rapid palatal expander. The appliance would be supported by rows of silver crowns - covering all of my premolars and molars in metal. Then I'd add HG tubes & a facebow on both upper and lower for good measure.

Bracesshop is definitely on the cards…

And since I'm talking fantasy…perhaps the herbst appliance can be controlled remotely by my dominant female Ortho…so she can open my mouth whenever she likes. Oh boy.

I had braces for 2, almost 3 years. I really want adult braces, and appliances that go along with them. I’m also open to extractions and/or jaw surgery to facilitate this.