Invisalign/Braces

[Cress]

I had braces for about 4 years and I hated them. Although I didn't have them just to straighten my teeth, I also had a large overbite, and I also needed surgery for impacted canines (that's a horrifying fun thing to look up if you're bored). After getting them off, I got a retainer, but it was one that looked like and felt like and acted like braces, except that you could remove them. I had those things in for 4 years and I finally got them taken off, do you really expect me to wear Braces 2: The Sequel? After a year of not wearing them, my ortho realized that I might not want to wear a retainer that has bits of metal wire and plastic constantly stabbing me, so now I have the plastic one that's like Invisalign. I wear this one daily but like... why couldn't they have told me this was an option in the first place? From the year of not wearing them, one of my bottom front teeth is bent back slightly, and one on my upper right side is ever so slightly bent outward. But they're close enough to straight and I'm not doing this mess again, idfc.

I also had my wisdom teeth pulled out a few months ago and that was very reminiscent of the impacted canine surgery, but that's done with so I should hopefully never have anything done to my mouth ever again.

I am super scared, because when they cut of the excess wire in the back of my mouth, I am super scared that they are going to cut my mouth.

YEP I REMEMBER THIS!
Of course I was never hurt by it, but when you're putting giant pliers in my mouth and putting a lot of pressure on them to make something snap, I'm going to be a bit wary.

 

[QueenOpossum]

I wish I'd never had braces.

I wasn't mature enough to take care of my teeth, and we went to a crappy orthodontist. I've had...4? root canals now and at least two of them were the fault of the braces, I'm sure of it.

Part of it is my parents let me drink a ton of soda and eat crap - thats effected my whole life and I'm trying to fix it still. But my teeth are boinked. I wish my parents had saved the money and I could have done braces now, or spent the money on the implants I'm going to need (and could be installed straight, negating any of the work braces did.)

 

[xSuperMario64x]

I've personally never had braces but I need them, my top front teeth are a bit crooked because as a kid I had an extra tooth in the back of my mouth (that I eventually had pulled). I have a bottom front tooth that's really crooked for some reason, although you can't see it unless you actually make an effort to look in my mouth.

I never wanted wire braces as a kid since the thought of having them stuck to my teeth and getting stuff stuck in there all the time made me think I would get really irritated with them. I'm likely going to go with Invisalign, though I don't know what to expect in terms of proper care and whether or not they hurt (even though pain isn't a big deal). I know that they come in a series of so many that you switch out every week or so.
Also, are they really costly? That's the main reason why I don't have braces right now, because of the price.

 

[nintendofan85]

I had braces for an overbite from 2011 to 2013. It wasn't too bad, but I was so happy to get them off.

 

[Tempest]

I am getting my braces whenever the next time I go is (Im fourteen am I supposed to pay attention to that kinda stuff?) anyway I?ve had them for two years nothing happened but did I mention my brother broke my tooth with a hairbrush a few years ago?

 

[Tessie]

i had braces as an adult in college loool finally was able to afford em then. yay for being a braceface in yo twenties.
i opted for braces though because i liked the results more than invisalign. my teeth were perfect when they were removed, they slightly shifted. i want invisalign now

 

[Oblivia]

Thanks to all of you who shared your stories with me! I'm now on tray 17/28 of my first series, so I'm getting close to the end. Can't wait.

hiya! i dont have braces but i might get them soon. what should i expect?

It really varies for everyone! I don't remember having much issue with it when I was a kid, but I did wear headgear which was awful... 0/10 do not recommend headgear. The main piece of advice I'd offer is to be very communicative with your orthodontist, and make sure to tell them if you're having anxiety, discomfort, or anything else. I had a lot of anxiety this time around regarding the potential of loose teeth or gum recession, so my ortho opted to go a bit slower with the process so any shifting is more subtle and therefore won't make me feel as anxious since it's less perceptible, if that makes sense! I'm not sure of your age, but if your parents are overseeing the process be sure to tell them if you don't like your orthodontist. I couldn't imagine going through this with someone less understanding and awesome than my doctor has been.

Also, are they really costly? That's the main reason why I don't have braces right now, because of the price.

Keep in mind that this is going to vary somewhat based on the practice and any prep work you need, but the prices at my orthodontist's office were $3k for metal braces, $3200 for ceramic with white wires, and $5k for Invisalign. I'm paying for mine out of pocket which sucks, but it's HSA eligible which lessens the blow a bit.

 

[visibleghost]

i got braces in november, at the age of 19. i knew i was supposed to have braces ever since i was 12 but because of illness and not thinking i was going to survive (dramatic much but yeah) i didn't bother getting them. dental care is free here until you're 23 so lucky for me i can still get them without paying a ton of money for them. i got better and thought it was time for me to do something about my horrible teeth. i'm going to have braces for around 3 years and while i am a little bit insecure about them it's not too bad and i don't think it hurts a lot either, so that's good. at the moment i only have on my upper teeth, i will get on the lower ones in about a month so idk maybe i will feel different about it when i have the Full Set.

 

[duckykate]

I had braces for three years in middle school and it was so painful, the ends of the wires rubbing against my cheeks made the inside of my mouth constantly bleed and have huge blisters. At least I didn't have to get the thing that makes your jaw bigger, though. My sister had that and every day we had to crank that thing so it would widen and make her mouth bigger, it looked excruciating. Anyway, I wore my retainer for a while and then I got depressed and forgot about it. Here we are a hear later and my overbite is back : ( at least my tooth gap didnt come back thanks to the permanent retainer. Listen to me kids, always wear your retainer

 

[Bcat]

@Oblivia I'm sorry you're having to go through this again. It happened to my mom as well. She had braces as a child and they moved back as an adult, though she didn't wear her retainer past a year.

I had braces when I was 17-18, the damon kind and they were only on for around 10 months. The results were seriously impressive despite how little time they took to work! Hurt like hell when they first went on though.

When they took them off, they glued a wire on the back of both of my top and bottom rows of teeth. About a week ago the top one came loose and I had to go back to the ortho for the first time in 5 years. It was kind of freaky deja vu, but it's cool now.

 

[Nicole.]

I think I was around 14 when I got braces and got them taken off when I was 17; it was quite a few years ago now but I'll never forget the horrendous experience I had with them.

Before I had braces, my teeth were crowded and particularly crooked at the front with my left top tooth protruding out but not so much that it would stick out of my mouth if that makes sense (a bit like Nanny McPhee). It was obvious when I smiled though and for many years of my childhood, I remember feeling very self-conscious about it and never smiled much in public. My first consultation with the orthodontist was probably when I was about 12, at which point I was so desperate to have braces to fix both my teeth and self-esteem I suppose. The problem was that I still had baby teeth at this age, and my orthodontist refused treatment until they had fallen out and the proper ones had grown in. At the time, I disregarded her opinion and was so fixated on just getting braces as soon as possible to hide my horrific teeth. With the baby teeth out of the way, this meant that she could analyse my teeth in their final state without the growth and movement, which makes more sense now looking back. Obviously, my impatient 12 year-old self didn't see that though and just wanted a fast fix.

When all my teeth were fully grown, I had four of them taken out before I had braces due to overcrowding. Then, my top brace was put on first as this was the dominant area that needed tackling first with the state of my front tooth as mentioned before. This was the most awkward stage of my braces experience and at the same time the absolute worst too. I say this because I had two of those spring wires on both side of my top mouth and they were a killer! I had so many painful nights from the endless blisters and raw gums that couldn't heal since they were constantly rubbing against the spring wires, and having it on both sides made it more difficult. Having it on just one side might have made it more manageable. I had them though to help close the very open gaps from the missing teeth that were pulled. I don't remember how long I had these for, but I just remember them being such a nuisance. I can also recall them giving me a pack of wax that they advised would 'help' with the rubbing, and I can honestly say they did nothing to relieve the pain or soothe my gums. It must have been a month with just the top and then I had a full set of braces after and from here my teeth really started to shift and you could begin to really see a difference in my smile

When my teeth were almost straight, I had to start wearing those rubber bands which weren't too bad, I mean by this point I was very much used to the levels of pain I had in my mouth that it didn't bother me so much anymore. Overall, they were just such an inconvenience. People who have/had bands would know the struggles of wearing them. When the band snapped you'd soon know about it lol. The worst part was sleeping at night and unknowingly yawning with the bands still in, I hate to sound so dramatic but I would honestly wake up in agony from it. Eating was another annoyance; having to remember to put the bands back in was always a problem for me and I didn't quite fancy having my fist in my wide open mouth out in public, so quite often I'd only wear them if I was at home during the day and always in bed at night trying to avoid yawning.

The day I had my braces taken off was probably up there with one of my most happy and memorable days I have, it felt so freeing yet pleasing to know how far I had come from my 12 year old self. The journey wasn't over yet though as a week later I had the appointment of collecting and wearing my plastic retainers full time for...I can't remember how long. I will never forget them taking a mould of my teeth for the retainer either, I think it was my top impression where I panicked and swallowed quite a bit of the clay. It was cold and just....well lets not go there shall we.

For the most part, my experience with braces was just troublesome on so many levels; it's why I like to take time to care for my teeth. I didn't go through all that for nothing. But do I think it was worth it? Yes! If it weren't for the help of my orthodontist, I'd still have a Nanny Mcphee tooth. Having straight teeth really boosted my confidence and I began to smile a lot more around people and still do to this day

 

[SensaiGallade]

I first got train track braces when I was 14 during secondary school and had them till I was 16 for 1 and a half years. I had problems with teeth overlapping each other aswell as an overbite.

I remember I had to have 4 teeth taken out before I got them in, two on the top and bottom each, to which I then had the braces put on within 3 weeks of that, both top and bottom on at the same time. And I distinctly remember getting home after having them out on and eating a ham sandwich after a few hours and them breaking instantly, spoiler alert; this was a recurring problem lol.

The thing with braces is that you kinda forget they're there once you've had them on for a while. Obviously you have to take extra care of your teeth when you have them on, but you get used to it pretty quickly. Issues arise though when the dentist forgets or doesn't cut the wire at the end of the braces. The insides of my cheeks were slashed to hell from that.

At one point closer to removal I had to have these plastic bands attached onto my braces which were supposed to fix my overbite by essentially pulling my top jaw back slowly over around a period 6 months.

Once I got my braces off I actually had a permanent retainer put in at the back of my teeth, which I still have on to this day. All the benefits of having retainers but without the hassle of having to take them out and put them back in all the time!

 

[visibleghost]

now i've had braces for almost a year, i got them last november. i have noticed a lot of improvement in my teeth and overall bite so i'm really glad i have them, there are still a lot of things that need to get better though. one of those things is a big gap i have between two lower teeth because i had to take out a tooth to get the braces, despite having had braces on my lower teeth for a long time now (not as long as on my upper row though) it still is huge. i think that's because the wire has broken off/snapped out of place several times. even right now i don't have a wire there because it released from my backmost tooth like a week ago and i managed to break it off because it was poking me and hurting.

but some fun improvements i have noticed include: i can bite things off with my front teeth and chew there too! didn't know that was something i was missing out on but i guess it is. also, the gaps where they took out two teeth on my upper row are closing, the gaps are just a few mm wide now, whereas earlier they both were a whole large tooth wide. and lastly my super crooked front tooth is starting to be realigned! it didn't have enough room so i had a spring between the two surrounding teeth to make a gap large enough and now i have a thingy on that tooth too and it's starting to move!!! really excited about that.

i know it will probably suck to have to have something to keep them in line after i'm done with the braces but rn it feels kind of good because i can see progress and i'm used to the braces at this point so it doesn't really matter to me. only two or so more years to go!

 

[DJStarstryker]

How can someone wear braces for that long? My teeth were crooked, but the bite was okay. Anyway, everyone in my family insisted on putting on braces. I didn’t even expect that it is that painful. I could wear them only for two weeks, and after that, I removed them.

You learn to tolerate the pain, and eventually you don't even feel them anymore.

The upside of braces, I think, is it actually makes your dental-related pain tolerance higher. I had to get a root canal several years after my braces were removed and I heard so many horrible things about how bad it hurt. I actually found it not bad at all. I personally would not even put it in the top 5 of most painful things I've experienced.

 

[sleepydreepy]

I've had a long journey with orthodontia starting when I was in second grade (~2005 or 6). I got "spacers" between my top and bottom molars (4 total) and shortly after I got an expander, all of which lasted until 3rd grade. I then got "old fashioned" braces (with colored bands) on my top front teeth (6 total) and got them off at the end of 4th grade. I had one year of rest before I got full "Damon"/metal braces in 6th grade which lasted until the end of my 8th grade year. I also technically had to wear additional rubber bands for the last year (which I honestly didn't really do). After I got my braces off, I decided to get a permanent retainer put on my top teeth but not my bottom, since permanent retainers were relatively new at the time (or new to my orthodontist, at least). I was then given Invisalign retainers for my top and bottom teeth and sent on my way. Less than a year later I switched the bottom Invisalign retainer for a traditional mold retainer because I believed it was causing me to wake up with a sore throat in the mornings. I did not get a top one made because I never wore my top retainer (I figured I didn't really need one since I had a permanent retainer). I then slowly stopped wearing my bottom retainer too, and didn't even bring it with me to college.

Now I'm 23 and my teeth are pretty straight for the most part. My teeth look great when I smile, but upon further investigation if I open my mouth, my bottom teeth are a bit crowded in the front (probably due to pressure from my wisdom teeth). My top teeth look 90% perfect thanks to my permanent retainer. Although I wish I had gotten a permanent retainer on my bottom teeth, I don't think I will ever have braces or cosmetic orthodontic work done ever again.

For my personal opinions/experience, I hated the ortho growing up. To make a drastic comparison, I felt like a chronically sick kid constantly being brought to the hospital for treatment, who would then go home with some sort of metal "implant," sore, and with specific instructions for the next several months before my next checkup. I constantly had something in my mouth to manage the point where I didn't remember what it was like without it. To me the ortho was pain, and it felt like I had to have work done because there was something "wrong" with me. I have a specific memory that really sums up my experience- I was in the middle of having my full mouth of braces in 7th grade and went in for one of my many check ups. My mom was with me and chatting with the ortho about what she wanted my teeth to look like while I sat in the patient chair. They were going over a slideshow of progress pictures and X-rays. My mom said she was unsatisfied with how the teeth on my lower jaw looked, specifically how they fanned out in the front and made my chin look sunken in. The ortho said to fix that they would have to reconstruct my jaw through surgery, followed by a slew of more ortho work. The fact that my mom almost considered cosmetic surgery for her 13 year old daughter without even asking her says it all....

 

[mermaidshelf]

I had straight teeth as a kid but I started sleeping on my stomach a lot during college due to chronic back pain which shifted my bottom row and now the right-most incisor sticks out. I'm thinking about Invisalign but it's quite pricy.

 

[Croconaw]

I’m in the process of getting implants on the top half of my mouth. I’ve gotten a few extractions and was awake for those, but I’ll be asleep whenever they’re putting the implants in. I’d rather not be awake when I’m getting something screwed into my gums. My surgery is likely sometime in June. My consultation is May 20th.

 

[lemoncrossing]

I had braces twice as a child (from age 7-9, then again from 11-13). It was painful, but my teeth as a kid were entirely grotesque, so I definitely needed it. The problem with getting braces when you still have baby teeth is that sometimes those teeth will fall out, but will stay stuck in your mouth because of the brace & wire attached to it. This only happened once and I got it fixed immediately, but still a weird feeling.

I’m honestly happy that my parents made me get braces at a young age, because by the time I was in high school, my teeth were already nice (ish). I didn’t need crooked teeth in addition to all the awkward ugliness I went through as a high schooler

 

[slzzpz]

I had braces as a teenager and then Invisalign right after. I loved having braces just on the fact I could have different color bands lol. Not being able to eat certain stuff made me sad though.

Invisalign was dope but I kept throwing it away (by accident) when I'd go to restaurants and stuff.


Fast forward to now, I have a gap between my front two top teeth from never using a retainer or anything since Invisalign. I've grown to like my gap, gives me character I guess lol




This just reminded me I need to make a dentist appointment.

 

[moonstone1751]

i had braces for 3 1/2 years

i had a cross bite. my three bottom teeth we’re in front of my two top teeth and those two top teeth were lower than the rest of my top teeth. my lateral incisor on my left side was a lot more up then the rest of my teeth and i don’t think i have to explain more. BASICALLY- my teeth were horrendous. now you may wonder as to why they were horrendous- it was because as a child i would grind my teeth against each other. i always had tooth aches and i ended up wearing down my gums because of it.

the day i got my braces- i was eleven years old and they told me if i waited a month longer to get my braces- my three bottom teeth that were in front of my two top teeth would’ve fallen out— as i was messing up my gums. imagine how terrified i was at eleven years old hearing that, and i honestly got insecure because of that.

i got my braces and i cried the first day because i ate a meatball. must i say more?

time skip to 3 1/2 years later— i got them removed right before my 15th birthday and they were as straight as can be even though my teeth shape weren’t perfect. i forgot to mention that because of the grinding, i chipped my teeth and if i file my teeth , they will be WAY too small then they are now so i have to live w it :/

i’m happy because my teeth are beautiful as they can be and i honestly felt great. i wore my retainers as directed (i had the clear, invisalign retainers) and i wore them ALL the time. i had to come in every month still so the dentist can check my teeth and one day i don’t know what my orthodontist did but she readjusted my retainers and from that day on my two front teeth got ruined. my right top tooth is up from the rest of my teeth and i honestly don’t even know what the heck happened. it got worse throughout time until they changed my retainers to the metal ones and there hasn’t been any difference. im convinced it was my orthodontist as i wore my retainers as instructed and they didn’t move till that one day she adjusted them.

it honestly ruined my self esteem because i was insecure about my teeth since i was a kid and even when i had braces, i was still insecure. the day i got my braces off was an amazing day and i swear i never smiled so much.

so now i have my two top teeth messed up and it sucks because it’s my two top teeth, so i can’t even hide it or anything. my bottom tooth is more raised than the rest of my teeth but i don’t mind that whatsoever. but yeah that was my braces experience which clearly had a terrible ending but oh well

also my orthodontist says she doesn’t want to put me on braces again and wants to try to move my teeth with my retainers but i see no difference these last 6 months