Anyone had Orthodontic treatment?

grahamcp

I'm not a particularly vain kinda guy but if I could change one thing about my appearance it would be my teeth. They are healthy enough, and it's nothing too goofy, but the front ones aren't straight and I'd feel a lot more confident with my smile if they were.

Has anyone else gone through straightening treatment who would be willing to share their experiences? Obviously everyones case is individual and I will be booking a consultation with an orthodontist, but nonetheless would be interesting to hear a few stories, successful or otherwise.

There seems to have been a lot of innovations in recent years with many new treatments such as Invisalign which means you don't have to have a mouth like ugly betty for 2 years, but that also makes the decision making process of which one to go for all the more tricky (Invisalign is going on for £5k with retainers I believe, too much for me!!)

TIA

Ben6899

Hi Graham,

I wouldn't worry about vanity... it sounds like you'd be doing this for you and not other people. I had braces and about four teeth removed when I was a teenager - my mouth was crowded and as a result some of my teeth weren't straight.

I aint gonna paint a pretty picture - with regards my mouth and comfort; it was a pretty traumatic two years. Am I glad I did it? Hell yeah. My teeth are not perfect, but they look pretty damn good.

I would go for it, if you can afford it and it will improve your confidence.

Stick8267

I had my braces off last week after two years of treatment. I had lingual braces (on the inside of the teeth) and so they couldn't be seen at all. I also had major mandibular surgery a year ago as part of it.

I am really pleased with the result and so is my other half. Don't worry about the vanity thing, the change is slow and people only realise you've had it done if they compare before and after pictures. You, however, will look better afterwards and feel better about your appearance.

It is a bit of a long haul and you need to be prepared to stick it out. My teeth often ached, I lisped a bit at first, and frequently had a very sore tongue (won't happen if you avoid linguals).

My advice would be go for it if you can afford it but make sure your orthodontist is good. There's real artistry involved.

andy162

I had Invisalign braces a bit back. They're a series of clear plastic "gum shields??" that fit over your teeth. You change them every 2 weeks then discard your old ones. Once they're in you cannot spot them. You take them out to eat or drink & then clean your teeth & put them back in. They recommend you wear them 23hrs a day. My treatment lasted 18months, my chompers looked "thrown in" & now they're spot on.

I was really pleased with the result tbh. Once you get into the routine of wearing them it's no bother. They ain't cheap tho but neither is a Dogma. That sorta £££ territory.

BearPear

I have a 16 year old daughter who is one year into treatment. She was never happy with her teeth and had to have surgery prior to the brace being fitted (she had a canine tooth embedded in the roof of her mouth which has been exposed and guided into a space which the braces had made for it).

Her orthodontist said that if she had any doubt then his advice would be not to do it but she was, and still is determined to see it through. It is time-consuming having to get to the orthodontist every 8 weeks but she is so much happier with her smile, even with a mouth full of metal than she ever was before.

As others have said, if you feel self-concious about your teeth then having some treatment will make you feel much better.

mrushton

I avoided dentists for a long time (rubbish school dentist) and it was not until my late teens and then my 20s that i ended up having restoration/preservation work,extractions and finally braces. My teeth aren't great now but better than they were 25 years ago in terms of alignment. I'd advise anyone to get the best dental treatment they can in terms of orthodontistry and preservation

grahamcp

cheers for all the responses, it's appreciated.... have done a bit of research on local practices and will be booking in for a consultation.

:-)

or should that be...

finchy

I had 8 teeth taken out as a teenager to have a brace. Not pleasant, but this was 15 years ago - I'm sure that advances have been made elsewhere.

ColinJ

mrushton wrote:

I avoided dentists for a long time (rubbish school dentist)...

Tell me about it! :shock:

I had the 'school dentist' from hell when I was about 8 years old. (What was that school dentist thing all about?) He traumatised me to the extent that I blacked out when he drilled into a nerve. I woke up with him continuing to drill away without an anaesthetic, and he screamed abuse at me when I asked if my mother could come in to reassure me. "Is it safe?" - not in his bloody case, it wasn't! :evil:

A week or so later, a girl ended up in hospital after his handiwork...

mrushton

To the OP. money often talks in these situations with some of the best treatment available only to the best equipped practices altho' all dentists are trained to a standard, some practices specialise in orthodonty,crowns,veneers.

I had to have a tooth removed some years back and the Consultant looking at my X-rays discussed school dentists with me saying that they were often retired/retiring practitioners who didn't care and in his opinion set a lot of children back in terms of dental care. I had a lot of work done at a Dental Hospital and the students were fantastic. Their teachers were really on the ball (as you'd hope) but the treatment I had took a lot of the fear of dentistry away.

KulaBen

I had my teeth straightened when I was 28. Went to an orthodontist that was recommended and I have to say I'm really glad I did. It is painful at times, and you do feel a bit silly but you soon get used to it. You need to get recommendations or shop around to get an idea of quotes and who's good, but all in all i think it is well worth it.
Oddly enough after I got my braces put in a number of people where I worked did too. It may be a coincidence, but I think it is getting much more common amongst grown-ups.
Good luck with it.

grahamcp

Andy162...

The Invisalign option does look very interesting (the alternatives don't seem to be that much cheaper anyway - one place has even given me details of a lingual device called Incognito which is "from £6500" !!!) Metal braces are being quoted "from £2900".

Anyway I was just wondering - did the Invisalign affect your cycling at all? I'm just thinking if you have to wear them 23hrs a day, take them out for eating/drinking, brush/floss before putting back in etc, then things could get difficult when out riding for more than an hour or so at a time.

Spoke to a couple of practices today and I can't even get a consultation until february! I thought with private treatment it would be a lot quicker.

andy162

Hi Graham,

I found Invisalign a doddle tbh. My treatment started in Jan 2009 & is now finished, albeit I still have the retainers in at night. My teeth were on the borderline of what Invisalign could correct, so we're talking "proper wonky!". But the go ahead came back from the US & I started with the treatment. Mine cost £3500 to do & the retainers are £350.

I didn't need any teeth out & other than in the first few weeks I had no pain at all. Even then I would say it's uncomfortable rather than pain as such. The aligners feel weird at first but you soon become so used to them you forget about them. You'll probably have to have a mil' or two shaved off the side of a few teeth to give them space to move, that's no bother either. Also small ceramic buttons are glued to to your teeth. The aligners have rebates on them that click onto the buttons. This allows pressure to be applied to each tooth & again it's no bother, once they're on you can't see them as they're the same colour as your teeth.

As regards cycling, did it affect it? Not at all. I made my dentist aware of what I did & that on some days they'd stay out for most of the day. Not a problem. If you are only taking on water then you could leave them in. Personally when I was out on the bike I left the aligners at home. A week training in Mallorca in Feb resulted in them only going in at night, didn't affect the treatment at all.

I had to wait 6 months to see my dentist. I almost forgot I'd contacted him until he got in touch to say he had the capacity to take me on...

I have no complaints at all, go for it...

nwallace

Had a large block of plastic sit and wobble about in my gob for 2 years from P7 constantly then at night only for the next 3 and then check ups until I was at Uni.

That was for teeth that stuck out though, crap timing for it though but what a difference between the mould when I was 11 and when I was 19

ChrisSA

I had the majority of my milk teeth pulled out, so I could have a load of adult teeth pulled out.
My mouth was apparently too small. Still got me in to loads of trouble though.

If it wasn't for Nurofen and beer the pain would have been a lot worse, and the brace was fitted shortly before I went to uni. I then had a retainer. Overall, it didn't really do much, and my teeth are still overlapping.

YMMV........

getonyourbike

its going to be fun for me. I just had a first inspection thing, to see what they can do for me. Apparently I'm complicated. I've managed to smash my front 2 teeth last year and I had a root canel done on both and majo fillings. That's complication number one. My bottom jaw isn't far enough out naturally either. I'm going to need quite a few teeth out due to overcrowding too. I'm so special infact that the orthodontist is going to talk to a more senior orthodontist to discuss my treatment and I might need treating at the hospital instead of the surgery. Thanks god for the NHS.

starlet_gt

getonyourbike wrote:

its going to be fun for me. I just had a first inspection thing, to see what they can do for me. Apparently I'm complicated. I've managed to smash my front 2 teeth last year and I had a root canel done on both and majo fillings. That's complication number one. My bottom jaw isn't far enough out naturally either. I'm going to need quite a few teeth out due to overcrowding too. I'm so special infact that the orthodontist is going to talk to a more senior orthodontist to discuss my treatment and I might need treating at the hospital instead of the surgery. Thanks god for the NHS.

Sounds painful... I've been referred to the orthodontic department at my local hospital as I hit one of my top front teeth backwards and up into the gum. It looks incredibly stupid atm and its knocked 1 tooth either side out of line too -_-

grahamcp

Well, I managed to get in for an Invisalign consultation today due to a cancellation at one of the 3 local practices I had enquired with. I am a more complex case but definitely treatable, am looking at about 18 months treatment time. So it all sounds very promising, the dentist was superb and even turned out to be a cyclist himself.

I was bracing myself for somewhere above 3K. It's actually going to be just over 4 plus I need some time with the hygenist beforehand. But that includes extra adjustments that may be needed later on during treatment and I think 3 sets of final retainers. Can also get 0% instalments with denplan. Good job it's not subject to VAT!

Big, big money of course, but I think I am going to go for it.

Thanks for sharing your stories.
Graham.