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Does anyone have braces currently? Or had them in the past?
I've had mine since August 2013 and I am finally getting them off tomorrow! My experience has been really smooth, none of my brackets have ever broken and it has never been excruciatingly painful (apart from when I first got them). I am so excited to get them off though! They make me look so ugly!
How long have you had/did you have yours? Any problems? Bad experience! I'm very curious
Congrats! You must be so excited to have them removed!
I had braces from February 2008 and got them removed sometime during July/August 2011 (3 years holy shit!) I don't recall having any bad experiences other than not being able to eat an apple/peach without cutting it up. I kinda miss having my braces and picking out different colours for the bands. When I got my braces removed I was genuinely concerned whether or not I'd have yellow squares, thankfully I didn't. Absolutely love the way how my teeth turned out and I always get compliments on how nice and white my teeth are. (I think otherwise, but that could be me being a perfectionist)
I'm not going to lie wearing a retainer sucks but since I've had my braces removed, I've worn them every single day until my orthodontist told me I could wear them at night -- haven't missed a night either. Make sure you wear your retainer! I know it's tempting not to, but if you don't your teeth will eventually shift back.
I had braces when I was in...4th grade? Only on top, and for under a year, just to fix a gap in my teeth. I have them again now though, top and bottom, to fix a shitload of stuff. It's not so bad, I had to get four teeth pulled which wasn't fun, and I was having a reaction to the normal wire they use and had to be switched out with stainless steel wires which were thicker than the regular ones, and oh man I was just lying there silently crying when she put them in lol because it felt like she was ripping my teeth out of my head.
I don't love having them, but I'm glad that I'm getting everything taken care of. I've always been so self-conscious about my teeth, so the two years is worth it.
If your retainer is not glued on, MAKE SURE YOU WEAR IT. I know too many people who did not wear their retainers and their teeth shifted back. A lot of them ended up getting braces as adults. I mean if your insurance covers it, it's fine but that's a lot of $ and time gone down the drain.
I got my braces off yesterday and it's the best feeling ever! I haven't stopped smiling! The retainers suck though. I nearly threw up when he was doing the moulds for them so I had to move so my retainers don't fit properly so they hurt, but it's alright
I had them when I was 16-20, wore my retainer for a year, had a lot of crazy stuff happen in my life at that point (moving house multiple times, working 2 jobs, moving from college to university, etc.) and stopped wearing my retainers. Also my wisdom teeth came in after I got my braces off, so either way my teeth were probably going to shift. They're not that badly crooked now, and certainly much better than before I had braces, but they're not perfectly straight either.
One of the orthodontists at the place I went to had horrible chairside manner, but there was a 25% chance that I would get the other guy, who was much nicer. I also miss picking out colours every month, but I don't miss not being able to just eat apples, or when those tiny plastic rubber bands would sometimes snap and break inside my mouth. Also my jaws line up way better now than they did before, so that's a plus. And getting braces tightened never hurt as badly as some of my friends said they would, but I do have a higher pain tolerance.
gurugirl, tell your dentist next time you go in that your retainer doesn't fit properly, and he may be able to fix it for you.
I have them right now and I loathe them with every single cell in my body. But I'm hopefully, hopefully, hopefully getting them off in January. I don't really care about how they make me look bc I'm ugly with or without them, but they're just really gross-looking and inconvenient so I'd rather not have them there. I think I may cry if I don't end up getting rid of them in January though.
I had them for about 2 1/2 years - got them when I was 17 and had them off at 19. I had an impacted tooth and underbite (it was just how my teeth had grown though so didn't require jaw surgey) so I did have some problems. I had to have the tooth 'uncovered' and then they used string and one of those massive springs to pull it into the right place. I was walking around looking like one of my teeth had fallen out for months lol. It was worth it though!
I always make sure to wear my retainer now. They told me I could start cutting back how often I wear it, but I still try every other night.
It was the summer before 8th grade when I got braces so I was like 13. And I got them off the summer before 10th grade. So two years. I had to have four teeth pulled and also I had to have this stupid metal thing put on the roof of my mouth that was attached to my molars that I had to wear for a year before I had my braces put in. I had to wear rubber bands like the whole time because I had an overbite. I have retainers but I never wear them. I need to start wearing them because I can feel my teeth shifting. Meh.
I had them for about 2 1/2 years and things went smoothly at first, but then we moved. Once we got to our new state, we had to find an orthodontist who could work with the braces we already had (which apparently were super outdated). Everything went fine, except the fact that the orthodontist was kinda mean. I'm pretty sure he made both me and my brother cry at one point or another. And then when I got mine off, I was happy with my teeth, but at the same time, still super nitpicky about them, but it's whatever. The orthodontist had me wear my retainer AT ALL TIMES (except for eating) for a whole year, which I found odd because none of my other friends had to wear their's that long. Well fast forward to a couple months ago, we moved again, and found another orthodontist just for check ups and stuff, and come to find out that we definitely did not need to wear our retainers 24/7 for so long. And actually that ended up being really bad for me because the plastic part of my bottom retainer had pushed down the gum tissue on the backs of my front bottom teeth, so in the future I might have to get a tissue graft if it gets bad. So overall not a bad experience with the braces themselves, but my orthodontist sucked big time.
I had braces for a year and 8 months when I was 20 - 21.
I might be the only person to disagree about the retainer thing (based only on my experience). My orthodontist told me to first wear them 24/7 but I didn't because they gave me a lisp and I need to talk to people all day for work.
So I wore them religiously at night for maybe a year and now I just make sure I wear them at least once a week (I'm 25). And the retainers still fit comfortably so I figure that means they haven't moved much
I had braces for a couple of years in middle school. While I didn't hate them, they were uncomfortable a lot of the time. The end result is way worth it though. I love my teeth. I still wear my retainer just about every night. Or try to, most weeks I wear them maybe 5 nights out of the whole week.
I’ve had my braces on for a year and 5 months now and I have hated them since the first day I got them on. I can’t wait to get them off which is in a couple of months. They really do bring down my self esteem bc I always feel like they’re super noticeable and obvious and I hate drawing attention to myself.
