Braces 2: The Sequel
 

I was hoping to open this thread with a link to the original that I posted about halfway through 2006, but it seems to have disappeared of the face of the forums. So I'll recap:
I made the thread after finding out that I had to have eight teeth removed and then go through orthadontic treatment, which I wasn't too happy about, so I asked other people for their experiences with the metal monstrosities.

So now, around 22 months after I first got my braces on, they have been removed.
Is it magical?

Not really. Perhaps I had hyped it up too much in my mind, probably owed to a lot of people raving about how interestingly slimy and smooth your teeth feel when you get them off. Turns out they just felt like they used to before the braces, and it didn't even seem wierd. Perhaps it's also due to the fact that I didn't have them on for as long as some people do. Or maybe I just don't lick the front of my teeth all the time like a retard. Who knows?

My most immediate thought when I saw my framework free smile was that my teeth are too big. I already knew I had big teeth beforehand, but seeing them without the braces on to decorate made the space between the bottom of the tooth and my gum so monumental. I considered for a while if anyone had ever gotten a tiny picture engraved on their teeth, just to make them more interesting.

To top it off, the bar they have situated behind my bottom front teeth had given me a lisp.

Needless to say, I left the orthadontist feeling remarkably disheartened, but still intent on pursuing my much anticipated return to the normality of eating, I bought an apple on my way home (I hadn't eaten one since when I first got my braces due to the difficulty of removing the skin from... everywhere).
Was it magical?

Not really. Although it tasted great, as they used to, I had totally forgotten how to eat them and got juice all over my pants.

Later in the day, I returned to the orthodontist to get my retainer, which is one of the transparent, mouthguard type ones. Which gives makes me talk like a spastic, and makes it bothersome to just eat snacks (I have to take it out to eat)

I was planning to take a photo of myself post-braces (to send to my parents, requesting friends elsewhere, etc.) but after all this, I can't be bothered.

In summary, I kinda wish I still had my braces on.

* * *

This would be the end of my post had I created it on the day that my braces were removed. However, as time has gone on I've gotten a bit better at talking (still can't say "I never thought I'd leave the city" properly, points for reference), have gotten more used to the fact I have to brush my teeth most times I eat something, and a compliment I received on my smile has dispelled my 'big teeth' issues. I still think it was overhyped, but not as bad as I initially made out I guess. So now I have to learn to change my natural smile back from closed mouth to open.


TL;DR version:
I got my braces off and thought it was overrated, cried like a little girl, then mostly got over it. Discuss your own experiences with them.

I was going to get braces, but my teeth were deemed unrepairable or something. Money probably had something to do with it. I did have a pallet-expander when I was a kid. I remember chewing gum at the very front of my teeth and the roof of my mouth feeling a lot higher when I got it off.

I loved my braces! Not the expander so much, but I was very happy with the results.

Even though it was only one tooth I needed to fix, they still hooked me up with all the shiny metal.

Alcar...

You weren't very happy at the time, I seem to recall.

When I saw the title of the thread in the Last Post column and Alcar as last poster, I got very worried that you were going to have them back in. Didn't think I could put up with that sort of whinging again.

I grew to love them :p

Alcar...

I have braces, and i have a small lisp. Just think, people can laugh, but in the end, who will have the better smile and straighter teeth?
WHAM!
Thats what i thought.
If you have them on for long enough they become comfy :D:D

So who is telling the truth, Alcar or Nate?

ABM :p

Indeed, with time you don't notice them.

Alcar...

Mine are part of my mouth now :D:D:D

Well, cemented to my teeth they kind of are :D:D:D

Did you whinge at first? Or was nate just trying to make a reason to laugh at you?

ABM :p

I opted out of braces. I figured that at that age the attitude I would have gotten from certain peers was not worth it, and when I grew up people would be far too mature to be put off by teeth that are not entirely perfect. I also have the distinct desire for my body to be identified should I ever have a horrific accident, something not possible if my teeth came from the same box in Beverly Hills as everyone else's.

Besides, I'm British. There are somes standards you just have to live up to.

Wow, so what exactly is the purpose of expanding your pallet? I've never heard of it before.

Aside from my teeth that were growing sideways, my teeth were definitely a personal issue I had with myself. I'd never had any bad comments on them, but I slowly stopped smiling with my mouth open, and still often don't, so that's something I have to learn to do again.

I've never had to have braces, yet I've had to have alot of teeth removed.

I generally don't smile with my mouth open [which makes me look like a spastic] because I've had the two teeth next to my front teeth removed [on either side].

You wouldn't notice, but I feel selfconcious. My mouth was too small to house my teeth. :(

- Rexy

[Edit: Infact, it's difficult to find a photo of me smiling... Same reason. We're in a boat of the same thing Fax :P. ]

I'm not sure why exactly. I think it was too small for my teeth to develop in or something.

A boat of the same thing? You certainly have a way with words. :P

How'd you have yours removed? I was supposed to be drugged but awake, but when they were about to drug me my blood pressure dropped (I guess I freaked out) so they had to reschedule and put me to sleep.

Ah okay. That would feel quite weird, I imagine.

I had my braces removed recently!

I was very, very happy with my teeth after 3 years of wearing them (various retainers)

I'm glad I chose to have braces, my 2 front teeth were crossed over and I was afraid to smile :(

But they starting to cross over, because I wasn't wearing a special retainer in bed...but that cleared itself up :tard:

Now I can smile! :D

Unlike literally everyone else in my entire family, I haven't needed braces, since my teeth are fine anyway.

Curious how people 'need' them when one or two teeth are slightly out of place and they need braces because some problem might develop with them growing weird. Would anything really bad actually happen? Did humans thousands of years ago die because they had no braces available or what? Just seems weird.

I don't know about pictures in teeth, but you can get gemstones embedded into them.

There are also grills, which are the most disgusting thing someone could put on their teeth.

http://www.vinylexchange.com/blog/pi...wall_close.jpg

Diamonds on my motherfuckin grills

How did you feel about the waterfall of saliva they brought on, Fax? My fake tooth does that to me, over a year later.

Never got any. Never want to. My teeth are small, but strong, and I haven't lost a one.

I take good care of them.

Delicious.

From the braces? Never really noticed it, to be honest.

It's nothing to do with taking good care of them, I brush my teeth more than any of my friends and they never had braces. Mine just didn't have enough space to grow right.

*shrug* Wouldn't know.

Hell, haven't even been to the dentist after I returned from Beijing for a checkup. The dude actually said "If they haven't broken or fallen out by now, they're probably made of diamond."

Fuck yeah.

Isn't diamond one of the only substances which can drill into a tooth anyway?

My ortherdentist said my teeth were well cleaned...then i went to the dentist a few days later and i needed 3 fillings!

WTF!:fuzmad:

Lucky you. It makes everything I say sound ten time'th' nerdier.

Oh damn. Yeah the braces themselves didn't really affect my speech after a couple of days, but the bar and retainer do a bit because it's where my tongue needs to go to make sounds.

:(

They made me sound camper.

Alcar...