5 years, 2 pallet expanders, 2 sets of braces, headgear, and lots of elastics

[AlCzervik]

My daughter's teeth are finally free of metal confinement and they look just beautiful. She got her braces off this morning and the difference is just striking, she picks up her invisline retainers on thursday and then she's done seeing the orthodontist for 6 months.


:woohoo:

[rockymountaindem]

1. I think "elastics" should be renamed

"inhuman tooth-torture devices". Man I hated those things.

[AlCzervik]

2. she's had so many different types and the configurations during the last year

were pretty funny, one side was the triangle, the other side was 2 brackets top and bottom but it was all fine tuning and damn if it didn't work.

[Lars39]

3. I once quizzed our orthodontist about how long we would have to wear

our retainers. Basically periodically for the rest of your life. A lot of people stop wearing them or the retainers break or something. Your teeth will shift around again. So if you want to keep those perfect teeth, keep wearing your retainers. Get new ones if those break.

Lars' PSA #457 :D

[kineneb]

4. good for her (and you)

A good smile is beautiful, and makes the dentist much happier (especially later in life).


(back when dinosaurs still walked the earth, when braces were always made out of metal, and had the appearance of a '50s auto front grill...)

Going into my year as a HS senior(class of 76), I had braces after all 4 wisdom teeth were removed. I wore headgear(the neckband) plus elastics for a year and a half. Now, I am happy my teeth are still straight, and all still mine.