New Posts

I just posted the Q&A videos at YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOzQ3z5Rn5c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpyRJH-VB_Y&t=4s

Carrie and I hope you enjoy them!

Another adjustment down. I went in last week (sorry, I’ve been busy). It was a good appointment. I met with the ortho who told me things were going well but I still have a long way to go. Yay!  She then explained that I need to bring together my bottom teeth a lot more. If we brought my top teeth together now I would have a pronounced underbite. She told me for now we would bring together the bottom teeth and then use elastics to work on jaw position. Double yay!

Amanda, my assistant buddy, removed my ligatures and wires.  I got figure 8 wires under my archwires in a few places to replace the the powerchains without losing any ground. I got green and black ligatures and chains for my Eagles. She told me that oli would have loops in my wires soon to close the gaps if she had her guess. Next appointment is at the end of February.
Remember you can see pics at Tin_man_80 on instagram. Or message me for pics if interested. Go birds!

It's been a busy week, and we've fallen behind on making the Q&A video. I did unearth some low-res videos of Carrie goofing around at various events over the last few months and spliced them together into one little 2-minute video. There's no braces content, however, and the vids are so low-res you can barely see she has braces. They do give a little look into the goofball side of her personality, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t-WnLpQDT0

I'll try to get on that Q&A video this weekend, though we're busy with the symphony tonight, a funeral and a monster truck rally Saturday, and a nacho/margarita/sportsball party on Sunday. But maybe we can squeeze it in!

Lastly, would anyone be interested in a video about her multiple consults prior to getting braces? I could splice that together, too.

I'm going for a consultation on Monday so will find out what's advised! I went for one 7 years ago and was told that only metal braces would work, wish I hadn't chickened out! These days things have come a long way...

i am in process of getting braces -I wanted Invisalign, but the amount of correction prevented that,  so, getting clear on top and metal on bottom.

I started with invisalign, then switched to clear fastbraces.  I wish I would have started with the clear fast braces, or lingual.  hindsight is always 20/20

Pink with sparkles

I agree.  Most people are going to have something that could be corrected.  Orthos aren't going to stay in business if they shoo away potential paying customers.

mrmajestic723 said:

If you visit an ortho and say you aren’t happy with your teeth they will probably evaluate and give a treatment plan, even if it is minor or cosmetic.

Click to expand...

Right! They're in business to make money. My wife did seven consults before getting her braces, which were hardly actually necessary, and not a single practice discouraged her from getting treatment.

I'd do Invisalign. I don't have any bite issues, and only have some relatively minor alignment correction to make. I do a lot of public speaking and on-camera stuff in my job, so clear aligners would be better from a company-image point of view, in the sense that I wouldn't want to take any attention away from the products I'm paid to promote.

I'm not "into" braces on myself, just women, so that part wouldn't affect my decision.

Whew! Back from our whirlwind trip to Flagstaff and Las Vegas. We had a great time, and I only had to remind Carrie to put in her elastics a couple of times.

The most memorable braces moment was in Flagstaff. Carrie's braces are very obvious, of course, but our friend Britt's Invisalign isn't. Britt took hers out at the first bar and the bartender (whom we know slightly) came over, glanced at Britt's trays sitting on a napkin, and asked me, "So are you their orthodontist?"

Had I been clever I would have said, "No, gynecologist." But I was slow and missed the opportunity! It was still a fun comment from the bartender, though.

I was also able to cross off another Braces Bucket List item: attend the annual Brewhaha with Carrie in braces. All in all, a very successful week. I did a pic dump on Flickr this morning, with 20+ new images from Flagstaff and Vegas.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeinreallife/albums/72157664267164718

In actual treatment news, Carrie still finds the elastics a bit uncomfortably tight. I looked more closely at the package and they're actually 3/16" 4.0 ounce (heavy) elastics, so I'm not surprised she's still feeling a lot of pressure. On the plus side, she can put them in smoothly without a mirror now.

We'll make the Q&A video this week, possibly tonight.

I had removables at school,although they were in 24/7as my parents made sure the teachers checked ,and my parents made sure I wore them all the time as I've posted elsewhere on this forum.ive now come to the conclusion that if I had them again I would definitely go for fixed metal top bottom with maybe expanders and tongue crib as well.

Metal for sure! That's what i'm getting

Fantasy pushed aside, I would choose clear brackets.  I don't think I'd want to deal with Invisalign, remembering to wear them, keeping them extra clean, possible speech impediment.  Furthermore I'm sure brackets are able to make more fine tune adjustments than Invisalign is.

Dark colors like Navy / dark blue, red, or black.

I want to get only fixed metal braces. The idea of full bands is nice.

Metal all the way!!!! Better full bands would be the ultimate dream come true!

I had metal braces as a teenager and invisalign about 6 years ago.  In hindsight, I should have gone with metal braces the second time for a better outcome.  I was self conscious and worried about my professional job plus it was a good deal through my dentist so I chickened out and went invisalign.  My permanent retainer broke off on my bottom teeth and they have moved along with a diastema on top.  I should probably work up the nerve and seek out an orthodontist and try again with metal braces.

It's tough - I'd love to get metal braces, hopefully with appliances and elastics. However, I'd be incredibly apprehensive about it and I have no interest - sometimes a dislike (maybe as I see orthodontia as an intrinsically sexy feminine thing) in braces on males.
I feel rather than the full cop out of invisalign (hate it) I'd get removable appliances, my teeth need orthodontic treatment so I'd get some interesting appliances which would be exciting for fun with my wife.
Either way, it'd be a crazy decision to make, just going to an orthodontist would be wild