Next week yearly visit to dentist - I want braces

A

agu

Newbie
Hi everyone,

Next week I have my yearly visit to the dentist. I would like to ask her if I should start wearing braces even though I'm +35. I think I can convince her to make an appointment with and orthopedist because my lower teeth are a little bit "out of tune" and one of my front teeth at the top was shifted in time. For some reason I really want to start a full treatment with braces both top and bottom teeth. I have some kind of love/hate relation with braces. I don't like / hate the look of it and I think they give you a "dirty teeth"-look. But for some reason, I cannot explain, I really want to get braces. Preferably with metal brackets.

The reason why I'm telling you this: I will have to convince my environment (family / friends / colleagues at work). I'm afraid of their reaction. They will not understand I started the braces treatment. Any suggestions how I should explain to my environment? Also I will feel ashamed to start wearing the braces. I'm a little but shy person. How to handle this?

Also I will have to convince my dentist to give me an appointment with an orthopedist. Any suggestions how to make this happen?

Thanks for your help/information/support.
 
Not sure where you are from but here if you pay for it you can get an orthodontic consultation if you want one. It will be up to the orthodontist to advise you on what options are available for your issues. I always wanted removable braces but my treatment as an adult never allowed for it so I had fixed braces then Hawley retainers. If your ortho thinks braces are necessary they will advise. Good luck with it. As for what friend and colleagues think just tell them you are fixing your smile and they won’t care
 
agu said:
... I think I can convince her to make an appointment with and orthopedist because ......

Also I will have to convince my dentist to give me an appointment with an orthopedist.
Click to expand...

I REALLY hope you actually get referred to an orthodontist, and not an orthopedist.... orthopedists DO do braces, just not for your mouth!

In most countries, you can go visit a private orthodontist WITHOUT needing to be referred by your dentist
 
Thanks for your feedback. Ofcourse I meant OrthoDONTist :) I'll check what my dentist will say. I don't know yet how to explain to my dentist. I only hope my dentist will not notice I really want braces.
 
I went to the dentist. I asked her what I should do with my crooked bottom teeth after she finished the checkup. She didn't seem to be very interested in my question. The only thing she answered was: "If you really find your bottom crooked teeth disturbing you will need braces. The bracket-type. BUT don't forget you will need brackets on your top teeth too".  (I have one small issue with one of my front top teeth (little periodontitis)). "So you will have to be carefull with the top brackets on that tooth".

So I was little bit dissapointed. This means I'll have to fix the tooth first before even thinking about braces...
 
I have made an appointment to check and fix the parodontitis issue on my front tooth. I don't know what to expect from it. If I even want to start a braces treatment (on my lower tooth) my dentist told me to fix the upper tooth first. I hope they can fix it. The more I look at my lower teeth the more I'm convinced I need to get it fixed with braces.
My appointment at the endodontologist(?) is first week november :( This will take a lot of time :(
 
agu said:
I went to the dentist. I asked her what I should do with my crooked bottom teeth after she finished the check-up. She didn't seem to be very interested in my question. The only thing she answered was: "If you really find your bottom crooked teeth disturbing you will need braces. The bracket-type. BUT don't forget you will need brackets on your top teeth too".  (I have one small issue with one of my front top teeth (little periodontitis)). "So you will have to be careful with the top brackets on that tooth".

So I was little bit disappointed. This means I'll have to fix the tooth first before even thinking about braces...
Click to expand...

As I was explaining to my wife earlier (who has braces): If you take your car to the garage, for it's annual service, but highlight a noise in the engine, then they will happily fix it. However, they are unlikely to be interested in, or even comment on the scratch in your wing, or the small dent in your door, they are purely cosmetic issues, and don't particularly affect the operation of the car, you would go to a body-shop to get the dents fixed. They may even be unaware of how a body shop would actually repair the dents and scratches.

Same with dentists: you go for a check-up, they will look at your teeth, fix any issues, and that's about it, maybe a bit of preventative stuff if you're lucky. They are not especially bothered if your teeth are crooked, that's a cosmetic thing, and that's what Orthodontists do. I would ignore your dentist's comment about "needing brackets, also on the top", an orthodontist will be able to give you MUCH better information.

If you go to a dental practice where they do BOTH state-funded checks AND privately paid work, then they are more likely to have an awareness of your crooked teeth, if only because it might provide their ortho colleagues with income too!

You do NOT need to wait until your teeth are technically perfect before seeing an orthodontist: remember that they have had dental training too, so will spot any issues your teeth may have, and will simply recommend that you get those issues fixed before you start treatment, if they are relevant to the treatment. (which happened with my wife, when she got braces)

 
Hello,

Thank you for your explanation. I was reading your message this morning. I promptly started searching for a dental practice doing both ortho / dentist. I found one little bit further away from my home and I called them. I explained I'm interested in a preventive check and that I have some crooked teeth I want to talk about. Afterwards I filled out an online form with some information about allergies etc... Then I ended up on a page to book an appointment. First available slot: 9th of november :(  But I decided to make the appointment. I'm already getting nervous ;-)

I'll have to wait a little bit but I think it is the best descision at this very moment.

Thanks again. Will keep you posted!

 
It looks like there was a small misunderstanding. People warned me it is almost impossible to get an appointment that fast at an orthodontist. So I called the dentist to double check and it looks like they gave me an appointment with a DENTIST on the 9th of november. The first available slot for the ORTHO is 10th of MAY 2022 (!).
Is this normal? This means I have to wait for about +/- 8 months :( to see an Ortho???

So I have 2 appointments now: 9th of november 2021 and 10th of may 2022.

This will take forever.
 
Hello everyone. As I’m getting pretty serious on fixing my smile at adult age, I decided to start a blog. I have been reading a lot of forums and blogs and I think it can be very interesting to share my story too. Feel free to visit and read about my story on http://www.adultwithbraces.com It is a work in progress so any suggestions or remarks are welcome!
 
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