Taking the plunge...

M

mrmajestic723

Gold Member
I've been a braces fan as long as I can remember but never had them myself.  Due to my parents' issues with dentists I did not go from age 10-19. Prime age for braces. The dentist I next saw at 19 was because of a cracked baby tooth that was never replaced by an adult tooth.

Around 25, I saw a new competent dentist, he asked if I ever thought about braces? He told me about a crossbite in the rear and a bite that was not overlapping in front which could be classified as a slight underbite. He didn't know any nearby orths and I did t have the money to do it at the time.

More than 10 years have passed. My wife knows nothing about my liking braces, though she seemed to suspect after me not closing a window on the computer 9 years ago.

I decided it is time. I pass a billboard for $2999 metal braces everyday heading to work. I have been acting like I have tmj disorder symptoms (which I sometimes do, but I have been playing them up)

I went to my regular dentist who said I don't need to rush to braces but he did admit my tmj disorder was related to a bad bite. This was enough to convince my wife that if my jaw was really bothering me I could go to some consultations on what to do.

I have an appointment on Monday July 3rd and one 10 days later.  The first place will do bite prosthesis for jaw problems and they do braces as well. They seemed like a place to get a "first opinion" to satisfy my wife. She works that day.

The appointment on the 13th is with the ortho office from the billboard. They really only do braces. Now I just need to keep the jaw pain show up for a little while and make another appointment or two. (If consultations are free, I might as well see what options are out there.)


If I'm going to do this I need to find which office is giving me the most metal/appliances, for the longest time and the best price.
 
I'll get a picture site started soon. Please feel free to contact me with questions and support.
 
Congrats on getting started!

As you may recall from my posts, my wife did seven consults. All were free. Go and have some fun getting consults!

It's a pity you're unable to share your real reasons/feelings with your wife, but that's how life goes sometimes.
 
Once they are on I think it will be time to confess. If she she's how happy I am with the decision it will make things easier.

Mike your wife's willingness to go for it helped me decide to give it a try.
 
Mike your wife's willingness to go for it helped me decide to give it a try.
Click to expand...

Well, if posting her experience here accomplishes absolutely nothing else, it will have been worth it for this alone. Glad it helped!
 
Carrie and I are both 36 (37 next month to be honest) and she seems to be adjusting fine and having fun doing it. Plus if she is having this much fun doing it just for you imagine how much I'll enjoy doing it for me.  ;D
 
This morning's dentist appointment was a waste of time. The office basically told be to fix my bite I'd need to see an orthodontist (duh). I assume they didn't offer because their office does not do braces like they said on the phone (I'm guessing just Invisalign, which probably won't work for me). They did refer me to an ortho called Dr. B for Kids. They assured me he also does well with adults.

On the plus side there were a few more offices open today to schedule consultations with. Many of those appointments are in late July/to mid august. Many orthodontists around here vacation it seems in mid to late July.

More offices will be open on Wednesday after the 4th of July holiday. I will be making more calls then. Thanks for your interest. Feel free to question or comment.
 
Sorry today was a waste of time. If you need major bite correction, Invisalign probably isn't going to work as well as fixed braces, as you observed. I think most dental practices who push Invisalign just do it to make an easy buck, anyway. Doc goes to a weekend seminar and suddenly, BOOM, they're a "certified Invisalign provider" without knowing much about real orthodontics at all. But this could just be my braces-bias talking!

Good luck with finding more practices for consults. Carrie took her time doing consults before she settled on the current practice. That seemed to bear fruit for her -- she likes the orthodontist and the price was fair -- so don't get in a rush. I don't know how big a city you live in, though. If it's a small area, you may run out of orthos! There are about a million orthos in the Phoenix metro area, so Carrie had many, many choices.
 
I'm just outside of Philadelphia (25 mins from center city). I'd prefer to stay in the suburbs so it is close and to avoid parking in the city, which can be a problem to say the least.
 
Gotcha. We live in downtown Phoenix, but there are few ortho practices in the actual downtown area (two, to be exact). Carrie had much better success in the suburbs, which makes demographic/intuitive sense, so you may actually be well-positioned to find an ortho you like. Carrie's ortho is in Tempe, a suburb of Phoenix.

Best of luck with your future consults! Please keep us posted.
 
I suppose I'm just excited to get moving finally. This is years of wanting this, I was hoping to dive in right in. I suppose if I waited this long I might as well make the most of it.
 
Understand about your eagerness to get started!

Carrie and I hit a big snag once she was ready to get her braces, and she had to postpone for almost a year. But I figured I'd been waiting for, ya know, thirty years or so and could wait another ten months. I'm a pretty patient man, anyway. You obviously won't have to be patient anywhere near that long!
 
I have 6 appointments scheduled over the next four weeks. Two next week! These were already my top prospects based on location, price and reviews but we shall see.

I'm posting to Instagram as tin_man_80 if anyone would like to follow.
 
I pass that billboard every time I go into the city. I always wonder how legit it is. Like who qualifies for that price? Anyone? Or just the simple cosmetic cases? And I wonder what people are thinking as they pass it...

"Gross, metal adult braces, thank goodness I don't need those"

"Wow, only $2999 to fix my incredibly complicated issues? Maybe I should call..."

"Ew, why would anyone want to do that?"

I mean I always assume that I'm the only one under the sun who passes that billboard and every time my little "braces-dar" goes off - "ooooh! Braces! Ding ding ding!"

Obvs I'm not lol since you do the same (literally the same billboard. Apparently we are neighbors)

I have to wonder how common this braces thing really is. Maybe more than we think?
 
That is really funny. I have the same thoughts. The price seems legit (I will find out more next Thursday. ) the scheduling guy was talking about it as though it was a common question and a routine price.

I did send you a pm in case you had any questions about our area or practices I am visiting.

Anyone else with questions or comments ?
 
I don't think $3000 for metal braces is all that uncommon. My wife's braces cost $3400 before insurance ($2400 after), and a practice here in Phoenix runs a Black Friday special every year for $2000. Admittedly, my wife's case is uncomplicated, though not purely cosmetic.

Interestingly, a men-only forum I participate in had a thread about "unusual turn-ons." Of about 150 posts, ten guys mentioned braces as something that they like. Some of the other things were :o
 
First consultation is tomorrow at 2:00. I updated my instagram page to show my upper and lower arches.

Any suggestions on things I should ask the ortho about? (Aside from the obvious: cost, materials, length of treatment and appliances.)

I appreciate the views but I would love some questions or responses. Thanks to Mike and my regional neighbor Cassandra for their comments and questions.
 
I had a consultation today! The doctor was surprised how far advanced my lower jaw was upon getting in my mouth compared to looking from the outside.

He recommended braces for roughly 18-20 months of braces but wanted to do x-rays and the like to see exactly what he would be dealing with.

Luckily they had a cancellation, so I was able to to get X-rays and impressions done. The excitement was showing, thank god no one looked at anything but my mouth.

The discussed plan would be 18-20 months of full braces. Full bottoms to start and the front four plus molar bands for the top to start. He wants to begin with elastics to pull the bottom arch forward. He wants to do everything to move the front 4 forward from the start.

My other consultation is on Thursday afternoon.

They were ready to install on my next appointment but I told them I had to talk it over with my wife first.

She was extremely supportive and said that it's ok to pay as much as he wanted ($5,400)if it would yield the best results.

I joked with her that I could shave my face and be a young man to her cougar. She said "that's your thing, not mine". She also said it would be interesting for me to "see things from the other side."

She remembers the long ago incident but seems to be at peace with it. She asked if I would be going crazy if the roles were reversed.  I just smiled.

More pics are up on Instagram. Follow me at Tin_man_80 . If you are having trouble seeing things there let me know and I'll make a Flickr account or something similar.

Ask any questions and leave your comments
 
It's excellent news that your wife is supportive! That puts you a nice step closer to your goal, and definitely removes a (perceived) roadblock. Interesting comment about "the other side," though.

Everyone tells me I should create an Instagram account, but I'm trying to move away from social media rather than increasing my use! It's easy enough to see your pics without an account, though. You might get more views, if that's even your goal, if you link the Insta pics here in the thread as you take them.
 
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