[quote=Anna’s Mom]I wish I had the oppurtunity to have braces as a child or teen.
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I’d like to get them again, or preferably, Invisalign. I had them as a teen, and because I waited too long to have my wisdom teeth removed due to not having insurance, my from two teeth are quite crooked again. 
I’m hoping I’ll be able to afford it before too long. I think it’s hard to appreciate straight teeth unless you’ve had crooked ones.
[quote=Anna’s Mom]I wish I had the oppurtunity to have braces as a child or teen. Growing up my teeth ware very crooked and I was very self consious. My parents did not have any dental insurance. Now as an adult I often wonder why they did not look into some sort of financial assistance for the dentist. I know this is gross, but I went to the dentist only twice before the age of 18!!! You should be glad that your parents cared. Lucky for me when my wisdom teeth came in, my front teeth were pushed together and back a little. It is not nearly as bad now. Now I go regularly to have my teeth cleaned.
as for throwing away your retainer- My friends who had braces only had to wear it for like a year or something. Wear it for as long as you are told. I know you said you didn’t care if your teeth were crooked, but would you want all those years of pain at the dentist to be worthless???
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I had the braces years ago and I basically wore the retainer ever since.
I hopefully will call the orthodontist and ask him if I can just skip wearing the retainer. Thanks to those who suggested that.
well if you don’t want your children to have braces breastfeeding them will lower the need for it greatly as will not using pacifiers
as far as not wearing the retainer, my brother did that and all his teeth moved back so 5 years of braces for nothing. all that money my parents spent…
Okay, here’s what I’m thinking.
Keep the retainer. Put it in once a week at night. That’s it. And if it starts fitting funny, wear it every night until it fits right.
I also think that your parents sacrificed for you to have straight teeth. You might ask them why they got you braces. There might be an underlying cause that you don’t know about. Crooked teeth can indeed lead to peredontis as someone mentioned (which can affect pregnancy, so if you get pregnant make sure you see your dentist for a checkup!) but it can also cause jaw problems, chewing difficulties and other things.
And - realize that you parents did spend a lot of money, not to put you in pain but because they wanted the best for you. Even though it was uncomfortable for you, you should look in the mirror and smile because they loved you enough to make sure you had good teeth. They deserve your respect for the intention if nothing else.
–Ann
I would talk to your ortho about getting a semi-permanent retainer. It’s been a while since I had my braces removed, so I don’t know if they even do this anymore, but I thought it was a great alternative to the big bulky retainers that make you have a lysp. The retainer is a very thin metal bar that is glued to the inside of your teeth. There is nothing that sticks out that will cut you or hurt you and unless you run your tongue over the bar, you won’t feel it or realize that it’s there. I had them remove mine a couple of years ago but I’m sorry I did. I wore that thing for about 6 or 7 years after having my braces removed and now one tooth has moved. Anyway, if your ortho offers that, I’d seriously consider it.
braces are for 2 reasons:
1 - to correct the mouth bite (something seen by x-ray and exam - not just about straight teeth)
2 - cosmetic (you can have a bite that’s just fine and still have some crooked teeth)
If your dentist is putting you in braces for longer than 18 months, then something is up with your dentist. It is very rare to need braces or retainers for such a length of time.
You’re a grown person and your current medical decisions are yours to make without parental consent. The dentist only owes your parents money if it is found that he was keeping you in braces to pad his account. Otherwise, service was rendered and should be paid.
[quote=GoLatin]I had my wisdom teeth taken out years ago.
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Ah, fall to your knees and thank the everlasting mercy and goodness of God that you did. Mine didn’t flair up until I was 39!!! I wouldn’t wish that kind of pain on anyone. The oral surgeon told me it was always harder on older people (!). I was off work for 3 days. I seriously had to time the pain pills or I’d go out of my head waiting for them to kick in. Wisdom teeth! AGGGGGHHHHH!!!
Question: Do you feel as if your orthodontist is taking advantage of you? You’re 23, right? You have some sense of something going on.
Then it might be a good idea on your own dime (ie, paying your way) for you to seek the advice of a general dentist and ask him or her, “Hey, Doc, do you think I still need to wear this retainter? Why or why not?” Unless he or she comes up with something like, “Yes, you will be extremely bucktoothed and resemble a bad cartoon for the rest of your life if you don’t, and you will have to be fed by a tube by the time you’re 30,” then stop wearing the retainer.
People often seek a second opinion medically, but fail to do so when it comes to dentistry. They simply assume the dentist knows. I know of several horror stories of people fitted for braces they wore for YEARS, a person who had her gums sliced open on the pretense of periodontal disease (none was ever there when she got a second opinion), and perfectly healthy teeth pulled because of the gums without trying to perform antibiotic treatment first.
I am very glad we have our dentist. If it were OK with CA, I would pubish his name and number all over the Internet. He is fair. He takes a conservative approach. He stays up on modern methods. He does not correct every mouth flaw on the basis of cosmetics. He is reasonable about his prices.
IT TOOK TIME TO FIND HIM, just as it takes time to find a good doctor, or even a good auto technician (mechanic).
PS: I’m in my late 40s and still have my wisdom teeth, not in a jar. They do not give me any trouble.
THROW THAT RETAINER AWAY!!!
I had a similar experience with braces for over 7 years in the “cave man” days of otrhodontics. They would shove metal bands into my gums, attach wires to bring them up " faster than naturally" I would wake up sometimes with a huge spot of blood on my pillow from the whole process. My gums and cheeks have permanant scars and my teeth are developing huge cavities at the gumline because of what would get stuck in the metal bands…My parents did it purely for cosmetic reasons which is really sad.
Don’t bother with a refund - that is up to your parents and it sounds like it was their problem not the orthodontist…I would NEVER get braces for my kids…
HOM
I would suggest keeping the retainer, maybe wearing it every other night or so. A good friend of mine who is 27 years old had braces when she was a teenager. It sounds similar to your experience. Her mouth was too small for all her teeth, so she had an appliance put in her upper jaw and had to twist it every day to expand it. After that, she had to wear braces for about 2 years to bring the teeth back into the right place. She quit wearing her retainer a couple years later, and soon after starting getting bad migraines because her teeth quit lining up. Now that she has decent dental insurance, she’s doing it all over again - except this time she actually had to have surgery to separate the upper jaw and it was much more painful. She definitely regrets throwing away her retainer.
I myself was lucky enough to be able to wear Invisalign. I have one more tray left (out of 37!), then I just have to wear them at night as a retainer. I had to spend my own money to get them, so I’m definitely doing as the dentists suggests. I DO NOT want my big gap and overbite back!
The moral of the post - maybe consult with a dentist to make sure you don’t end up with bad migraines or some other problem if you let your teeth go back to their original positions.
