Re: Re: ortho as a kid then ortho again and surgery as adult?

[Guest guest]

Just to add my story.... sorry if it's lengthy...

i got braces at 14 and my ortho at the time was a big moron. I would

show up, he'd look at my teeth and send me on my way. I didn't

understand the point of going when he NEVER did anything! While wearing

the braces, my eye teeth started to come in... and he never put

brackets on them! One of them came in twisted because the wire was

pushing it in the wrong place and the other started coming in above my

front teeth. Instead of bracketting it and pulling it down... he told

my mom to have it pulled... that the baby tooth would last " long

enough " . When I was 18 years old, I yanked off the braces with pliers

and never looked back. The dentist bonded the twisted tooth so it

looked OK and I just didn't pay attention to the baby tooth. I also had

a overbite of at least 5 mm but since I am cute looking and have a

fattish lower lip- no-one really seemed to notice... except me.... when

I saw myself spitting when I spoke and wondered why a thin little girl

like me had a slight double chin.

It wasn't till I met my boyfriend that I started to seriously think

about it. On our first (blind) date I looked across the table at him

and thought to myself " he has such beautiful teeth " - a PERFECT bite

and he's never had braces! It was then that I started to pay attention

to the fact that I would sub-conciously cover my teeth when I smiled

and was ALWAYS commenting on the teeth of people on TV- that and their

eyebrows... I like my eyebrows a lot. :-)

Eventually, my boyfriend helped me do the research and we learned that

my snoring and dry mouth - likely my abundance of cavities (he's never

had any of those either... bastard!) plus my double chin, my

overbite--- everything were all related to my incorrect bite! My

parents thought I was crazy but I think they also sorta felt bad that

it wasn't handled properly when I was a kid. I got the braces over 2

years ago. They had to twist back the twisted tooth and I still have

the baby tooth- though I doubt it will last 3 more years and then I

will have to get an implant. I just had the surgery on Monday and

already I feel the difference of having my mouth close when I sleep or

am just relaxing- It used to just hang open. I am hoping everything

goes smoothly and the results are what I expect them to be.

My older sister has a gummy smile and snores like a freight train and

although she's thin, she also has a double chin. She thinks I'm

overreacting by having something as extreme as surgery but does admit

that she can see the symptoms in herself. More important than that is

my 18 year old brother who has a narrow and MUCH larger overbite- at

least 8 or 9 mm. I have tried to get my mother to look into this

surgery before he is too old to be covered by my step-dads very good

government insurance, but my mom is stubborn and refuses to see how bad

it really is. I feel bad for my brother because he is very quite and

also has acne and so he never speaks up... It clearly affects his

self-esteem. He even has a speech impediment from it! and everyone

tells him not to mumble and I keep telling them " he's not mumbling! His

teeth and bite are all messed up! " ... needless to say, It's very

upsetting to me. I'm 28 and upset that this was only handled properly

now for me- by me... I am praying that my results can benefit my

brother in the near future. If anyone wants to offer suggestions as to

how to get my mom to pay attention, I'm all ears!

For the record, the boyfriend with the perfect teeth has been taking

care of me during my recovery and I have been a whiny, demanding pain

in the a**. Somehow, that helps. :-)

Glad I have a place to share.... I'm usually very " non-sharing " about

these things and just tell people " everything's great! " so they stop

asking.

Thanks for all the feedback and advice!

Tova

>

> I had the second round of ortho preliminary to surgery. Both my

> ortho and my surgeon were at pains, though, to explain to me that

> nobody understood, back in those Dark Ages (the 1950s) the

> importance of matching teeth up, and that they would have proceeded

> the same way, in that era, as my ortho did.

>

> But I'll bet they would have spoken to me, and explained more about

> what was going on than did the fellow who treated me in childhood. I

> loathed him, loathed the braces, found the whole thing a miserable

> experience, and I didn't have to go through half of what you did,

> .

>

> I don't think the first man ever even said " hello " to me. Just " in

> the chair, wipe off any make up, take a look, and come back with

> another gadget.

>

> That was truly cruel, though, to suggest that you were " stupid "

> because you had a tongue thrust. Maybe that wasn't as well

> understood, either, but I think it's now recognized as a really

> tough habit to break.

>

> Glad things are better -- at least I hope they are -- for today's

> kids.

>

> C.

>

>

> >

> > I'm just curious how many of you that post to this board went

> > through full orthodontic treatment as a young teenager perhaps

> > for a number of years, only to turn around and do it all over

> again

> > with the added excitement of surgery as an adult. 

> > I started braces at age 12, endured such things as a mouth

> > chock full of rubber bands, headgear, spurs and constant

> > reminders of what a stupid person I was because I had tongue

> > thrust.  (Honest.... I was made to feel stupid about it)  Then I

> wore

> > one type or another of removable appliance until I was roughly

> > twenty years old all that time still having spurs on the back side

> > of my teeth.  Then somewhere along in that time period, my OD

> > got the brilliant idea to " adjust " my open bite by grinding down

> my

> > molars a little.  Well, ever since that I haven't been able to

> truly

> > enjoy things like steak or any foods that require any significant

> > mastication.  But of course I looked awful due to my  recessive

> > chin and lower jaw, so I worked up the courage to go through it

> > all again with high hopes of looking good at the end.  So along

> > comes the pallate expander, the SARPE surgery, braces again,

> > the jaw surgery and the genioplasty, and although I managed a

> > good bite out of the deal, I was deliberately left with lip

> > incompetence and still having a very recessive chin. Of course I

> > was told I " looked wonderful " .  So I tolerated that result for ten

> > years until I finally got fed up with my sorry profile and found a

> > doctor who would perform the biggest genioplasty possible and

> > thank goodness he understood what a good profile actually is. 

> > So the story pretty much has a happy ending but it took 28 years

> > to get there.  Anyone have a similar tale to tell.

>

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