For those adults that shudder at the thought of getting adult braces, consider the alternative: leaving your teeth the way they are now. Those were my choices, and it made my decision quite easy. After a lifetime of crooked teeth, the embarrassment and shame of what I considered to be unsightly could be corrected in 18 months.
This was a decision years in the making, and for a man in his forties, it could have been more of an issue than it would have been for a child. Not this year though. For whatever reason, the New Year’s resolution that had carried over so many times was about to become reality. Considering my age, every alternative was explored before making my final decision. My first choice, Invisalign, was out of the question. Not only was it cost prohibitive, but my teeth were just too crooked for that particular product to accommodate. Veneers would have looked ridiculous. Veneers and Invisalign are for those the need mild adjustments. Anything over a few millimeters needed conventional braces. There were options for those though. Clear braces was my first choice, but the orthodontist recommended the metal ones because the clear braces yellowed very quickly, and once they went on-that was it, you were stuck with yellow braces for duration. Fortunately, modern braces had come a long way since the "railroad tracks" of yesteryear. There is no way to hide braces, but the new ones are much less pronounced than the old metal tracks.
So that was it. All the caps, fillings, and cleaning had been done to prep me for this moment. There was just one more obstacle: three teeth had to come out to make room for the soon to be moving teeth. In my opinion, this would be the worst part of the entire process. The orthodontist assured me that putting the braces on would be a painless process, but removing the three teeth would require surgery. That was the first time that I had ever been knocked out for any kind of procedure. It was actual surgery. I went in, armed with all the horror stories from friends and co-workers who had related their surgical nightmares to me. At first, I was going to take it like a man with just some local anesthetic. The surgeon recommended that I be asleep. He correctly asserted that the process would be unpleasant, and there was absolutely no reason to be awake. I had a wisdom tooth extracted a few years prior, and indeed it was unpleasant. Not that there was any pain, but the sound of it all was discomforting. I took the surgeon's advice to go to sleep for this session. Whatever drug they use works very quickly. They put the I.V. in my arm, and as soon as they put the "oxygen" mask over my face, it was lights out. The next thing I knew, I had a mouthful of gauze and a wheelchair ride to the door. Of all the dental visits in my life, this, the potentially worst one, turned out to be the least unpleasant. There was never any pain, and the extractions healed quickly. So quickly in fact, that I was back at the orthodontist a week later.
As expected, when I arrived at the orthodontist, it was a roomful of children-and me. 18 months I kept reminding myself. When they finally called me in, my heart jumped a little. This was the moment. After all these years, my teeth were going to be fixed. I was directed to one of five chairs that lined the room. The other four chairs were already occupied-by children. I just looked straight ahead at the wall, which had a board of all the goodies that would now be off limits. Everything from Skittles to caramel was pasted to the board. Typical common sense items, but since most of the clients were children, the board made sense. The process began, and as the orthodontist said, was not painful at all. The only issue was the tech accidentally brushing against my surgical wounds that had not fully healed. Other than that, the process was quick and painless. In less than an hour I had a set of braces glued to my teeth. They felt big and clunky, and looking in the mirror was a bit of a shock. They looked big and clunky as well. That initial shock and feeling of clunkiness would pass though. Now it was time to face the world for the next 18 months.
Some ribbing at work was expected, but in my case, the ribbing never occurred. In fact, everyone that saw my new braces was very pleased that I finally went and had this done. Several people at work even related their own braces stories, and supported my decision 100%. After a while I even started to show off the braces. And why not? This was a good thing, and I was very happy about it.
The biggest issue for me now is having the brackets break off. Caps are not the best material for gluing, and an occasional bracket will need to be glued back on. Other than that, the soreness that can occur on the gums is minimal and easily mitigated with dental wax, and they do not look nearly as bad as they did that first day. In fact, I think I look kind of unique. Sure, in 18 months they come off for sure, but in the meantime, everything is great. It was a good decision.