A Change in Perspective.

First things first. Braces suck. Before my teeth were ensnared behind these metal shackles, I thought braces would be a lot of fun. I’ve always thought people with braces looked cute. People with braces were the shy approachable people.

Take it from someone who is two years going on three with braces; after a while it’s not so cute anymore, and you yearn desperately for the lovely naked teeth look.

Besides that, I had always had problems with the dentist. By that I mean, I am a frequenter when it comes to cavities. I had always dreamed of having braces, so I could get more frequent check-ups. That way I would never have a single cavity, and my teeth would always be clean.

Yeah, no. A: For those reasons it’s not worth it, and B: The orthodontist is not your dentist. They don’t clean your teeth; they move them. It’s your job to go in every six months to your regular dentist to have them do X-rays and cleanings. Imagine my disappointment.

Does it hurt?

No, the process of getting braces on does not hurt. The worst part about it is when they take the mold of your teeth. It’s a tray with a pink putty type substance they have you clamp down on. Once they’ve tricked you into doing that, you are not allowed to let go of it for a few minutes. During that time, you try your best to concentrate on not dying via putty suffocation.

Yes, everything after getting braces on hurts. For the first week it’s nothing but wax. Wax is your best friend. It saves the inside of your mouth from being shredded to bits by your malicious brackets (metal pieces glued to your teeth to keep the wire latched in place). Eventually your skin will get used to it, but in the meantime, wax is the answer.

Now, I am a special case. I have a lot of problems going on in my mouth, so my experience is not necessarily the average experience, but pretty much for every orthodontic visit there is about two days afterwards of not being able to bite into anything harder than a very soft piece of bread.

The average visit consists of the changing of wires from weaker ones to stronger ones, new power chains which are rubber bands linking from bracket to bracket which mercilessly pull your teeth together. There is the occasional stab to the gums when a bracket is being particularly difficult to open, and the utensil slips. Sometimes when the power chains aren’t painful enough they install a metal spring.

My personal favorite are the TADs (Temporary Anchorage Devices). These are small screws which are temporarily set into the jaw. The process is not painful, but after the Novocain wears off I might as well call the next four days lent.

Of course TADs are only for people like me who have a mile-long gap between their molars and their pre-molars because two of their adult teeth decided to never make an appearance.

Is it hard to eat?

Sometimes. I would definitely recommend carrying around floss and toothpicks. Food really likes to get stuck under the wires between brackets. Here is a list of the most infuriating foods as well as the foods you are not allowed to eat:

*=Not allowed

• Broccoli
• Lettuce
• Bread (especially tortillas)
• Peanuts *
• Popcorn *
• Celery
• Gum* (you can have this if it’s sugar free)
• Anything sticky*

Other things you can’t have are ice (if you’re chewing it) and chips, but honestly, I’ve broken pretty much all of these rules without breaking my braces. I am just very careful. It’s really awkward when someone is trying to talk to you while you are sucking on a piece of granola bar, so it can be softer to chew.

Some maintenance advice.

If you are a band wearer, stock up on those things. There is nothing worse than realizing you are down to the last couple of bands, the office you go to is closed, or far away, and it’s a weekend, so they won’t be open again until Monday. Yes, this has happened to me, but don’t sweat it too much if it’s only a couple days, it won’t do much damage. Seriously though, when they ask you if you need anything at your apt. say you need several bags.

Floss! Your regular dentist tells you to do this all the time, and it’s super important, but it’s even more important when you have braces because there is a bunch of metal in your mouth keeping your tooth brush from going places it used to go. I’m not going to lie though. It is a tedious job. The only utensil you get is a little plastic loop you have to string floss through and then pull between the wires like you’re sewing a blouse, or something.

I think floss companies would make a lot of money if they made their flossing sticks small enough to fit between brackets, and not something you had to buy on the internet.

Use the little pipe cleaner thing they give you to get in-between brackets and underneath the wire! Use it! There is a nasty thing that happens to your teeth if you don’t brush them properly. It’s called scarring. Yes, your teeth can scar. They will start to form build up around the brackets. It’s not pretty, trust me. Go look it up.

The last bit of advice is for people with TADs. Don’t freak out. Your jaw cannot break from something like this. Don’t mess with them after they are in because the skin around them is healing, and prone to infection. Use the disinfectant stuff they give you. And most important, you can now tell everyone how hardcore you are because you basically have jaw piercings.

The dentist visits.

I feel like you get talked to the most at the dentist’s if you have braces because a lot of them are curious about them. I get questions like, “What exactly is being fixed?” and, “What are these in your jaw?” and, “Wow, isn’t it amazing how much your teeth can move?” My favorite is, “When did you get these?” It’s funny because the same people clean my teeth every time, so it’s like they’ve forgotten I have braces.

The cleaning process is pretty much the same except it, of course, takes longer to floss. The only really big change is the fire hose of a sprayer they use to clean your teeth. This is a concoction of water and baking soda coming at your mouth at about a million miles an hour via a mini pressure sprayer. It stings, it tastes bad, and afterwards you’ve got baking soda caked to your cheeks, but man, your mouth is freaking clean.

Choose your orthodontist carefully.

If you see an establishment specializing in both dentistry, and orthodontics, run. Take your teeth, your sanity, and your wallet, and run for the hills. Find yourself someone who specializes in orthodontics only.

The reason for this is you don’t want someone who has to concentrate on both. Somewhere in there, one profession is going to suffer, and in my experience it was the orthodontics. Some dentists think it wise to get their hands wherever they can, so they take a crash course on orthodontics. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want someone who didn’t go to school to specialize in orthodontics milling around in my mouth.

Of course maybe others have had a different experience with a doctor who does both. All I know is mine was very bad.

If your doctor makes you uncomfortable, and tries to pressure you into something you don’t want, then you have a right to voice that opinion. There are some things you don’t have to have done that some orthodontists might try to pressure you into doing because it’s more expensive. I am a very good example of this.

I am missing two adult teeth which means the baby teeth above where the adult teeth should have been had to be removed because A: they would have fallen out anyways, and B: they were twice as wide as the adult teeth would be which was making my teeth not set together correctly.

My previous dentist/orthodontist was really pushing for implants which are super expensive. The alternative was to spend three years having my back teeth moved in place to fill the gap. I was all for the second idea. It was the less expensive and less scary option, but this orthodontist really, really wanted me to get implants. We finally agreed we would try my way, and see how it went.

The reason I was really adamant my way would work is because I had gotten an opinion from another orthodontist that I really liked. He walked me through the process, and told me it has always worked for him. However, we decided to go with a different doctor because he was closer to home. This was a mistake.

A key component to the tooth moving process are the TADs. To make a long story short, the TADs were not set in correctly, upon re-positioning I got cut open and had to have stiches, things got infected, etc. My anxiety told me I couldn’t do this anymore, and had to make a change by going to the orthodontist who specialized only in orthodontics. It was one of the best choices I have ever made.

After going to the place I currently go to I realized just how much procedure was being ignored by my previous orthodontist. My teeth were not even moving correctly before. They were just being tilted. Now they are moving correctly, and the rubber bands, something I was not previously given, are taking care of things like cross bite which was part of why my teeth were off.

With that said, choose wisely, don’t compromise, and get a second opinion.

Braces are a great option for people who want straight teeth, and if you have to get them for more serious reasons they’re still great because you get your problem fixed, and have straight teeth. I’ll be honest; it is not an easy journey, but it’ll be worth it to have that nice straight smile.