During my last post, I forgot to mention that my whole family had braces this year. Yup, even me! Since I don't care about appearance, one may ask why I would do that to myself..... Well back up!
When I was a kid my teeth were so bad, I mean scary to look at bad. I asked my Mom, ahem, Begged my Mom for braces. Little did I know the torture that would follow. 18+ extractions, a retainer for years, and Braces for 2yrs. But my 18yr old smile was perfect (for me)... I thought I was done with that nonsense for life.
However, my pallet was still small, my jaw would lock, bite was off, I developed horrible TMJ and pretty much spent my adult life cutting everything in to small pieces to eat.
At one point the headaches became so bad, I went to see a few specialists... They all claimed that the original Ortho and Surgeons while getting rid of too many of my teeth to "make room" never properly fixed my jaw or the roof of my mouth while it was still growing. They said I would now need my jaw broken, wired shut, more extractions, and then braces. Oh no no no!!!! Oh H-E-Double hockey sticks NO! For years as my teeth continued to move, I heard this.
But then I became Veg; my jaw stopped locking, headaches went away, and outside of a few crooked teeth continuing to move, I just went on with my life. Then I got pregnant and my face changed, then I lost a ton of weight and my face changed. One day I looked in the mirror and realized my teeth were starting to pivot straight out of the gum line. Oh No No No!!!
Wait a minute.. Back up... By now, the teen had braces and I saw the miraculous things this Ortho was able to do for him so he'd never suffer the way I did. The husband got a set of braces because after 46ish years, one of his baby teeth finally fell out. For real!! Apparently he still has like 3 baby teeth that never got replaced. Anywho...he got braces to fill the gap vs. getting an implant. Score!! It worked.
And that is when I said, "Hey doc... What is your opinion of this crazy mouth of mine?" He took one look and said: "I wouldn't give you surgery even if you asked for it.. 10 months of braces, we can adjust your teeth so you can keep them longer, expand your pallet, and fix your bite". He was honest and said: "I won't fix your jaw, my goal will be to save your teeth and fix your smile, if that is your goal than we can make this work"
I left and thought.... "But my smile doesn't need fixing. I don't care about aesthetics, I like my smile, it is goofy and me" and decided I'd put it off as long as possible.
THEN.... I saw my Dad and realized he'd lost most if not all of his teeth. Wake up Call much? Then I remembered what happened to my Mom and the pain she went through with root canal after root canal which we now know may aid in cancer growth. No Thank You!!!
So the day we got home from our Florida visit, I made my braces appointment, the money gods aligned, and the rest is history.
Which brings us to present day. I'm 5 months in, all of my teeth are back where they belong, my bite is happy, and perfectly straight. I have no idea how a tooth that was higher than all the other teeth can now be level to them or how the ones that had begun to turn sideways are now right ways. But alas, the guy is a miracle worker.
He is now trying to widen my upper pallet with braces alone, so each month my bite changes again and I currently feel like I have a major lisp when I speak. My T's, S's and F's all sound the same, and I feel like I'm slurping all the time, which drives me nutty so I stopped making coaching videos for a bit.
But thankfully with coconut oil swishes, aloe swishes, clove, and tea tree oils, I've experienced very little pain and look forward to getting these bad boys off in 2018. Don't worry I won't post pictures of the brace face!!!
The husband got his off in about 10 months and the teen will have his off by February (hopefully)... So 2018 will be the year my house is braces free, and by August, we will have a bathroom full of retainers. Can't Wait! *smile*
So what have I learned? Second, third, and fourth opinions are necessary! Veg eating and lots of greens took care of my TMJ. When it comes to teeth, there is more than just visual, and that mouth health is equal to body health!!
Well here's to a Braces Free Year!!! 2018 is going to be Amazing!