Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Here's a thread for those of us getting orthodontic braces after the age of 45. Hopefully it will help those of us who get them 'later in life' to survive the ordeal with greater requiem.
My lower front teeth had gotten so raised that they've been scarring the roof of my mouth for some years now. And my jaw is so far back that my trachea and epiglottis shut of my breathing many times at night. I finally decided to get it fixed.
The first ortho I saw said it would cost in the vicinity of $30K to break and stretch my jaw, then move the teeth. I said, "No thanks. I'm not looking for a perfect smile or perfect teeth. I want to stop scarring the roof of my mouth and I want my jaw to move forward to stop my nighttime apnea. "
The second ortho said he could fix the problem by pulling the bi-cuspids out (they were angled completely in), moving the other teeth somewhat and, basically, raising the intermediate teeth to a common plane to restore my bite. It sounds about right, in theory. Time will tell. My teeth really aren't too bad otherwise, alignment-wise. And he's charging about $5K.
Got the lower rail track installed yesterday; just have an acrylic 'bite plate' on the upper teeth for now. Not a lot of discomfort as yet as long as I keep pressure off my teeth. In a sentence, I've had worse pain from over-zealous hygienists aggressively cleaning my teeth. So tonight I'll try to avoid sleeping on my anterior; sleeping face-up is the order of the knight.
Eating is a pain. I've put myself on a liquid (really a low-density) diet until my molars can grind food again; right now, they're not even close. Fortunately I am quite adept at making delectable slime molds, gruel and porridge. I figure I'll just tell Dad it's 'slumgullion'; he'll eat anything that tastes good.
But I'll mostly make solid food for him; I'll just run my portion through the KitchenAid.
So, who else here has gotten braces as a, if I may use the term, mature adult? What were your experiences? How did you cope? Have you any trinkets of wisdom to pass along?
N
My lower front teeth had gotten so raised that they've been scarring the roof of my mouth for some years now. And my jaw is so far back that my trachea and epiglottis shut of my breathing many times at night. I finally decided to get it fixed.
The first ortho I saw said it would cost in the vicinity of $30K to break and stretch my jaw, then move the teeth. I said, "No thanks. I'm not looking for a perfect smile or perfect teeth. I want to stop scarring the roof of my mouth and I want my jaw to move forward to stop my nighttime apnea. "
The second ortho said he could fix the problem by pulling the bi-cuspids out (they were angled completely in), moving the other teeth somewhat and, basically, raising the intermediate teeth to a common plane to restore my bite. It sounds about right, in theory. Time will tell. My teeth really aren't too bad otherwise, alignment-wise. And he's charging about $5K.
Got the lower rail track installed yesterday; just have an acrylic 'bite plate' on the upper teeth for now. Not a lot of discomfort as yet as long as I keep pressure off my teeth. In a sentence, I've had worse pain from over-zealous hygienists aggressively cleaning my teeth. So tonight I'll try to avoid sleeping on my anterior; sleeping face-up is the order of the knight.
Eating is a pain. I've put myself on a liquid (really a low-density) diet until my molars can grind food again; right now, they're not even close. Fortunately I am quite adept at making delectable slime molds, gruel and porridge. I figure I'll just tell Dad it's 'slumgullion'; he'll eat anything that tastes good.
But I'll mostly make solid food for him; I'll just run my portion through the KitchenAid. So, who else here has gotten braces as a, if I may use the term, mature adult? What were your experiences? How did you cope? Have you any trinkets of wisdom to pass along?
N
