Anyone here have braces as a kid/teen/adult? Any horror stories?

[Mauzy]

I'm sooo happy I get mine off 3 months early on Monday! I can say I suffered no mouth lacerations in PE and never got anything caught on or between brackets. I only broke 2 brackets and one wire (the day before an appointment to get it changed...). I got lucky, but does anyone have any horror stories involving their own experiences?

[SavannahLion]

No real horror story. I had my braces for five years. Four years beyond what the original plan called for. I got them in high school and I was already in college before I had them removed.

When I had them removed, it was discovered the intense pressure from a band around my molar crushed the tooth. Because the band was the only thing holding tooth together, I had to keep the band on for another year until I could scrounge enough insurance and cash together to remove the band and have a false one put in.

Oddly enough, my orthodontist called looking to schedule an appointment for a checkup Over eight years since I last saw them.

It's been a good ten years since I last had them removed and I still have a brace pattern on the inside of my bottom lip. It's getting better, I can't tell where the wire used to be.

[Mauzy]

Wow. Crappy orthodontist. How could they not realize that was happening or going to happen?

[ChadTower]

I had them for probably three years.  Before that had a big retainer to correct TMJ that caused severe migraines.  After braces I had to sleep with a smaller retainer for a couple years to make sure nothing floated back.  Never any headgear or anything I couldn't hide by closing my mouth.  Had elastics off and on and it sucks when those snap.

No real horror stories, I guess.  I did get a lot of cuts in my mouth but those were always externally caused.  I was always playing some sport, climbing some tree, etc.  Fights too.  Cuts in your mouth around the braces can take weeks to heal when they would normally take days.  I knocked a couple brackets off and had to have them reglued.  When they finally all came off my teeth had a light yellow stencil pattern on them that took a couple years to wear off.

Only real dental horror story I have way predates braces.  Got all four of my front top teeth broken in a car accident when I was like 5.

[romperwomb]

My horror story was pre-braces, retainer related.  It was time for recess in 6th grade and I was running. My retainer dropped down off the roof of my mouth and fell to the back my throat.  It managed to poke and grab onto my tonsils.  I froze and freaked when I realized I couldn't just pull it out.  I was taken to the school nurse and almost barfed all over the principal, as he was holding a flashlight for the nurse trying to see if she could get it out.  Fortunately it came out and I went off to get checked by my Doctor.  Nothing came of it, but I was more careful about letting it drop down off the roof of my mouth.

I still have recurring dreams about having to put my retainers in at night 16 years later.  I'm just grateful I didn't have head-gear like my cousin.

[ChadTower]

Oh!  That story reminded me of one time that might count.  I was at Burger King  with my mother and had that TMJ retainer.  It was pretty big, and I didn't have the little plastic case with me, so I wrapped it in a napkin on my tray.  Predictably I forgot it and threw it away.  By the time I realized it they had emptied the trash so the manager made some 14 year old employee climb into the dumpster and go through the bags until he found it.  To this day I have no idea how he managed to find the right wadded up napkin in a bag in a dumpster.     Thank god he did, though, because we never would have been able to afford another one.

[Mauzy]

I've gotten lucky when it comes to retainers. Mine will be permanent, but I do have to wear one on top at night to make sure a slight cross bite doesn't go back to what is was

[ark_ader]

Does bottom dentures count?

I have had all my bottom teeth out due to abscess (another wonderful inherited family trait) and I have a bottom denture for serious Atkins Steaks and the like.

Well I'm in the toilet of a transcontinental flight, when I'm brushing my teeth and denture, before we land.  As I'm putting the denture back in, we hit some major turbulence and I bit down hard from the jolt (my head nearly went through the mirror) and slashed my gums and tongue as the denture shattered.

As soon as we landed I was rushed to A&E to get stitches.  I did get some odd looks coming out of the toilet holding several paper towels stained in dark red blood.  I got another denture via insurance, so that is a plus. 

The pain was out of this world, and it took a few days before I could swallow properly.

I was real lucky I didn't slice off my tongue.        

[Zero_Hour]

Mine were on for 5 years (2 past the schedule). My overbite was so extreme, that my bottom teeth touched the roof of my mouth. The cast the orthodontist made of my teeth showed rows of ridges where my teeth had rested year after year - kind of a reverse sharks mouth type thing - truly freakish. I had to have 4 teeth extracted before my braces were put on, which was fairly excruciating in and of itself. In addition to the bands, I had to wear a piece that sat behind my upper front teeth to keep the lowers from hitting the roof of my mouth - had to wear that thing for 18 months or so. And since my braces were the type that used removable elastics, and I was an irresponsible 10 year old who didn't really dig on the constant pain they put me in, the braces never fully accomplished the task even with the additional 2 years. I probably only wore the elastics about 50% of the time. I got a little better as I got older, but for the most part the elastics gave me a low grade headache, and I only consistently wore them when sleeping

Still have an overbite, but the roof of my mouth is fortunately no longer under assault.

With newer methods like invisilign being introduced in recent years I've toyed with the idea of finishing the job once and for all. It's been 24 years since I got them off though, and I really can't be bothered with it at this point in my life.

[Xiaou2]

Parents couldnt afford braces for me... so I live a constant horror story 


 A girl went to talk to me when I was out at a club... and as Im talking, a tiny gob
of spit flys out of my mouth because of the teeth gaps and wider gum spread
caused by the 2 protruding teeth.   So, what to do?   Well, I really wasnt that interested
this time... so I chose to pretend I didnt see it happen.   She however, made a
quick exit from the conversation clearly because of it.   I can only imagine the
horror,  if it were someone who I actually really wanted to get close to.

 

[Ummon]

Oh!  That story reminded me of one time that might count.  I was at Burger King...    Thank god he did, though, because we never would have been able to afford another one.

Same happened with my brother in seventh grade at school. His was a binator - maybe also what you had. We had to look for it, though, and I found it.

He didn't much wear his retainers, either, but he was a thumb-sucker for many years before that, which I think translated to not liking anything artificial in his mouth. Finger was good, but not anything else.

I had 'em. Longer than I should've because the last summer I had them I just didn't go to my appointments. Mom forgot, they didn't call. Was a junior when I got 'em off, though. However, twelve years ago, my wisdom teeth came in and pushed my bottom set a little bit and then they kept moving such that the front ones were recessing back, and I was getting a terrible lisp. So early in the year I got invisilign and am now on retainers. They're plastic and just like my invisilign plates, but softer and thicker material.

Parents couldnt afford braces for me... so I live a constant horror story 


 A girl went to talk to me when I was out at a club... and as Im talking, a tiny gob
of spit flys out of my mouth because of the teeth gaps and wider gum spread
caused by the 2 protruding teeth.   So, what to do?   Well, I really wasnt that interested
this time... so I chose to pretend I didnt see it happen.   She however, made a
quick exit from the conversation clearly because of it.   I can only imagine the
horror,  if it were someone who I actually really wanted to get close to.

 

Yeah, chicks are way crazy about teeth. Tons of CL personals are all, '...and have all your teeth...' .

[Zero_Hour]

Yeah, chicks are way crazy about teeth. Tons of CL personals are all, '...and have all your teeth...' .

Probably just screening for meth addicts. 

[mpm32]

I had a plate in the top of my mouth to spread the teeth apart at 8 years old.  It had a key you had to turn every day.  The key was on a string so you could swallow it. lol

I then had braces til I was 18.  I got in a lot of fights in HS and it was always fun pulling my lips off of the braces after they got embedded there from getting hit in the mouth.  I still have the scars on the inside of my lips.

After I got the braces off I had the retainer, and they cemented one in at the back of my teeth on the bottom.  One day one of the bands came loose, I was sick of having crap in my mouth for 11 years so I took a pair of pliers and popped the other band off.  Haven't had an appliance in my mouth since.  lol

[ChadTower]

I then had braces til I was 18.  I got in a lot of fights in HS and it was always fun pulling my lips off of the braces after they got embedded there from getting hit in the mouth.  I still have the scars on the inside of my lips.

Same here.  I still bite those scars while eating fairly frequently.  Opens up a nice cut that bleeds for a couple hours.  When I had my braces I used to go off totally when someone hit my mouth.  People without braces probably don't get how much of a problem that can be for the person for the next few weeks.  I had a few fights that probably didn't have to be as bad as they were except that I lost it totally after being hit in the mouth.

[Mauzy]

Well, I just got back from getting them off and going to dinner. WOW I didn't realized how much a pain in the ass eating was with them until now. I have permanent retainers for the top and bottom fronts. The bottom one is a little annoying, but Ill get used to it.

Luckily, I never pissed anybody off while I had 'em. I never had the pleasure of removing my lips from my brackets.

[Singapura]

No real horror story. I had my braces for five years. Four years beyond what the original plan called for. I got them in high school and I was already in college before I had them removed.

When I had them removed, it was discovered the intense pressure from a band around my molar crushed the tooth. Because the band was the only thing holding tooth together, I had to keep the band on for another year until I could scrounge enough insurance and cash together to remove the band and have a false one put in.

Oddly enough, my orthodontist called looking to schedule an appointment for a checkup Over eight years since I last saw them.

It's been a good ten years since I last had them removed and I still have a brace pattern on the inside of my bottom lip. It's getting better, I can't tell where the wire used to be.

Thatr's strange. You would expect the orthodontist to be liable for the damage. Didn't you sue him?

[SavannahLion]

Wow. Crappy orthodontist. How could they not realize that was happening or going to happen?

The first year, my teeth didn't move at all. The orthodontist was considering full blown head gear to get some movement out of them. As it was, the pain was excruciating with each visit. By about nine months in, they were doubling the bands and putting in heavier gauge wire. I didn't get movement until about month twelve. Then they finally "relaxed" with the band doubling ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow---.

After the second year, my orthodontist actually retired and a new one came in. The first six months of year three was basically a wash as he figured out what was going on with my teeth. By then, I was already in college and my visits expanded from once a month to once every two or three months.

I don't think anybody noticed because it would never show up on an X-ray and the tooth was wrapped from crown to gum with the band. I'm not sure how they figured out to leave it when they were removing my braces. I guess dissolving the glue or whatever it was makes them look a little closer. 

Having the retainer absolutely sucked ass though. I had two. My first was "clear" and more or less acceptable. When it came time to replace it, they couldn't do the clear anymore and I got stuck with a red sparkly ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow--- thing. I absolutely hated that thing. Imagine being in college and trying to discreetly remove a huge ---smurfing--- red sparkle retainer on date. ---smurfing--- impossible.

Thatr's strange. You would expect the orthodontist to be liable for the damage. Didn't you sue him?

That thought had occurred to me. But the question came up as to who was responsible? The orthodontist who retired or the guy who finished the work? When I pressed the issue with my mother (who had actually paid for the work), she refused. Didn't want to pay the lawyer for it. Oh well. Insurance covered the work for the most part.

[ChadTower]

I didn't mind the actual visits to the orthodontist.  My work was mostly done by the orthodontist's early 20s daughter who was apprenticing or something.  She had a huge rack and in order for her to reach all the way over to see the far side she had to pretty much jam my face in it.  I was in middle school... needless to say she could have been installing barbed wire with a mallet and I wouldn't have cared.

[HaRuMaN]

No real horror stories.  I did get jumped by a group of kids once, and had my two front lower teeth knocked in.  The braces kept them from falling out of my mouth, and I was able to push them back in place.  Didn't go to the dentist, and the teeth were fine...

[Ummon]

Yeah, chicks are way crazy about teeth. Tons of CL personals are all, '...and have all your teeth...' .

Probably just screening for meth addicts. 

HA. I guess that's one way about it.

I had a plate in the top of my mouth to spread the teeth apart at 8 years old.  It had a key you had to turn every day.  The key was on a string so you could swallow it. lol

That's called a transverse appliance. Makes sense, right? I had one of those first.

I then had braces til I was 18.  I got in a lot of fights in HS and it was always fun pulling my lips off of the braces after they got embedded there from getting hit in the mouth.  I still have the scars on the inside of my lips.

Same here.  I still bite those scars while eating fairly frequently.  Opens up a nice cut that bleeds for a couple hours.  When I had my braces I used to go off totally when someone hit my mouth.  People without braces probably don't get how much of a problem that can be for the person for the next few weeks.  I had a few fights that probably didn't have to be as bad as they were except that I lost it totally after being hit in the mouth.

I didn't need to have braces or what-have-you for that. I've broken things just from slightly knocking my head. I really rather people not hit it.

I didn't mind the actual visits to the orthodontist.  My work was mostly done by the orthodontist's early 20s daughter who was apprenticing or something.  She had a huge rack and in order for her to reach all the way over to see the far side she had to pretty much jam my face in it.  I was in middle school... needless to say she could have been installing barbed wire with a mallet and I wouldn't have cared.

We had one of those. No rack, but everyone had the hots for her. I think the Ortho did, too, and we all wondered if he was bonking her. I didn't like him. Would always say, 'How ya doin, tiger!' when he'd see ya. I think I dropped an egg on the back seat of his convertible mercedes one appointment.

[ChadTower]

I didn't like him. Would always say, 'How ya doin, tiger!' when he'd see ya. I think I dropped an egg on the back seat of his convertible mercedes one appointment.

Heh.  I have to say I am extremely grateful to my orthodontist.  I came from a single parent household with very little money.  We were on whatever coverage the state of MA was providing at the time to the poor and it was very basic to the absolute needs.  The TMJ remediation was expensive and never would have happened if that orthodontist hadn't gone way above and beyond on his own time with whoever he had to to get it approved.  IIRC he even brought my school transcripts in and showed them a chart where my grades went from the first percentile to the fiftieth in direct parallel to the condition.  Even then they only paid half and he just ate the rest I think.  I had debilitating migraines a couple times a week at that point and I shudder to think what my childhood would have been like if he hadn't done that for me.  Looking back I wonder how many other kids he did that for and hope he understands how grateful we are to him.