My teeth were so messed up that I had to get braces. I had 'permanent' retainers twice, but almost immediately afterward, my teeth started shifting back. I literally couldn't eat food properly for a LONG time. I had to get braces or continue having a massively messed up mouth and possibly have it get even more messed up. I had braces for a shorter period of time than most kids (I've had them out for about two and a half years) and luckily my teeth haven't shifted back since. I still wear a removable retainer every night as a precaution, because though I was happy to go through braces when I was younger, I do NOT want to go through them again.

@CADFND: Did you have braces when you were quite young? Your teeth/mouth was probably still growing which is why things kept shifting around. My dental surgeon refused to give me a fake tooth implant until I turned 21 so they could be sure my teeth had settled in a more or less permanent position. I have a retainer, but I usually just wear it at night once every few weeks when I remember to push the tooth back into better alignment since it shifts a tiny bit, but it's barely noticeable.

Ferra: I had a permanent retainer put in when I was seven or eight because I literally couldn't chew. It hurt like heck getting put in. I was really young, which is probably why my teeth shifted back to unchewable again. Unfortunately, this led to another bout with a permanent retainer about a year and a half later, and then I got braces when I was around... maybe twelve or thirteen.

Luckily, I haven't had to do anything else besides wear my retainer, but I stopped wearing it for a couple of months a while back and my teeth started to shift again, so I wear it a lot nowadays, more or less as a precaution. >w> I don't want to go through braces again.

@CADFND: Sounds like a good idea. I also don't want to have braces again so it makes sense to be cautious. I should probably wear my retainer more, but at this point it seems like my teeth have stopped moving, aside from a few small shifts. But my teeth weren't very crooked to begin with. I just was missing a tooth which caused my other teeth to fill in the gap.

Never had braces, but I probably will. My jaw is all sorts of screwed up because I have a joint disorder, so it always clicks and gets semi-locked. It's really weird. I talked to an orthodontist about it and he said it might go away on its own, but if I really wanted to fix it I'd need to at least wait until my wisdom teeth are out, and then I'd need regular check-ups with him because he'd have to make sure my jaw was re-aligning properly. Dentistry is kind of crazy like that.

I was very lucky to not need braces, my sister on the other hand was not so lucky and had them on for most of her high school career.

Her teeth look so much nicer than mine now, even though mine are just fine too. She was very happy to get them off.

I don't have braces but I'm debating whether I want them or not.

My teeth are pretty straight BUT, my canines are in the wrong place. They are in the place where my laterals are after the two front teeth and where my canines are meant to be on one side I have lost a baby tooth which an adult tooth has not grown in it's place and the other side I still have a baby tooth. So basically I look like a vampire and have gotten flack during school because of it. I've never been hurt by it but sometimes I just wish I could smile like a normal person.

What they would have to do to correct this would be to grind down and fill over the canines to make them look normal and then remove the baby tooth and put in fake teeth and the braces on top to keep them in place. It's going to suck if I do get it done but in the long run it may be worth it?

But at the same time I kind of think it's unique? Like Lindsey Wixson has a gap, can I have vampire teeth?

Not trying to scare anyone off of getting braces, but I had a really bad experience with them. Apparently when they cemented the bands on the back molars on, they didn't quite get one of them all the way and some bacteria was able to get in and eat away half of my tooth before they caught it D:<

I don't have braces but i have a severe crooked teeth in the back due to my wisdom teeth starting to come in when i was younger, however I do not necessarily have braces since my teeth line up fine.

Due to the fact i don't have braces I have problems keeping that area clean and keep on getting cavities.

@ DD: I've gotten more cavities since getting braces because of all the food getting stuck. My teeth were pretty crooked before so it was hard to clean but now it's even more of a pain cause I can't pick in between my teeth as vigorously as I could before braces.. ;_;

If i were to get braces i would get invisiline because I only want to fix the ones in the back.

Very pricey~ if that's alright with you. XD

I have never had braces. I have a massive overbite on one side, and underbite on the other. An overbite and underbite right in the front, and I'm missing three teeth. However, if I got braces, I would be wearing them for four years, and they would cost almost 2500 dollars, so I'm a little hesitant.

I had braces for three years- was supposed to be two, but they figured the extra year would help.

The best braces story was when I got my rubber bands to fix my bite. My chorus teacher didn't care that my jaw was super sore, and we were rehearsing for a concert.

She kept telling me to open my mouth wider.

Finally, she was standing right in front of me, telling me I needed to open up my mouth wider and really -sing-, I snapped a band. It flew up and smacked her in the face.

I had a rough time with braces, and they refused to cement in a retainer... so now, eight years later, they are pretty crooked again.

Oh well.

your teeth can be crooked again after having them fixed?

Yup. If you don't wear your retainer and such, they can get crooked again. Mine aren't as bad as they were, but they aren't perfect straight either.

I had to wear them for 3 years. I didnt mind the braces so much as the jaw separator I had to use for a few months before getting my top braces on. When I was little I was put on Dylantin (sp?) for epilepsy and my top jaw stopped growing. The jaw separator pushed out on both sides of my mouth and after a while was actually cutting into my jaw. It freaked out the orthodontist (I think he thought I was a whiny kid) when he saw it. He couldnt believe how I could have stood it that long before complaining.

I had braces for 3 years, from 7th grade to 10th grade. It sucked, what else is there to say. I broke the rules, I ate the occasional gummi bear and once a bag of sizzling cinnamon jelly bellies. That last one was a bad idea, my next checkup revealed a broken bracket. I hadn't even felt it happen.

Originally Posted by Codette

I have wonderful 'vampire' type canine teeth, a little bit longer than the rest and nice and pointy. :)
\

I so envy this!