Oi Brace Face!

Oi Brace Face

So I can't smile. I don't know how to do it.  I need to cover my bottom teeth that are wonky, and my top teeth jet out, so smiling I look like a rabbit, its not flattering or attractive. Don't get me wrong not smiling has its benefits, I am now 30 and I still get asked for ID. I have no wrinkles and still look young.But as my friends and family are beginning to get married I suppose I am going to have to smile in their wedding pictures.

J Hook Hear gear
 

I have had a braces before which makes it all the more annoying that I'm having to have another one, this time at a hefty private cost. 

As a 11 year old I had my first brace. It was a solid mass of metal and wires and rubber bands and head gear. As you can imagine school was a nightmare. Brace Face, metal mouth, jaws, and another million insults were hurled at me during the school day. At night you clamp yourself into your head gear like something out of a horror movie and live through the pain of your jaw and teeth being ripped apart.  

 This video isn't me as I had my brace before YouTube even existed! But this is how it looked at night and in the NHS beige colour of the picture above.
I have an overbite of 11mm and this gear was designed to stop my top jaw from growing in order for my lower jaw to catch up. This might work if you have a small overbite of 4mm. (The ideal is between 2mm and 4mm). But for mine this would never have worked and what should of happened is what I'm now having to pay privately to have done. So if you have an over bit thats bigger than 4mm and your orthodontist suggests headgear tell them NO!!!

What you can have done is have two of your teeth removed and your front teeth pulled backwards to fill the gap reducing the overjet. 

In my next blog I'll tell you more about what I'm having done to fix my smile.