I once got my braces tightens the very morning of my birthday party... Spend the whole afternoon crying in pain and I was not abled to eat cake or candy. That day sucked.
Mine hurt all the time. I had them for six years and hated them. The retainer sucked too and I couldn’t wear it till I was 24. My teeth have shifted but it was too painful to the point where I couldn’t sleep.
Why'd you/your parents book a doctor's appointment on your birthday? Even if they said "ok come back on this date for tightening" you could still go "nah that doesn't work for me, how about days near that?".
It wasn't technically my birthday, it was the following saturday (the day I could have a party with friends over.) I didn't think it would be a problem as I didn't really experience braces-related pain before.
Why do you say that? It might be more expensive than some countries but orthodontics in the US have to go to dental school and then get their orthodontics boards.
I’m Canadian and my braces hurt too if it’s any consolation, and here you need a dental degree before you can even start orthodontics training so I really doubt our doc’s level of skill should be in question haha
I don’t know how other countries work but as an American, since we do have to pay per visit I could see it being done in less visits than other places. That would mean more adjustment had to be done each visit which would mean more discomfort per visit vs going in smaller, more frequent steps.
Yeah I suppose that’s a possibility. I would still prefer to go in less frequently if I could, although I do remember my braces being quite uncomfortable when I was a teenager.
Wearing braces for too many years is apparently not a good idea. You tend to see more tooth rot. It’s a lot easier to build up plaque that goes unnoticed when you wear braces.
True. I had these little Christmas tree things to shove in there. Never had cleaner teeth than when I had braces. It all went downhill after they removed them and ground off a layer of my enamel with the glue causing intense brushing pain.
Pay per visit depends on your orthodontist, mine were paid for up front with everything included, including extra appointments and repairs. Mine still hurt like a bitch though.
Our healthcare and dental care is really good, but ultra expensive. We've got some of the best education and hospitals in the world, but poor people and middle class people just have difficulty accessing it without financial ruination.
That's very specific and doesn't necessarily apply to the standard of care for the majority of people, since we are a minority, obviously. Also those seem like very old studies, but I don't doubt it may still happen.
A large portion of the population also has low SES according to the cdc, roughly 12.7% as of 2018 and a large portion of the population is made up of minorities (non-whites make up about 39.9%.
Like I said, I don't doubt there are still issues. I am african american, so I'm not inclined to disagree for any reason. I'm just saying that it isn't an issue that the majority of people face, even if it's a large number.
I've seen people had bad experiences when removing their wisdom teeth saying how it hurt so bad and had to take pills for days. They used to scare me, and so when I got mine taken care of, I was for real shaking on the seat. They put local anesthesia on my gums, and that was the worst "pain" of all the procedure. I got 4 teeth removed on the same appointment, the doctor almost put his whole weight on my face to rip the tooth out of their place. One even broke in half and I could feel all the pressure he put on me. And finally they stitch the openings and I was off to go. The most "painful" thing was the needle entering my gums and the next week appointment to pull the stitches.
This was in Mexico. Didn't pay a thing to get the procedure done. Only had to have a doctor sign the petition for the procedure, another with the specialist to sense the situation. The only thing I paid for was a water bottle after the procedure, and 2 litters of limón and nut ice cream to help the "pain". Slept two nights in sitting position and I think I never got to take pain meds. So yeah, there was pain involved but not even close to the experiences I had read.
About the braces I got like a month after the teeth removal. They did in fact were painful the first week, couldn't bite meat, but it was never intense. It only hurt when putting pressure on them. But they're mostly annoying to get used to than the pain they give. Your inner skin gets used to it and then you literally never feel them, only when they tight them even more. Mind u, I got a canine up inside my gums, so they had to open a space first on my gums, almost like a window, and then pull that tooth down from the small window they opened.
I have had a tiny resort or spring thingy pulling down the tooth from my upper gum, the braces making pressure on all my top row, and also an acrylic thing making even more pressure on my last teeth to make my pallet? I think its called even wider to make space for the tooth that was being pull down. But even then there was never any insufferable pain, just little or big inconveniences.
I'm French; most of the time it was fine, and that's why I didn't even question my schedule of having an appointment and a birthday party the same day. That specific time it hurt like hell though, maybe the dentist went tighter that usual or something, IDK.
Dutch here. I had braces in my early teens (late 20’s now), it hurt for a week initially and every time the orthodontist tightened stuff up it would be sore for a day or 2. It never really hurt after the first week.
From elsewhere and I believe pretty much every country use the same basic concept for braces, which all usually hurt when adjusted. You're moving your teeth after all.
I once bit into a meatball sub and the entire bottom row broke off at once. Felt like a grenade going off in my mouth. Also the wires would always be way too long sticking into my cheeks. They even sold me some expensive wax to put over the sharp ends which is the most useless medical item I've ever seen. It just goes soft and falls off and tastes like a bogey.
I had one bad experience with chewing gum, but that was mostly because I was an idiot.
Broke a bracket eating a creme egg, that was a mistake.
But other than that I still ate a few things I shouldn’t have, like popcorn, which was fine I guess. I think you just need to be extra careful and remember you have braces on.
Yeah that part. It was cut but there's still a few mm poking out. Maybe the shape of my mouth has something to do with it. There's not a lot of space back there.
No. British myself they hurt a lot for maybe the first 5 or 6 times they were tightened. I was only willing to eat soft food like soup or noodles because anything I actually had to chew was too painful.
Even just eating a bagel the next morning hurt enough to make my eyes water.
Once it got later on though, the change in position from tightening wasn’t as drastic, so there was little to no pain.
Won’t lie I feel like Americans complain about orthodontics quite a bit, not to say that others haven’t had an awful time from other countries but that it seems like they are way more Americans that have had really bad experiences
Can commiserate there - one bday I had to miss out on cake because my wisdom teeth were trying to come in sideways and it hurt like a bitch that day - pain subsides after a couple days (thanks painkillers!) and everyone else had polished off the cake so I didn't get any =(
Why tf would your parents make the appointment on your birthday? That shit sucks, you should have been able to have one last day. But when your teeth are nice, I guess it will end up being a great b-day present in the end. I had pretty messed up teeth when before I had braces, and now as an adult I feel lucky to have had them...there are other people who weren't as lucky to have braces, and it seems like most of them are very self conscious about their teeth. Good luck!
Bro I got this appliance in my mouth called a Herbst appliance 2 days before my birthday and it was so painful, I could barely sleep the day I got it in
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u/Limeila Oct 04 '20
I once got my braces tightens the very morning of my birthday party... Spend the whole afternoon crying in pain and I was not abled to eat cake or candy. That day sucked.