Getting Braces

I thought I'd write about this after 18 months of having to pick my teeth after every meal, but someone left a link on my curioscat account, so here's my story. 

I never wanted to get braces. My family knew this very well but after having a gum recession last year, I was very much convinced that I needed to do something about my condition. I've had sleeping bruxism (teeth grinding while I sleep) since I was 6, although that was only confirmed after I consulted with a dentist in 2009. Due to this, I have something called the Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction, or TMJD in short. 

For many years, I had to sleep with a splint or a mouth guard but it didn't seem to be effective. Because I also tend to do tongue thrusting, I ended up having an Overjet Bite. This is why my teeth are protruding (as seen on my xray scan) . 

I was basically in pain. I couldn't chew food or food was falling out of my mouth because my teeth weren't biting properly and I kept waking up with a headache. I sought for more consultation. So the orthodontist explained the problem I was having, and I thought it was just me, but he said all of these were the reason to my speech impairment. A couple of month before I got my braces, I was actually talking less because I was slurring and my speech was jumbled up. It was becoming a serious problem. 

And yes, people made fun of my teeth and I got bullied a lot. They called me ugly and whatnot but that's not the reason why I'm spending a lot of money on getting braces. 

I'm currently on my 4th month, and I don't enjoy getting ulcer and having to spend 7 minutes to brush my teeth, or that I have to brush  4 to 5 times a day. It's even more tedious to floss your teeth everyday. But I realised that there has been some sort of clarity to my speech, although I have mild lisp now.

All I'm saying is that, I'm not doing this out of vanity. I'm only 27, and I don't want to be 30 with bad set of teeth. And of course, I just want to be able to chew food like everyone else. Maybe I get to chew gum again after this is done. 

I mean I appreciate that you are sharing with me on the hukum of getting braces, and I hope you can understand the situation that I am in. I'm sorry that I might end up with beautiful set of teeth. :) 

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On a side note,

If you're planning to get braces from a private orthodontist, I could recommend mine. Drop me a message and I'll send you the deets.