Here is what i’m starting with. my natural smile- where as you can see it’s all gums and there’s no lower jaw. You can see how pronounced my overbite is when I pull down my lower lip a bit. I promise there are teeth there somewhere!!
My lower teeth are really crowded, and I had my lower canines extracted in the 80’s for the first set of braces. You can see where one of my teeth has chipped off from crashing into my upper teeth all my life.
And for those of you who want to skip the story in the middle; here’s how we end up
Middle Aged Lady with Braces 
Hello, thank you for your story, what a journey. I stated mine two weeks ago. I am 58 years old. I hope to get them off before I collect social security. Lol. Your process was inspiring. You look amazing. Your bottom teeth before braces look like mine. Lots of metal. I remember on the first day feeling like a semi truck crashed in my mouth. I have brackets and wires and bite guards. Soon to get spacers.
It’s uncomfortable, it looks terrible, it’s difficult to eat and yet I couldn’t be happier. The anxiety prior to getting them was terrible. The day they were put on I knew I had made the right decision. A lot was done that wasn’t explained in my consultation and that made me a little un nerved. My tech assistant spoke to me as if I was 12 or 13 and how exciting and fun it would be and how I could choose color bands and make it pretty. There was no mention of springs going across my teeth, bite brackets and not being able to close my mouth all the way to chew food. No pretty color bands for old ladies I guess. 😂
It’s a learning process for sure.
Again thank you for sharing it helped a lot.
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Thanks Kate. While it’s not an easy thing to do ( or pay for!) it’s certainly worth it. The coloured bands look terrible anyway- you either look like you’ve got something stuck in your teeth, haven’t’ cleaned them for a week or are bleeding! I just went with white. The clear colour goes yellow after one meal anyway! If you have any questions or want to share- ask away 🙂
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