My teeth aren’t as straight as I would like for them to be.  I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels that way but I HAD BRACES.  Every time I think of my braces I get frustrated.  I had THE worst orthodontist.  I mean, I’m sure he was a great guy and all but he was not in the right profession.

I had the old fashioned metal braces with bonded brackets that were connected by a metal wire that went across my entire mouth to the edges where it connected with metal pieces that were fit snugly over my teeth.  It wasn’t pretty.  I always tried get the white rubber bands on my braces {when my orthodontist had them} because I didn’t want to draw any unneeded attention to them.

Not only were my braces unattractive but they hurt!  I’m not talking about the teeth-moving-pain that is expected but the wires on the end would come loose and poke my gums.  Ouch!  Sometimes the brackets themselves would be sharp and cut my gums.  I was given wax to put over top of them so they didn’t rub my gums.  They were sharp when my finger rubbed over them so of course it tore up my gums.  I’m confident this wasn’t a normal experience for most braces wearers. All of my friends that had braces ate whatever they wanted and the brackets never came off.  Me, I was a rule follower.  I avoided the foods I was told to and my brackets still came off!  It was frustrating.  When I would go in for an appointment he would re-adhere the brackets that came off and reuse the wires.  I didn’t know until later that this wasn’t common practice.

Again, I’m sure my orthodontist was a nice guy and maybe he had state of the art equipment 20 years before I was his patient but it was long outdated by the time I was there.  I can remember vividly that he was grinding down two of my teeth {at least he saved me from vampire teeth!} with a drill that he had to pump with his foot.  I’m not kidding!  There’s no way I could make this stuff up.

When it was time to get my braces off I was given a mouth piece to wear on my top teeth for three months.  After that I was told that I didn’t have to wear it any longer.  You can bet that I was counting down those months!  Unfortunately, I later found out that he gave me horrible advice and to keep the progress I had made I needed to continue to wear my mouth piece at night.  My husband had braces and he still has a built in little brace on the back of his teeth to keep them straight.

I could go on with my orthodontist horror stories but I’ll stop.  I’m sad that my parents paid so much money for my teeth to still be crooked just a short while after I had them removed.  I’m sad that my teeth are still crooked.  I’m sad that they didn’t have the sophisticated braces like Invisalign when I was younger.

Just as the orthodontist my husband had was using took advantage of newer technology, many orthodontists today are using the latest technology they have available by using Invisalign.  If you’re not familiar, these aligners are made of lightweight plastic that sits smoothly on the teeth {which is bound to be much more comfortable than metal shoved between your teeth!}.  The cost is similar to traditional braces but usually requires fewer office appointments, shorter visits, and no shameful “emergency” visits for a broken bracket.  To find out more information on Invisalign you can check out the Invisalign Website.

If you or your child is considering Invisalign try out their Invisalign Smile Assessment to see if you or your child is a good candidate for Invisalign.  If it looks like these would be a good match for you, you can use the Invisalign Doctor Locator to find a doctor nearest you.

To stay up to date on the latest Invisalign news you can follow Invisalign on Twitter or “like” Invisalign on Facebook.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.