Introduction Post

Hello readers!

For those of you that are lurking, allow me to introduce myself briefly. My name is Andrea and I'm 20 years old, soon to be 21 in August of this year. I'm about to go into my third year of college and I'm studying to be a journalist. When I'm not at school or work I like to play video games, go online and watch TV. Currently, my obsessions are Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars and Glee. I also love to read and write stories, which has been a longtime passion of mine.

I'm starting this sub-blog that is going to be about my life after braces. I tried starting up a blog last summer that was supposed to document my year long journey with braces, but seven weeks into my treatment, life took over and it fell apart. I just got my braces off this past Tuesday June 22nd, a day shy of a year since I had them put on, and since I'm still adjusting to my new smile and adapting to new things such as retainers, I got inspired to write up this blog about my post-braces experience, which is just as monumental as my experience with braces.

Here is a rough outline of my teeth history.

June 2004: Got started looking for orthodontists. We were considering two paths; either getting traditional metal braces or Invisalign. Met with a traditional ortho and Dr. Dino Mantis of Calumet City, who was the only dentist close by that did Invisalign in our area. Chose to go with Invisalign after being told I was a good candidate for it and because the traditional ortho said I had some weird swallowing condition called orange peel and would have to wear headgear at night. He also wasn't very friendly.

2004-2008: Wore Invisalign aligners and got treated by Dino. Treatment plan was originally only going to be 18 months, a year and a half, but slow moving teeth, a ton of refinements and issues with gum tissue kept me in these things for four years of high school (I started this whole thing the summer before my freshman year of high school). The teeth were much straighter but not to where they needed to be after four years. I was given the option by Dino to either do more refinements (this would be my third go around with refining, which basically means taking new impressions of my teeth for new trays and basically starting the whole process over once again) or wear metal braces free of charge on my top teeth only. After much discussion, we chose to go the route of metal braces.

2008-2009: Took the year off from orthodontic treatment due to life being crazy and hesitant to put braces on me, as it was a big change and adjustment for me, especially since I was now starting college. Spent my freshman year of college wearing my last Invisalign tray as a retainer to keep my teeth in position until I did something about them.

March 2009: Went to see Dino during my spring break to talk about the next step for braces. He explained to my mom and me that I would now have to wear top and bottom braces so that I could wear rubber bands to fix my bite and it would take up to six months to treat. Originally planned to put braces on after Memorial Day of that year but then switched it to June 16th for spacers and then June 23rd for the putting on of braces and bands.

June 23rd 2009-June 22nd 2010: Wore braces, straightened my teeth with little to no problems other than adjusting to them and having a beautiful smile :D.

Next post: De-bracing process and temporary retainer.