First braces adjustment!
Yesterday I had my first braces adjustment. My orthodontist replaced my 2 wires with 2 new ones. The previous wires with size 12 on top and 12 at bottom have been replaced with 16 on top and 14 in the bottom arch. The experience was little bit strange. assistant REMOVING the wires The assistant asked me what color I wanted. Previously I chose the Gray (not so noticeable) color. I decided to stick to the gray color. I’m not sure (yet) I can handle other more “flashy” colors. Maybe next time? Afterwards she started removing the wire from top and…
In braces!!! Finally…
I have big news to share!. I have been in a roller coaster last 3 weeks. On Thursday 18th of January I finally got my adult metal braces installed. A very big step after many appointments and discussions with dentists / endodontologists / implant surgeons / paradontologists. 24 metal brackets have been installed and I’m happy finally doing this! I will explain here what happened that day! Not stressed anymore I thought I would be very stressed but that very moment when I arrived at the orthodontist office no more stress could be found. I was 100% prepared to get…
Front tooth extracted!
Check! I have returned from the implant surgeon. He extracted my front tooth. It only took 30 minutes to complete the procedure. He put my tooth in a small box so I can take it to my orthodontist appointment tomorrow. Things are getting serious now. There is no way back. I already made some new appointments. So, I will update the final treatment-plan page as soon as possible. This way you know what will happen next! I was pretty afraid for the appointment today. I was worried about: But everything went fine! I look pretty silly now because of that…
Happy 2023!
Happy 2023! New year, new experiences! Finally things are coming closer and soon I’ll join the adult braces club! To be honest I’m very nervous about what will come. As you know next week Wednesday my front tooth 21 will be extracted and Thursday my braces (both top and bottom) will be installed. I have to tell you there might be a very small change of plan! Because I have visited the second opinion implant surgeon. He told me it is better to extract the tooth and wait for 3 months to install the final implant. This will give the…
My final treatment plan
On Wednesday 16th of November I finally received my final treatment plan. My orthodontist and implant surgeon finally made up their mind and came up with the final treatment plan. The implant surgeon sent me an email and a few minutes later my orthodontist called me to explain what will happen. The main reason why they started discussing my treatment again is because I have sent them an email asking how the bottom braces will interact with the implant. My orthodontist convinced me to start wearing braces both top & bottom to get the best result. January things will finally…
Bottom braces in January
It looks like January 2023 will be the real start of my treatment. I have visited my Ortho last week. We decided to start with the treatment of my bottom teeth. For now it will be a single-arch treatment because I have to wait for some feedback from my implant surgeon. The ortho appointment only took 30 minutes. We discussed the options and signed the contract! The decision to move forward makes me nervous because it is pretty definitive. But I’m also happy because this was taking way too long. Tomorrow I’ll call my implant surgeon to discuss the treatment…
This week will be the week?
It’s been a while! It has been little bit silent again. Most of the time I have been waiting and waiting and waiting. I don’t have all answers yet. Don’t know if I have to start the braces treatment. Or do I have to start with the implant immediately? This week might be the week to get the final treatment plan! First the implant surgeon didn’t send my medical record to my dentist. So I had to ask her over and over again to share it with my dentist (and orthodontist). We have been waiting for this report since my…
I’m feeling little bit frustrated
I started this journey in July 2021. Hoping to find a solution to fix my front tooth. In the meantime I know it cannot be saved. To come to this conclusion I had to pay +/- 1000€ (in total). Now I was hoping to get my final treatment plan. But for some reason things are slowing down. At this very moment I still don’t know when my braces will be installed nor do I know when the implant can be installed. As I’m getting older AND I’m not THAT keen on starting a braces treatment at adult age… I’m getting…
More than one month later…
First I want to say I’m sorry about not writing new stories. I was on holiday and was not able to “work” on this topic. Also my dentist and ortho both were on holiday. My story was some kind of “frozen”. Today a new month started. I’m home again and normal life is settling down. That means I have to start thinking again about the braces / implant treatment progress I’m making IF I ever want my front tooth to be fixed. Until yesteday (since July) I didn’t hear anything from my dentist / orthodontist / implantologist. I did send…
Mail to my general dentist
Today I have sent a mail to my general dentist asking her how to proceed. I asked her if she already received the medical report of my last visit at the implantologist / periodontist. For some reason she was able to reply back to me in one hour. She told me she didn’t receive the report yet but advised me to contact both the orthodontist and periodontist to start working on a plan. I have already sent an email last week to the periodontist and will write an email tomorrow to the orthodontist. I remember my orthodontist asking about who…
It’s definitive: My tooth is lost 🙁
Last Tuesday (July 5th) I visited a new periodontist office. My last visit in May at another periodontist office ended-up with double feelings. She suggested to get a second periodontist appointment with focus on implants… I was able to schedule that appointment pretty quickly. That appointment happened last Tuesday. Arriving quiet on time I ended up in the dentist chair. An assistant told me she would take some X-rays first. (I even didn’t see the perio yet!). Immediately I felt very nervous and didn’t want to get X-rays again. So I started explaining her that I already had many X-rays…
My first visit @implant surgeon
As mentioned in my previous blog post I have canceled my visit at my paradontologist end of this year. It is all taking too long so I called my dentist and asked her what to do. She suggest to make an appointment with an implant surgeon and to discuss next steps with him/her. I have scheduled this appointment a few weeks ago but didn’t update my site until now. So tomorrow: my first visit @implant surgeon. I’m very curious about what will happen. Probably I’ll have to explain everything over again, but OK I’m getting used to it. I’ll mention…
Waiting waiting and waiting
On 26th of May I decided to send an email to my orthodontist. I have told her that I prefer to give up my front tooth and go for the implant. I’m getting impatient and don’t want to wait for the periodontist appointment end of this year (October 2022). The periodontist already responded to my email telling me he will cancel the surgery. (I don’t think he is happy with my decision). My orthodontist sent me another email and told me I should talk to my dentist now to get me in touch with an implant surgeon. After my x…
Use braces to extrude my tooth?
Today I have returned from my periodontist appointment. The appointment started exactly at the schedule hour. First he checked all the pockets on each and every tooth. Then he checked my gum and stability of my teeth. Most of my teeth are acceptable (pockets varying from 2mm to 3 mm. Some are 4mm), except from the pocket around my front tooth 🙁 It didn’t workout as expected. After 3 months it looks like I’m still nowhere. I came to the conclusion I better give up my front tooth definitely. So what are the next steps? What are my options? What…
My second orthodontist opinion
On April 21th I had my second opinion appointment at an orthodontist. After arriving in the ortho office I waited in the waiting room. I had to wait for more than 45 minutes! (You have to know I had to do this appointment during my working hours.) Each and every other patient was allowed to get in first 🙁 That way my appointment already started disappointing 🙁 Finally the doctor picked me up and asked me to get into the chair: “So, tell me what can I do for you?”. The ortho-office is located in the same office as my…
Some changes to my website theme
Today I played around with the layout and theme of my adultwithbraces.com website. I didn’t like the previous theme so I wanted to change it. This way my website is fully prepared for the future and hopefully I can share many more stories and experiences about my exciting journey. I might have to add some picture(s) on the front page and I’ll check that out later on. I hope you like it! Only 8 days to go to get my second opinion… To brace or not to brace? To implant or not to implant? 🙂 That are the questions running…
Adult braces dilemma
Today I was thinking about my next appointment end of April. It will be my second orthodontist opinion to check what I should do with my situation. Every time when I start thinking about this appointment I get pretty nervous. I’m afraid that my second opinion orthodontist will confirm what I already heard from the other orthodontist. Sounds little bit confusing but that is exactly like how I feel today. But did you know there exists some kind of “Adult braces dilemma?” I’m wondering if this second orthodontist will move / shift equally fast like the first one did. You…
Amalgam Before & After
As you have been reading on this blog I had my molar amalgam removal appointment yesterday. Things went fine and fluent! As promised I would share the before and after images… Amalgam Before & After. You can find them down below! The appointment went pretty fluent. My dentist used a green latex dental dam to protect me from swallowing amalgam particles. The aesthetic result is way better than expected. My next appointment with my general dentist will be in November. We discussed the progress on the periodontal treatment. So we’ll have to way for my next appointment (ortho2) end of…
I will get my amalgam removed
Tomorrow I have a new appointment at my dentist. I will get my amalgam removed from one of my back molar teeth. To be honest I don’t 100% understand why it needs to be removed but I think it is related to the braces treatment I might have to start later on. I’m not soooo keen on getting the amalgam removed. Especially when you start reading about this topic and how many things that can go wrong. The procedure should be done in a careful and perfect way to avoid getting toxic debris in my body. My dentist told me…
My second perio-cleaning
Last Monday I had my second perio-cleaning. This time the right-ride of my teeth (both top and bottom) have been treated. I was supposed to have my talk with the orthodontist before the perio treatement, but for some reason there was no time left to talk to the orthodontist. The periodontist put my gums “a sleep” with some nasty syringe stings. I had to wait for 15 minutes to move on with the treatment. While I was waiting the assistant explained me about how to clean my teeth, how to brush as efficient as possible. She also mentioned the importance…
My first perio-cleaning
Thursday 10th I had my first perio-cleaning. To be honest I underestimated the procedure. Didn’t expect the anesthesia syringe to hurt like that. The periodontist gave me about 10 of them. He decided to start with the left half of both top and bottom teeth. After the syringes the treatment went well. The treatment took 45 minutes in total. Next Monday (on Valentin’s day!) I’ll receive the same periodontal treatment on the other half (right side) of my mouth. That day, before the periodontal cleaning, I’ll have a 15 minute talk with the orthodontist to discuss the braces treatment because…
Braces and Confidence: What to expect?
Braces and Confidence: What to expect? Now that things start getting serious and I might have to start wearing metal brackets on my teeth… the self consciousness starts kicking in. Again I started looking around to find adult male persons wearing braces, but no “luck” 🙁 Even though a lot of people insured me I shouldn’t be worried about it, I’m starting to feel pretty strange about it. I think one shouldn’t underestimate the consequences of a braces treatment: As you can see I’m going through a roller coaster of questions. But especially the self consciousness makes me nervous! To…
1st orthodontist appointment
Thursday 27th I experienced my 1st orthodontist appointment. That day I was pretty nervous but I’m happy I went through with it. The appointment took exactly 40 minutes and went pretty fine. I explained the ortho about my situation together with her assistant. She came to the conclusion I will have to start wearing braces. I asked her if it was possible to go for Invisalign but she quickly responded that this kind of braces wouldn’t work for me. I didn’t expect to come to this conclusion that quickly. She explained me that she would like to apply metal bracket…
Important week!
Important week! This week a lot of things are on my mind. Don’t want to move into details, but they are all related to COVID related things. Here in Belgium the COVID cases are increasing incredibly. I’m little bit worried about the fact that my ortho / dentist / perio appointments might be impacted by the COVID situation. Hopefully nothing will have to be canceled by myself or the practices. Thursday will be the BIG day because it will be my first orthodontist visit ever. Hopefully I can just move on with the implant of my front tooth without the…
Happy 2022!
Happy 2022! A New Year has started. It will be an important year. Especially because of things that will start to change with my dental health in the next few months. Periodontist, orthodontist and dentist appointments scheduled and ready to start treatments if needed. The next appointment is scheduled on Thursday 27th of January. It will be the first appointment with an orthodontist to talk about my crooked bottom row teeth and of course the top front tooth that might have to be replaced with an implant. As the appointments come closer I’m getting more and more nervous. Last weeks…
2nd Ortho appointment rescheduled
Today I received a phone call from the ortho-office if it is possible to move my Ortho-appointment, scheduled on 10th of May, 2 weeks earlier. This means my 2nd Ortho appointment is rescheduled. That’s fine to me 🙂 Updated my “Journey in appointments” page… I also added the cost involved for each and every appointment.
Unexpectedly invited at periodontist today!
Unexpectedly invited at periodontist today! Last month I made an appointment (scheduled 27th of January 2022) with a periodontist and orthodontist practice. Today I received a phone call if I can come to the periodontist today! (One of their patients cancelled) . Things suddenly move faster! Keep you posted! Edit: I have returned from the periodontist. He told me he will try to save my front tooth trying to avoid having to replace it with an implant. Next steps: This means there is still hope. My first appointment with the orthodontist is still scheduled 27th of January 2022.
Visited my endodontologist
Last Thursday I visited my endodontologist. It looks like everything is fine with the root of my tooth number 21. The root canal treatment they did (almost 2 years ago) fixed the issue with the root of the tooth. I thought that was great news but now he will forward me to a periodontist. Something is still wrong with my bone next to tooth 21. I will explain more in detail later but this really doesn’t sound good. As you know I already scheduled an appointment with a periodontist and orthodontist because worst-case I knew I would have to visit…
I’m back from the dentist!
I’m back from the dentist! This was my 3rd opinion and I have the feeling it was a good visit. The dentist explained me about my dental health and how I should proceed to fix some things. First, my front tooth. It looks like it is still not stabilized and I should look into it asap. I received a letter explaining the situation and to get a second root canal treatment. So this morning I immediately made an appointment with an endodontologist. This will happen on November 19th. Second, I have some amalgam fillings in one of my molar teeth.…
In one day I’ll have my visit at a new dentist
Next Tuesday 9th of November I’ll have a visit at a new dentist. (As you noticed from my previous posts). They called me last Friday to remember me about the appointment at 8h30 in the morning. For sure I didn’t forget! Especially because this will be the appointment I prepared in my mind. I need answers on: It will be the first time I’ll ask about braces because I really want to fix my crooked bottom teeth in combination with the issues I’m experiencing with me top arch. This topic makes me nervous but it feels like I’m ready to…
New appointment with periodontist and orthodontist
Last 2 weeks were very busy weeks at work. So I was not able to even think about my teeth 🙂 But today I started thinking about the appointment with an orthodontist scheduled for April 2022. Honestly I think this is taking too long. At this very moment I’m 44 years old. Waiting for another 6 months to decide on getting braces yes or no is not acceptable. Someone told me I should start looking around to find another appointment that can be scheduled more quickly. So I started calling (again) to other orthodontists in a 50 km radius around…
I received my first “like” 🙂
I received my first “like” 🙂 Last week someone visited my blog and gave it a “like”. That means at least one person is interested in what I’m posting 😉 I know at this very moment I can’t share a lot of information but that will change soon. Depending on the outcome of my visit at a new dentist on 9th of November I will know what direction my implant/braces story will go. In the meantime I continue reading about topics like bone grafting, implants, the numbering of teeth (my problem tooth is number 9), types of braces (to make…
Reading and learning about braces and implants
For some reason I can’t let go the idea to get started with this adventure. Still can’t believe I’m doing this. Trying to understand the impact and idea of getting braces and one implant at my age. Last week I spent a lot of time on the internet to understand how it works. I have been reading and learning about braces and implants. Also on YouTube I have found a lot of valuable information. Until now I can’t find much information about male adults that started wearing braces. On websites like Archwired (www.archwired.com) I have found a lot of information…
No luck
Yesterday I tried to contact two more orthodontists that are “acceptable” close to the place I live. The first one told me immediately that they don’t accept new patients. The typical “patient-stop” answer. No luck 🙁 The second one started asking me some questions. “Would you like Invisalign or braces with brackets?”. Personally I think this is a strange question. At this very moment I still hope I don’t need braces. How am I supposed to know what kind of braces I will need? Let go I need them… This is the exact reason why I want to talk to…
New general dentist?
As you might have noticed on my About Me page, I have made an appointment with another more specialized dentist to get a second opinion. This practice is specialized in general dental work, root canal treatment and orthodontics. It will be easier to be redirected to another specialization if needed. Will I have a new general dentist soon? This dentist will take over my yearly checkup and I will have a talk about my dental health. I’m also very curious about what needs to be done to fix my crooked bottom teeth and how to fix my top front dead…