You and I could be sisters! My mouth is a disaster too! haha.

I also had braces as a teen that weren’t done the right way. Had multiple teeth taken out and everything just like you did and they shifted back after the braces came off. I also had a jaw widening thing as a pre-teen that required a little key to be turned every day…yeah, that was fun

I had TWO sets of wisdom teeth instead of just one and the second ones were sideways just like yours. They had to crack my jaw bone to get them out in pieces and didn’t even put me to sleep to do it. *shudder* Bad as that sounds, when my brother was about 12 he had a molar come in right through the center of the roof of his mouth. No joke! We obviously come from a stellar gene pool in the dental department

All this junk created my loathing of the dentist. I seriousness get panicky every time I’m in the chair and put it off forever! Once I went like 4 years without a cleaning (so bad! I know!) and I had to have that crazy “debreeding” thing done too. So gross.

I think you know I have braces AGAIN right now. Had them put back on at the age of 29 and here I am 2 years later with 6-10 more months to go in them. My teeth were still that screwed up. Not even really crooked to an untrained eye, but positioned all screwy, my bite didn’t line up correctly and my mouth was still too small for them (even after having my jaw widened- I have a freakishly small mouth!) so I had 3 more teeth extracted before the braces went back on this time to make more room. Once again I was awake through the whole thing with only Novocaine- Tricare would have paid to have me put out for 4 or more teeth at the same time, but not 3. Figures right?

All of my gum tissue was receding and if I hadn’t gone ahead and done this I would have started losing teeth entirely by the time I was 40. (I even got a second opinion at a second orthodontist and was told the same thing.)

So! I feel your pain girlfriend!

You know what though, it’s amazing how many adults I’ve noticed over the past couple of years with braces on. It’s really not that uncommon anymore. And if you’re able to have the clear ones you don’t even really see them at a distance so it’s not as embarrassing as you might think. Just keep telling yourself it will all be worth it when you have a perfect smile a couple years from now! Oh, and be grateful you wont have to deal with the braces while you’re pregnant like I did. You know how you gums are ultra-sensitive when you’re expecting? Every time I’d go in to have my wires changed when I was preggo with Vivi it would look like someone got murdered at my station. I was a bleeding fool- so embarrassing! I’m sure they all groaned every time they saw me coming!

OK, this is the longest comment ever. I’ll shut up now