I’ve been thinking of blogging about this for months. Now that my braces are off and I’m a couple of months into the retainer, I feel ready and justified, as no one can claim I simply need to wait and give it more time, etc. I am almost 50, married, spent one year in a foreign country (without knowing the local language), work full-time, and I have attended college off and on for several years. Even given all of that, regarding braces, I had never felt so ill-prepared for anything in my entire life.
I hope this doesn’t take a negative tone, but it probably will. Maybe adult brace wearers in general tend to be bad apples, as I’ve read at least one article that seems to imply so. Or, maybe my training in sociology and approaching 50 years of age makes me more cynical? Who knows?
Well, let me tell you what I went through as a fairly recent adult brace wearer. I’m not trying to imply that my experiences are typical or that the orthodontic industry is out-of-it when it comes to dealing with adults, etc. Actually, my hope is that if some orthodontists read this, they’ll see a little bit of themselves in it, and adjust their practices accordingly. Or, maybe they will read it and think, “Thank goodness I’m not doing that.”
I’m going to start by listing two issues that have bothered me from practically day one. First of all, as an adult, you are accustomed to having control over every aspect of your life, including, of course, your mouth. Secondly, the orthodontic industry is heavily geared toward adolescents. Anyone see a problem here? I do now. I wish I would have seen this dichotomy back before I plunked down my $5,000 and signed on the dotted line. In a nutshell, I had to unexpectedly give up control over certain aspects of my life to my orthodontist and was treated like an adolescent, to boot. I will gladly explain by listing several of my experiences at my clinic. And, the clinic, by the way, had a very well deserved positive reputation in the community.
· The assistant I had the first day was very cordial and polite, but she seemed to be rather put off by my questioning. She literally told me to my face a couple of times that she would get to answer my questions later on in the treatment. Well, you can treat a 13-year old this way, but adults expect and have the right to have their questions answered when they ask them, especially after just plunking down $5,000. Braces are, after all, an elective cosmetic procedure for most adults.
· All actually went pretty well getting my top braces in, with the assistant and my orthodontist working together. The assistant did call me a Star Performer a couple of times, which seemed odd. But at the time, I did not think too much about it. After the top braces were in, the assistant went to give me literature on how to care for my braces, etc. Imagine my shock when I was handed what was basically a cartoon book on how to care for braces. I found out later they gave both adults and adolescents the same book (one that had pages and pages about the ills of eating popcorn, pizza and chips). This was the first time the do-they-think-I-am-a-13-year-old feeling started sinking in.
· About a month later I went in to get a “spacer” for when I got braces on my lower teeth. This time the assistant actually seemed willing to answer my questions! I was so excited. I was asking her this and that. She said to me once, “Oh, aren’t you cute,” about a comment I made, but I was willing to overlook that just to have some questions answered. I found out that they were only going to put braces on about 2/3 of the bottom, which was okay with me, but I imagine I probably would not have been informed of that, if I hadn’t asked. Anyway, next thing I know one of the orthodontists I usually do not see comes over and says something to her like “wrap it up” or worse, because right after he said that to her, she turned and said to me, “Okay we are done!” No more questions “permitted” for me. I guess I was just being one of those bad apple adults again. Shame on me.
· A few months after getting my braces, and after I had ample time for observation, I was astounded at how teen after teen came in, simply opened their mouth, and the orthodontist or orthodontist’s assistant would go to work with little or no explanation. Maybe that is fine for an adolescent. However, I distinctly got the feeling they expected me, an obvious adult, to do this as well--just open my mouth and let ‘em go to it. Well, sorry, folks, but I’m an adult, and there ain’t no way you are putting various appliances into my mouth without an explanation. I really have to say a couple of more things here about “appliances.” More than likely at some point you will be wearing elastics or rubber bands along with your braces, whether you were informed of that or not (because I was not). Also, although rare, there are other appliances you could wind up with too, such as head gear and palatal expanders. Make sure you know exactly what you could be in for. Early on, one assistant told me that they were thinking about using head gear on me, and I practically fell off my chair. I asked her, “Are you joking!”? I don’t know if she was joking or not, but the issue was never brought up with me again.
· Appliances continued: I guess I have to continue to vent here, because I still feel violated about what happened 1 ½ years ago, over an “appliance” issue. Shortly after getting both my top and bottom braces on, I went in for an adjustment and wound up with something hanging down the left, inside of my mouth. I was not told what it was or why it was placed there. As I walked out the door, I noticed that when I spoke, it seemed to be ripping into my tongue. I was shocked and told the asst. about it. She stated, “Oh, you’ll get used to it.” Initially I thought, “Well, maybe I will.” On the way out the door, I stopped in a restroom, opened my mouth, and saw (I am not kidding) what literally looked like a piece of an erector set hanging down the bottom of my mouth. I felt totally humiliated and violated that someone could do this to me without explanation, and the piece continued to rip into my tongue as I spoke. I am an older, experienced adult, but I cried almost all of the way home as quite frankly I could not imagine that anyone could to this to another person without DIRECT explanation AND permission; I never thought when I signed that little slip of paper that it meant they could have whatever kind of party they wanted to have with my mouth. I kept thinking to myself, “What the ____ is this”? I hate to admit it, but I was so angry that with tears in my eyes, I took a pair of pliers and just yanked the piece up and out of the way. I had absolutely no problem nor guilt doing this. I’m an adult, and nothing is going to be ripping into my tongue without permission. The next time I went in, no one said anything (at some point they did readjust it, I think). Although eventually I did meet with the clinic manager to discuss a lot of these issues, I never brought that one up. I suppose if you are treated like a 13-year-old, at some point you are going to act like one.
· To me, if you are going to truly service everyone vs. just hanging up a shingle and claiming you take adults, then the atmosphere, pictures, etc. should cater to everyone. You’d think family pictures would be ideal. Unfortunately, at my clinic, cartoon pictures ruled the day, or worse. I went in to one of the clinics to have my orthodontist look at a particularly bad mouth sore, and lo-and-behold, on just about every chair there was a picture of horrible, abscessed teeth w/braces, with a note underneath that said something like, “Look what happens when you eat popcorn!” I sighed. Maybe children would think twice before they ate popcorn again, but the first thought to pop into my mind was “Here’s something else I can worry about.” Really!! I can’t believe a clinic would even think of doing something like that! If you were going to get a tonsillectomy, just before you went into the operating room, would you want to look at pictures of botched procedures whether they were due to patient non-compliance or not? Wouldn’t that just instill confidence in your clinic and your treatment?
Finally after more than a year of all of the above and more, I thought I had to go in and talk to the office manager about my experiences. My reason was not revenge; my reason was that I actually liked the clinic and personnel and thought they probably don’t even have a clue, as a lot of times those entrenched in a culture can’t see from the outside in. The clinic manager agreed to meet with me and spoke with me for over an hour. With some of the issues, the manager did say she could see my point, and she did make some adjustments. I actually felt very proud of myself and the clinic for that. They even put me in a private room (no, not one w/padded walls) any time I came in for an adjustment, from that point on. So, if anyone else has issues like these, even though you may feel like you are putting your teeth on the line, speaking up worked for me!
Keep in mind that I am going to try to just address my initial two issues here--I had to give up a lot more than I ever expected for braces (largely a cosmetic procedure for most adults) and was treated like an adolescent. I won’t even tell you my personal opinion in general and all of the virtually non-stop discomfort I had with braces on my teeth from beginning to end, as I know those type of experiences can easily vary patient to patient. I’ll just say that for me braces = one l-o-o-o-o-ng surgical procedure. Teeth are bone-like, after all, and my teeth were manipulated on a regular basis for about two years. Notice too that I haven’t even told you whether or not my teeth, braces off now, look good or not. I haven’t told you that, because at this point I don’t really care how my teeth look; in my case, that issue became secondary a long time ago. For me, the victory wound up being just getting them off, and now I have to try to work thru the retainer in order to preserve my investment. They do look nice, though.
I heard that the ideal braces patient is supposed to not even notice they have braces on after a short while. That is the ideal patient. Not every one is going to be the ideal patient. I certainly was not. After getting my braces on, I was absolutely astounded at the impact they had on my life. Of course, you are to avoid popcorn, nuts. But, until you go there, you have no idea how many types of bread, fruits, and other products have small seeds in them that can easily get stuck in your braces and possibly cause issues. Snacking was completely out for me, as I started getting sores in my mouth unless my teeth were absolutely cleaned right after eating; and, brushing 4x a day and flossing each tooth individually once a day was about my max. I even lost 25 pounds. Some people may see the weight loss as a good thing. My work-life was definitely impacted. After a while, my braces care-kit started looking like a diaper bag. I never minded how the braces looked, but I’d be speaking with people, professionally at work, and suddenly start to lisp. Usually what I was told at my clinic when I brought up some of these how-do-you-expect-me-to-function type issues was, “Give it time.” For me, for the most part, time never solved any of these issues. I had about one month where I thought things were finally getting better, and then the rubber bands were put on, and the lisping got even worse. Even with the braces off, I am having similar issues with the retainer.
Really! Before you get your teeth worked on, make sure you know what you are in for. You cannot ask enough questions, believe me, even if it seems like they don’t like your questions, and ask the clinic how they differentiate between adults and adolescents. There should be differences. For example, orthodontists should take on a parental role with adolescents, but more of an equal role with adults. (I still remember the day my orthodontist scolded me like a 13-year-old and told me I wasn’t going to get new wires for a long, long time when I simply asked if I was going to get a new bottom wire or not.) And, if you are paying for the braces out of your own pocket, and most adults will, they should be treating you like a golden apple, not a bad one. At the clinic I went to, adult patients were expected to rinse their own mouth out in a public sink along with the kids, and they thought there was no problem with this. For a couple of hundred dollars at my dental office, I don’t even have to move out of my chair and get treated like royalty; yet, for $5,000 at my ortho.’s office, I get to floss my own teeth, and spit and rinse my mouth out in a common sink along with the whole gang. Maybe they think it is a bonus to expose you to all of the latest viruses going around the local grade and high schools, too? Who knows? Hello!! The last time I saw an ol’ spit bowl was the 1970’s. I am sure some orthodontists will try to say it helps keep down costs, but dentists aren’t going around doing that. Think about it. An adult with no previous experiences with braces (like me) will AT LEAST expect to be treated like they are in their dentist’s office, and they will expect to be treated like an adult. I wonder what other past and present adult brace wearers think?
Thank you,
Cynda Aves
USA
