Hey, everyone. I hope you're having a wonderful day and welcome back to my channel.
I am super excited right now
because I've been wanting to talk about this topic for a while.
Today, I'll be sharing everything you absolutely
need to know if you're thinking about getting braces.
I'll be sharing some of the common misconceptions
that many people have about getting braces,
tips on how to choose a suitable doctor, and also, most importantly,
things you really need to have on hand.
If you get braces, it'll make your life so much more easier.
So if you're interested, let's get started.
Okay, let's start with the misconceptions first.
So the first misconception is that referrals won't go wrong.
This is something that I learned along the way.
When I decided to get my braces,
the first thing that I did was to reach out to an acquaintance
that I remember had this beautiful smile.
I went to the Orthodontist that she recommended, and we did like, a quick assessment.
The Orthodontist provided me with a treatment plan during the treatment consultation,
he said that before we can even start with the whole treatment,
he will need to shave down two of my molars
because they were rotting, and I had huge cavities,
and it would ruin my whole alignment treatment if I didn't proceed naturally.
I was very trusting because look at my friend's smile, right?
What can go wrong?
So I was fully on board.
Luckily,
my mom was with me that day, and she recommended that I consult with a second doctor.
We went to a second dentist.
He gave me, like, a checkup.
Guess what, guys?
I had no cavities.
If I had gone with that procedure, I would have lost two molars,
which are very important teeth, by the way.
So more of the story, guys.
If you are ever getting any type of treatment, make sure to consult a second opinion.
It would make a lot of difference.
Now, the second misconception
is the bigger the hospital or the more famous or the more booked
the doctor is or the Orthodontist is, then the better that choice is for you.
And that is definitely not the case.
I eventually decided to get my braces in a hospital
where they had a department for Orthodontics.
I really liked the outcome, like what I got.
But the process, I would say, was something that I did not expect.
So after the whole assessment consultation, I felt like the plan was great.
I loved the doctor.
The fee was very reasonable.
But on the day of getting my treatment, they handed me a second consent form.
And on the consent form, it said that
I would be agreeing to participate in an internship program.
This in Mandarin is called 實習門診.
Now, I was not told about this on the day of the consultation,
so this was right before I was getting my bracket stuck on.
So I definitely felt like there was a pressure to sign the consent form.
I had no idea what would entail to become a patient in this program.
So some of the things that I did experience
were the intern dentists were not very sure
how to pull bands, or you could feel like the handshaking.
And sometimes accidents would happen where something would go loose and hit me on the gums.
I think that getting braces is a really big deal for anyone out there.
If you are getting onto any type of treatment,
make sure that you know what you're signing onto.
And if you are given any type of form that you're not sure what it entails,
do, make sure to ask
what it would be like to be part of a program so that you get
the treatment and the experience that you're looking for and that is suitable for you.
Now, the last misconception that I would like to share is about tooth extraction.
So if you're getting braces, chances are you're going to have to extract a few teeth.
And yes, it's going to be painful.
You will probably get a few options from your orthodontist or your dentist.
So you could either go with extracting
one tooth at a time, or you could be extracting
two teeth at a time, or some dentists even give you the option of extracting
four or eight teeth at a time.
I did one at a time, and it was very manageable.
I could go back to work, and sometimes
I felt so tired, I had to rest for half a day or even a whole day because of how tiring
it felt like my body was trying to recover.
My friends did two.
It was okay as well.
If you go more than two, chances are because you have so many wounds
around your whole mouth, you won't be able to eat because
all sides of your teeth are hurting.
We get it, you're excited.
You want to get your braces as soon as possible.
But also know that your body needs time to heal.
It's a very big change, and you're going to create some incisions and wounds.
So give your body some time, take it slow.
You won't regret it.
All right, so now let's take a look at some common treatments
that you might be able to choose from.
So the first one is the most traditional.
It's called the metal braces.
Besides the metal braces, you will also be able to choose ceramic braces.
They are essentially the same thing, but it's just on the top or the bottom.
You get to choose a color that's a little bit more transparent, so it's not as noticeable.
The third option is clear aligners.
We have the Louis Vuitton of the clear aligners called invisalign.
I'm sure everybody has heard of that before.
Now, the pros and cons of traditional braces and aligners is traditional braces.
They are very hard to clean, so they're all stuck in between your teeth.
There's a lot of crevices that you really need to make sure that you're cleaning right.
But they are a little bit more affordable.
And because you cannot remove them, they have stronger
pull and they're working round the clock,
whereas for clear aligners, you won't be able to see them that much.
They are a little bit more expensive and they are removable.
Now, it could be good that it's removable
because you will be able to brush your teeth very easily.
You can just pop them off and brush your teeth and then put them back on.
But the downside of that is a lot of people forget
to put them back on or they simply lose their aligners, which can be expensive.
So these are some of the pros and cons to these treatments.
All right, so now let's take a look at some common problems that people experience.
Now, we're not trying to self diagnose,
but it would always be nice to have a little bit of a prior knowledge.
Let's take a look.
The first one is underbite.
And with underbite, you also have overbite.
If you have not enough space, that would be crowding.
You also have spacing.
Some people have spaces in between their teeth, especially the front teeth.
We have crossbite open bite.
Besides learning about the problems that you might be experiencing with alignments,
it is also very important that we know that we have four types of teeth in our mouths.
So the first type is called the incisors.
The second is called the canine, which are the ones that are a little bit more pointy.
And then we have the premolars.
At the very back, we have the molars, which are very important for us to grind down food.
I'm sure a lot of people have heard about wisdom teeth.
So the wisdom teeth are the third of your molars.
So for me, I had to extract eight teeth, four wisdom teeth and four premolars.
Now, usually doctors
don't recommend pulling out your canine teeth
because they are more deeply rooted compared to the other teeth.
My treatment was $9,000 with a span of two years.
I also had a device called a temporary anchorage device.
It's like a little screw that was screwed
on top of my gums so that everything could be pulled back.
So this is like what I got for the end of the treatment.
Hey, guys.
So another thing I forgot to record is actually my before and after pictures.
Now, don't worry, I'm going to show it to you guys right now.
But before I start, I just want to mention that not all pictures look really cute,
but I know you guys are going to be nice about it.
So let's take a look at the first picture.
Now, this picture is actually taken ten years ago.
This is a picture of me before braces, obviously.
And you can tell from my smile that I have quite a serious case of protrusion
over by and also overcrowding
so one of the main concerns about my misalignment
is that it was always very hard for me to smile with my lips closed.
As you can see from the first picture,
if I smile without showing teeth, it usually looks very much like a forced smile,
whereas if I show my teeth, it looks a lot better.
So my orthodontist did tell me that this is something that can be addressed with braces.
Now, I'm going to show you guys the day of me getting braces
and the day after I got my braces off.
So I know these pictures are not flattering at all.
And trust me, it took me some time to muster up the courage to share this with you guys.
But I just hope that these pictures
will be able to give some friends out there who also have misalignment
an idea of how braces might be able to help you with your smile.
Let's take a look, shall we?
So with the after pictures, you can tell that the braces definitely helped
not only with the alignments, but I feel like it also enhanced my features
quite a bit because the teeth were pushed back.
So, yes, I was very happy with the outcome of my treatment, but I do not want to sugarcoat
this. So there are two things that I also wanted to share that I experienced during my treatment.
First of all, sagging.
I did notice that after extracting out eight teeth and then also pushing
all my teeth back and up a little bit, that my face felt a little bit saggy.
So this is something that you may experience if you get braces.
The second thing that I also experience is called gum recession.
This could happen because of a variety of reasons.
Could be because you didn't clean your teeth properly
or because your teeth is moving too quickly with the treatment, so your gums cannot accommodate
and they start receding.
For me, it happened on the second year of my treatment, but luckily,
after I got my braces off, it gradually grew back in.
So know that this could be something that might happen.
All right, going back to the video, let's move on to the things that you absolutely
need to get if you are getting your braces.
None of these things that I mentioned in the video is sponsored in any way.
These are just some of my personal favorites.
So the first thing that you absolutely need to get is a meshed bag like this.
It's very important that you don't get a plastic zipper bag like this one, because
it's not going to be able to let your things dry out.
When you're getting braces, even if you get clear aligners,
you will need to bring around floss,
you will need to bring around toothbrush and sometimes wax.
If you have braces but you don't clean your teeth routinely,
chances are you're going to get cavities.
And you definitely don't want that because you've invested
so much money in trying to get a beautiful smile.
Get a couple of these, put in a toothbrush
and everything you need and stuff them into the bags that you usually
go out with and make sure that you're brushing as much as possible.
The second item that you absolutely need to get, and it is one of the things that I cannot
recommend more, is the toothbrush from a brand called Tepe or Teepee.
It's an orthodontic implant toothbrush.
So if you take closer look at this toothbrush,
you will notice that there's only one row of bristles, so it's a lot thinner.
This
is perfect for
people with metal braces or ceramic braces because
as you may know, or later you will learn, you will have to brush the top of your braces,
the front of your braces, and you have to go under your braces, so it's top, middle and front.
This alignment
with this very thin bristle will allow you to very easily prop your toothbrush
on top of the brackets and thoroughly clean it.
Whereas a normal, ordinary toothbrush
would be a little bit harder because it's simply too big.
So when you go into your mouth, it's very hard to adjust the angles.
This works wonder.
Now, even if I don't have my braces, I still use these toothbrush.
You can buy them in Taiwan and I know you can get them in Canada.
So definitely give these a try.
You will not regret it.
Now, a third thing that I recommend
you get is something called a water pick, or some people call it the water floss.
Now, there are three types of water floss that you can get.
The first one is a corded water floss.
It means that there is like a cord and you have to pull out the cord to clean your mouth.
The second time is a cordless one, which I have right here.
This is one from Phillips.
But personally, I like the one from Panasonic.
They all make cordless ones.
The difference is that with the Phillips one, there's more air popping out.
So I think this is called the air water floss.
I don't really like the impact.
I like the traditional ones where it's just jets of streams
coming out to kind of wash off all of the gunk that's in between your braces and teeth.
So this is something that you should have at home.
Now, besides getting one of the corded or cordless
one, I also recommend everyone to get a portable water pick.
So this one is by Panasonic.
You open it up
like so, and you fill in the water from here and you just put it in like this.
You turn it on and you could clear out any gunks in between your teeth wherever you go.
So I would definitely recommend
this to people that are going into the office or if you're going to school
or if you're just going out with your friends and grabbing a meal.
This makes such a big difference because if you're brushing your teeth in a public restroom,
it's going to take so long, having a water pick will really save you time because
you could just spray everything out.
All you have to do is just put it into the bag, the mesh bag,
and then zip it up and you're ready to go.
Now, the fourth thing that I absolutely recommend everyone get if you do have braces
is besides getting these traditional flosses, also get the super floss from Oral Bee.
So this floss is a fantastic design.
I don't know how they came up with this, but this is specifically
designed for people with braces.
So if you take a look at the strand, you'll notice that there's actually three parts
in one strand.
The front of the strand is very stiff, so it makes it easy for you to sew through
all of your brackets.
It will be very hard if you use these traditional ones.
I know there are some tools
that you can use to thread through
using the traditional ones, but I did find that it just takes up too much time.
Another thing I really like about the floss is that in the mid part,
there is the cotton texture floss.
So it's a lot thicker.
And what I find that useful is when you do have your braces, you are going to have crevices.
Sometimes the crevices can become a little bigger, some can become smaller.
And with the cotton stretches,
it's very easy for you to be able to pull out a lot of gunk like meat
and veggies that were stuck in your teeth that you didn't even know were there.
So I definitely recommend getting these.
So the fifth thing that I recommend getting are these little guys right here.
So they're sometimes called go betweens, or they are called interdental brushes.
They come in all different sizes, from extra, extra, extra small all the way to large.
Now, what I personally would recommend is for you to go and get at least three different sizes.
Again, when you do get braces,
you will experience your teeth moving and shifting around a lot.
So some of the crevices that you see right now that are humongous
might become really tight crevices.
You need these different sizes of bristles so that you can accommodate
because it could really damage your gums if you're pushing and using the wrong sizes.
All right.
So now let's talk about teeth whitening.
I know a lot of people cannot wait to get that beautiful white smile.
But one thing to remember is that when you do have your braces on,
do not whiten your teeth in any way.
Just do regular brushing.
Because if you use any type of very strong whitening toothpaste
or you do any types of strips, when you take off your braces,
there's going to be a color difference because the middle parts were not whitened.
So this is one thing to definitely keep in mind for me.
After I got my braces, I did notice that I had very yellow canine teeth.
The ones that work really well for me were the Crest Whitening strips.
I think they're pretty popular, but the one that I got was with a light.
So if you want to try that kit out, I would definitely recommend that one.
Besides that, if I want to whiten my teeth, I would go with the strips with less effect
because it makes my teeth a little bit sensitive.
You could go onto their website.
They actually have a number.
Eight would be something that is a little bit more mild,
and then it could go all the way up to 30.
So you know you're getting your teeth bright like a diamond.
If you're opting for one, that's noted as a 30,
consult with your doctor if you do want to use those Crest Winding strips.
So moving on to the last part, we have the retainers.
So once you're done with your whole treatment, you're going to have to get retainers.
If you're getting your treatment
a little bit later, then you might need to have fixed retainers where they are permanently
stuck at the back of your teeth.
I have one at the back of my lower teeth, but my front teeth were not as messy,
so I didn't need a fixed one at the top.
There's also the Hawley Retainer.
So that one is something that you wear
before you go to bed and you take off when you wake up.
It has, like, a little pink plate to it, and there's like, a metal band.
There's also the clear aligner retainers.
They are a little bit more expensive than the Hawley ones.
And based on what my dentist shared with me, the Clear retainers
actually have a shorter longevity.
They might break a little bit sooner than the Hawley retainers.
So if you're on a budget, perhaps the Holly might be a better choice.
Okay, so that is it for today.
I hope you liked today's video and found the information useful.
If you like this video, don't forget to click the like button, hit subscribe,
and turn on the notification bell if you want to know when I upload a new video.
If you have any other questions regarding
getting braces, leave a comment down below, and I'd be happy to answer your questions.
I'll see you guys in my next video.
Bye.