My Journey to Straight Teeth

I just want to say I wasn’t going to do this.

Mainly because I was really, really, really self-conscious about my teeth before I got braces. But someone commented on one of my really old YouTube videos asking me a question about my hair and I decided to take a look at the old video and O.M.G. I look totally different!

Now I started YouTube six or seven years ago and kept at it for some time until I moved to DC to have a real job and a real life. Sometime between then, I decided that I was so tired of feeling awful about my teeth and that I should invest in myself so that’s what I did.

I was put on a two-year treatment plan, that ended up turning into four years. I know… I was pissed, but I had many underlying problems. You have to understand a few things… I (we, as in my family) did not (apparently) have the means to get me braces as a child, or any kind of cosmetic options. I wore those braces for four years, knowing it would allll pay off. I opted for clear braces to make me feel a bit better about being an adult having braces. Believe it or not, many of the patients my orthodontist saw were adults. That made me feel better, too.

As an adult, I have always thought of myself as attractive; even with jacked up teeth. And let me tell you, they were jacked up! Friggin’ shark teeth pointing every which way 🦈. So two four years didn’t seem like much of a sacrifice after living for so long, and well into adulthood (I didn’t get braces until I was 27 years old), with chompers. I never ever smiled with my teeth in photos and if I did it was definitely far enough away so that you couldn’t really make out the catastrophe that was my teeth.

Here’s a look at what my teeth looked like before. I really had to dig this one up! I had two baby canine teeth, the two front teeth were turned inwards, and I had a sideways tooth!

After!

I had to get five teeth pulled. Or was it six? The minimum was five and the reason was because I had overcrowding issue. I also had a tooth lodged up in my gums because of a baby tooth that never fell out; the baby tooth had to go and it didn’t take that long for the adult tooth to be coerced down. When my teeth straightened, there needed to be enough room for them to live and be free so I had to walk around with major gaps in my teeth until the braces pushed them into place. It was at this point in my treatment that I could see how straight my teeth would be. I was very, very happy. But something else happened; my face changed. I hardly even recognize the woman in the old YouTube video I was watching. I look SO DIFFERENT. A part of that is the bit of weight I gained living in a place that has all four seasons. But the majority of it was the adjustments my teeth and jawline went through.

I say this, as both shock and excitement:  I definitely feel more attractive than I did then, mentally and physically. And I only wrote this because going to Dr. Deroode and trusting her to give me a beautiful smile changed my life; it gave me immeasurable confidence and I am forever grateful. While it was incredibly expensive, between the braces, having to get five teeth pulled, traveling back and forth to Miami to complete my treatment plan, and visit an oral surgeon multiple times, it was worth it. It was worth every single penny.

I guess the other message I have is if there is something you are self-conscious about, something you don’t like about yourself, something that makes you feel bad or less attractive; something holding you back from your true potential; if you have the means, fix it!

Straightening my teeth was the best thing I ever did for myself. In life. If you are thinking about it and it bothers you as much as it did me, DO IT. You won’t regret it.

-XX

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