Shane Life

This morning, I visited my friendly orthodontist. I had braces when I was a kid. Looking at my chart today, I got them almost 20 years ago, in 1988. I was 12.

Fast forward 3 years. I’m 15 and I’m getting my braces off. My teeth look PHENOMENAL. I lose my nightly retainers within 3 months and I never get new ones.

Fast forward 15 more years to today. My front teeth have turned enough for me to revisit the orthodontist, which was arguably the worst experience of my young life. I was originally scheduled to only have them for 18 months and I think it ended up being about 32 months. Not. Cool.

So many things to mention.

• The orthodontist I visited with was not my former orthodontist (who was a long-time family friend), but his son, who I both grew up with and was baptized with. Weird enough. But he didn’t give me ANY good news.
• In addition to my front teeth that are getting more crooked by the day, I’ve developed a nasty crossbite. That’s when the bottom teeth stick out further than the top teeth…it’s not a horrible thing…just something to be aware of.
• The ways to fix it are:
  1. Surgery - they crack the bone in the roof of your mouth and put a spacer in there to bring out your jaw. Ouch. No thank you.
  2. Braces for 2 years - Not exactly ideal. 2 years is a long dang time.
• I also have the option to just straighten my teeth and not worry about the crossbite. I can do this either by:
  1. Braces for a year - seemingly the best option right now. It will straighten my teeth and start to correct the crossbite. But they won’t guarantee anything.
  2. Invisalign for a year - would be nice, considering it feeds into my vanity that made me want to correct my teeth in the first place, but it’s crazy expensive. And it is less successful in bringing teeth down (my top ones are a little high).

So here I am - 30 years old and considering getting braces for the second time in my life. I likely won’t get them for about 12 more months because my vanity once again. Alli and I are going to Italy this summer and I don’t want to have braces in the pictures. After that, I could get them, but then my brother will likely be getting married about a year from now and I don’t want braces in those pictures either.

But after seeing how straight and perfect my teeth were after braces, I really am leaning toward getting them again. Sure, it’s vain and all, but I want to have my old smile back. Am I crazy?