If you have come to this page than you have, or are considering braces or just want something different in a blog post. Well I am here for you! Im sooo excited to share my braces journey thus far with you guys! Im 34 and finally got the braces I always needed as a child. The decision didn’t happen overnight tho, in fact, I thought for years about getting the dental work I needed but always pushed it aside because I was worried about appearance, cost, pain, etc. Let me tell you, IT IS WORTH IT, there is no time like the present to fix your bite and smile. This is a investment worth doing. It wasn’t just a transformation for my smile, but for the longevity of my bite as well. I had a severe deep bite that only worsened as time went on. Over time my bite actually ground down my entire right of my mouth because of the consistent pressure and wear my teeth had put on it. You will see in pictures below where half of my uppers are worn down significantly compared to my left.
I decided to take my smile journey with Klar Voorhees Orthondonics and couldn’t be happier. I heard friends, parents of kids, and neighbors rave that this was the place to be for Orthodontic treatment. Its not just the always warm staff, clean facilities but their extreme care in each individual smile. We all know we can feel like a number sometimes, but not here. In fact, I think they add minutes to my appointment every time because we talk so much about our families and lives haha. They offer 5 convenient locations, and ALWAYS work with me and my crazy 4 boy schedule. You can see any of the 5 doctors and they always make sure to communicate and work together. The front staff and clinical assistants are extremely friendly as well, and you will always receive a text, email and phone call for updates and appointment alerts. They also offer other treatments such as clear aligners, all which you will discuss during your free consultation. You can reach them at ( 757 ) 495-3110 and make sure to follow them on Instagram here.
Below are a few “before” pictures. I didn’t have an awful smile, and I heard that countless times from friends and family that nothing is wrong, but the truth is I needed to fix my bite, and cosmetic work would not have taken care of that in the moment.
You can see the angle of my bite in the pictures below, they slanted in a lot, and because of this I wasn’t able to receive my lower brackets until we were able to push my uppers out. That process took about 6 months.
Below is my first day with braces, and you guys, I was actually really excited! I had wanted this for a very long time. The Clear brackets really are almost non existent, and as technology gets better they’ve been able to make more discreet and smaller brackets. I had multiple people tell me they didn’t even know I had braces till I actually pointed them out.
The goal with my uppers is to push them out, giving a fuller smiler and allowing them to correct the bottoms. We also moved down the upper left side a few hairs, to start matching up the teeth. I should tell you all this too, I will need cosmetic work after my braces come off, which has always been part of my process. My front tooth has chipped so much in the last 30 years that I will eventually need crowns or veneers to stop that and give me a symmetrical smile for my four front teeth. To achieve any of that tho, it was necessary to correct my bite and get my teeth in their ideal position.
