Before I got the actual braces, I had a Frankel's (sp?) device to pull my
lower jaw forward. That thing filled my mouth and made me look like I
monkey lips. Let me tell you talking was IMPOSSIBLE!! Ah, the 'good old
days.' I am so glad that's over, and my teeth are straight. As for
retainers, due to some calcification on the back of my lower teeth, I
couldn't have a permenant retainer, so I had a removable one. Same deal
though, wore it for 2 or 3 years after the braces came off.

Betsy
--
Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with
ketchup.
In ,
Paul Fritz typed:
Well you just trumped my palate spreader as well :-)

"turtledove" wrote in message
. com...

wrote in message
. com...
In . com,
turtledove typed:
"Joelle" wrote in message
...
Headgear? Try the elastic bands. I had not only an overbite, but
a cross bite as well. I had two rubber bands from back molars to
front teeth on each side, and then two from lower left to upper
right...in front. Made it hard to talk. Every time I opened my
mouth to speak inevitably one would come flying off. Talk about
EMBARRASSMENT when it was in front of a BOY!! Glad that it's over.
And YES it was worth it!!!

hehe...I'll top your elastic bands and give you Head Gear AND
Elastic Bands. The elastic bands were worn 24/7 for 12 months. The
head gear was worn 12 hours a day for 12 months. But hell, like I
said, it got rid of the overbite, the funked up positioning of my
jaw, and my crooked teeth. I actually had a permanent retainer on
my bottom teeth until I was 21. My bottom teeth were really crooked
and the orthodontist wanted to make sure that they didn't move back
into the crooked position while I was still growing up. The
retainer was attached to my bottom canine teeth with a bar that was
behind the teeth and a way to attach rubber bands in front of the
teeth at night (again the 12 hour deal).

Oh yes...the memories of trying to talk with rubber bands. I would
have to take them out while I was taking singing lessons due to the
fact I couldn't open my mouth wide enough to sing properly....
and the memories of trying to get the band attached to the back
teeth...

ugh...my teeth hurt now!

hugs,
*b