After nearly a year and a half of dealing with wires, brackets and rubber bands in her mouth, Mandi Turner-Reed got her braces off on Wednesday morning.
Turner-Reed was featured in a Herald-Leader article about adult orthodontics in March 2013. The article followed her on the day she got her braces on at Storms Orthodontics in Siloam Springs and as she adjusted to them over the course of the next few weeks.
Now 17 months later, Turner-Reed said the treatment was "Absolutely worthwhile."
The 23-year-old office manager for VanDyke's Dentistry doesn't fit the stereotype -- a middle-school-aged orthodontics patient -- but she's one of a growing number of adults who are getting braces.
While the majority of orthodontic patients begin treatment between the ages of 9 and 14, 22 percent of patients were adults in 2010, according to the American Association of Orthodontists. Between 1996 and 2010 the number of adult patients seen by AAO practitioners increased 22 percent, from 880,000 to 1,075,000.
Turner-Reed decided to seek orthodontic treatment for cosmetic and health reasons. She had good teeth through high school but when her wisdom teeth came in at age 19, they began to crowd her other teeth.
Working in a dentist's office made Turner-Reed especially aware of the importance of dental hygiene. The crowding made it difficult for her to maintain good dental hygiene.
Now that her braces are off and her teeth are straight it's much easier to keep her teeth clean, she said.
"It makes it easier to brush and floss and to keep up with good hygiene," she said.
Turner-Reed said she is very pleased with the way her teeth look now that her treatment is complete.
"I think they look so much better!" she said.
Turner-Reed celebrated getting her braces off on Wednesday by going to Barnett's Dairyette for lunch with everyone from her office.
The afternoon after Turner-Reed got her braces off, she said her teeth were feeling really slick, but she adjusted to the new sensation much faster than she expected.
Orthodontists advise their patients not to eat sticky or crunchy foods. Turner-Reed said there were really no foods that she missed much during her treatment because she's not a fan of caramels and sticky candies. It is much easier to eat soft foods such as bread now that her braces are off because she no longer has to deal with food getting stuck in her braces.
Before she got her braces on, Turner-Reed had heard rumors of how painful they could be. She was "pleasantly surprised" by how little pain she experienced. Turner-Reed said the tenderness was the worst the second and third day after her braces were adjusted, but overall it was very minimal.
Turner-Reed said she also knows that many people have trouble with oral hygiene while they are wearing their braces. She said the wires and brackets didn't keep her from brushing and flossing. She used an electric toothbrush and floss threaders provided by her orthodontist.
"It wasn't an issue for me," she said.
The most difficult part of the treatment process was remembering to wear her rubber bands consistently, she said. Over time she had to apply rubber bands in different configurations to the brackets in her mouth.
Now that her braces are off, Turner-Reed has a wire permanently cemented to the back of her lower teeth. She will wear a clear, hard plastic retainer on her top teeth around the clock for the next four months. After that, she will only wear the retainer at night.
When Turner-Reed considered getting braces, the 18-month time span the treatment would take seemed like an eternity, Turner-Reed said. Looking back, it went by really fast.
"Absolutely do it," was the advice Turner-Reed gave to adults interested in orthodontic treatment.
"At least go for a consultation and weigh your options," she said. "It's so worth it."
General News on 07/23/2014