Background info - Before the braces

I always knew my teeth needed fixing but well that never happened (and I do not blame anybody). As an adult I failed to give it enough importance.

I remember when I was in my mid 20's I went to my dentist to have some filling done and he called his colleage "Hey come and take a look at this overbite!". Wow, I felt like a circus item! then he went around explaining all the problems I would get if I did not do anything about it. And I didn't...

And things started to happen... My jaw articulations started cracking whenever I ate, sometimes to the displeasure of my dining mates who thought I did it on purpose (helloooo!!!). My molars but mostly my front teeth started getting very worn out due to the misaligned bite. I sometimes had such pains in my jaw articulations that I just did not feel like eating, overstressed muscles on my neck (you would be amazed).

So, in my late 30's (2001)I visited an orthodontist in California to have some very quick evaluation. He told me that yes, I needed braces and that it would require some extra work. But it was a bad time, I was leaving the US back to The Netherlands so it was only as a reference.

I wouldn't do much about it for years, not that I did not want it just that it wasn't a priority and I thought I was too old for braces, old enough to NOT warrant having any more fixing done on my body parts.