10/12/2012
When I was first advised to get Damon braces, I immediately starting trawling the Internet to try and find an honest review before I commuted to the full treatment. Given that Damon Clear is relatively new to the UK, it wasn't surprising to find that pickings were a little slim. I did find one YouTube channel that I really liked - thematlachchannel - but otherwise I wasn't too impressed. This is why I've decided to write a blog detailing my experience with this process, so you'll have more of an idea of what to expect :)
For you to better understand this blog, I need to put a couple of things in perspective. My name's Amy, I'm 20 and am half-way through my final year of university. I've had braces before, from being 10 to 15, and I thought that I'd finished for good! I was told by my orthodontist that I only had to wear my retainer for 6 months, but within a year my teeth had started to move back. Cut to five years down the line and I HATE my teeth. Again.
As I'm at uni I obviously wasn't keen on having a full mouth of metal, so I looked into invisalign. To be honest I was very close to going with it, but I'm so relieved that I went to the Manchester Orthodontic Center before I committed to anything! Despite the promises of my previous orthodontist, here Geoff told me that I was not at all suitable for invisalign, and I would see only very minimal improvement. I still wanted my braces to be discrete, so Damon Clear seemed like the best option. You can google it, but but basically Damon clear braces have eight clear brackets on your top front teeth, whilst the bottom are just standard metal. As I'm over 18, the whole thing will cost me £3125, not including any other dental work.
Preparation
Before I had my braces fitted I had to have two teeth - my number 4s - removed from my lower jaw. This is because when I had my first set of braces years ago, they only removed my top 4s, which left my mouth imbalanced. It's a bit embarrassing to be honest - turns out that my upper jaw is the same size as that of a 10 year old girl! NOT what you want, trust me.
But I digress - I had my teeth removed in two separate appointments, the last of which was two weeks before my braces were fitted. My dentist is John Bax of Bax Dental in Macclesfield, and he is truly the best dentist I have ever had. Having your tooth extracted is never going to be the most pleasant experience, but John makes the process a whole lot easier. For starters he hides the needle for your view, and he ensures that you are completely numb before he starts delving around. The actual extraction process only takes about a minute. I was still extremely numb afterwards and couldn't speak properly for a couple of hours, and had a nice little blotting thing to bite on which both stopped the bleeding and ensures that I didn't accidentally chew my face off.
I'm thinking about getting Damon Clear braces and if not, just regular Damon braces. Both cost the same at my orthodontist. I recently had two of my teeth removed (today, haha) and it was painful but not too bad. I find it interesting that your dentist used a needle to inject the numbing solution. My dentist just used this q-tip covered in a petroleum jelly-like substance.
ReplyDeleteI hope to hear more about your experience because I have to get headgear first and I won't actually get braces for a while.
Mine were definitely injected - think I would have preferred the q-tip method!
DeleteI've had my braces for four weeks now, but I havn't updated this blog yet as I've been caught up with Christmas and revising for my January exams. I'll go into more detail when I start posting again, but I genuinely think that the regular Damon braces are more effective. My bottom teeth (the ones with regular brackets) have moved so much - within two weeks I was happy with them! I havn't noticed nearly as much movement with the clear brackets, though it is still early days.
Saying that, the clear brackets look so much better. At first I thought they were really bulky, but you soon get used to them. People aren't lying when they say it takes them a while to notice you've even got braces - I was at the pub a couple of weeks ago talking with a group of people, and it took me an hour to notice that one of them had Damon Clear braces. Made me feel so much better :)
Good luck with your choice!
Hi Amy, thanks for your review on Damon Braces. I to have decided to take the plunge and finally sort my crooked teeth out although it’s taken me rather a lot more time than yourself since I'm now 40. I understand that although this type of treatment is normally associated with teenagers it’s now more common that adults are now treated with the use of braces.
ReplyDeleteI’ve had my own free assessment recently and have decided to go for the Damon Braces clear like yourself using a private dentist however, my own NHS dentist advised me should I decide to go ahead to go for fixed braces, one of his own assistants were being treated with Invisalign (a type of clear gum shield) and didn't rate them since there was very little improvement and therefor would recommend using fixed braces since they are tried and tested.
Tomorrow I have a wisdom tooth out, I’m not normally bothered about dental treatment although I have to admit I’m a little more anxious as it’s a wisdom tooth but I’m so determined to improve the appearance of my teeth and confidence I will simply do whatever it takes.
My treatment it £3250 which includes the extraction and a permanent retainer although I have the option of another retainer of which you only wear a night time but that one will cost a little more. It may seem a lot of money and indeed it is but I’m sure you will agree, should you get the desired results I would argue that in fact the cost is relatively cheap when you consider the better appearance and difference in confidence you will gain, my only disappointment is that I didn’t do this years ago, let’s just hope that I still have the same opinion when I finally have them removed.
Good luck with your own treatment Amy and I really hope you get the desired result, until then keep your review up to date and of course KEEP SMILING.
Pls could you let me know where you had them done? Thanks
DeleteHi again I'm back just to do a little update. Firstly Amy you haven't updated us on how you are progressing with your Damon braces, if you’re reading this, I would be very interested to know if you're happy with the results at present. Ok well I've been for my Damons fitted 12.11.2013 and the whole procedure was easy and painless, they felt pretty weird at first but after the first week went buy it was as if they weren't even in, no lisp either. I noticed after the first week my teeth must have started to move because it was a little uncomfortable when I tried to chew but that only lasted for a further week. I have since been back 10.12.2013 where the orthodontist fitted another bracket on both lower back molars and then put either a longer or stronger wire in. He has also fitted 2 stoppers behind my upper front teeth because I have a deep under bite which I guess he's trying to correct, I think the idea is also that I don't damage the lower brace with my front teeth, the problem with the stopper is that now I have a very bad lisp although I'm getting used to speaking better as the days go on, of course having a lisp invites a lot of cheeky jokes which is funny at first but when you hear the same jibes day after day I have to admit it’s starting to grind me down but I guess it only a bit of fun and not for ever lol. Obviously the whole idea of the braces is so that my teeth can be perfectly straight at the end of the treatment although at this stage I can't visibly see any change what so ever, I would describe the state of my teeth although very healthy they are in the moderate to severe in terms of being crooked, I have been told I'm looking at minimum 16 months so over 5 weeks in I guess at this stage I shouldn't expect to much but I do hope to see something soon if only for some encouragement. Ok off to brush them again, will update my bit after my next appointment in January. Any question please ask :-)
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Deleteok I'm back just over 4 months into my treatment, have been back to the dentist 3 times since my last post and since then I've had stronger wires fitted on the bottom, on my last visit I had my first wire change on the top with the final 2 brackets fitted to the 2 back upper molars and a matching elastic band on the opposite side called ‘dolphin’ which I’m guessing is the strength. Everything feels good and to be totally honest now that I've had them in for 4 months I actually forget they’re in, I only remember when I start to eat something when I then realise I've left the bands in lol these are fitted from the bottom back molars to the top incisors to try to pull my bottom jaw forward I think.
DeleteSo are there any results yet you ask? Yes lots of movement, I was most concerned with the bottom front teeth as they were facing in all directions but now they’re all virtually in line and looking loads better, I'm very impressed however, my slight concern is now they’re all inline, the problem is the height because the front bottom teeth are higher than the molars behind it meaning when I bite together there’s a considerable gap between the bite on both sides so my teeth do not even touch, in other words, when I bite only my front teeth touch and yet I can almost fit my finger between my molars on both sides so I’m going to ask on my next visit what the plan is. He also said I had a thin bone structure and therefore he was taking things slowly so now I’m thinking the initial 16 month estimate will now surly take longer although this doesn’t concern me to much since I was thinking 2 years worst case, apart from that I’m very happy with the initial progress.
O well this was just a little update, feel free to ask any questions although traffic does seem somewhat slim on here but if nothing else it’s something for me to look back on once the treatment is complete.
Keep smiling ;-)
I really like this! Thank you for sharing this article. Metal braces has always been the absolute best. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteNearly 6 months in now, wow it's gone fast and I have another quick update.
ReplyDeleteBeen back twice since my last post and had upper wire changed then the lower wire on next visit plus hygienist gave them a clean. They are looking straight especially the lower teeth of which I was most concerned about, still have the problem with the gap between the top and bottom molars on both sides when I bite, the dentist doesn't seem overly concerned about it at this stage but I hope the plan is to close it by the end of the treatment.
Nothing much else to report, no pain, looking loads better indeed way better than I thought at only 6 months in.
Any question please ask.
How's your teeth now?
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Just an update about my teeth as I've stumbled upon this post in my bookmarks. All went very well and so pleased with the result and have no regrets what so ever. Decided on the retainers and now wear them once a week at night, I now laugh every time I see a recent photo showing my new straight white teeth that leaves me to say one final thing......GO FOR IT :-)
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Thanks, that was a really cool read!
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Thanks for your comments. I'm in the stage about to get the Damon clear braces and this article has justjust convi me too. Just one question - it's just the top teeth that are clear, the bottom teeth still have metal studds? Happy to also share my progress. Thanks for the reviews.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your experience, Amy. Damon braces, as you said can be a better option for many people. Unfortunately, there have been several cases of teeth going back to original positions after removing braces. Hence, some dental experts advice to wear the retainers always during sleeping.
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