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.
