Any chance I can get a 3rd opinion?

Sorry I have been MIA for the past few days. Thursday morning I found out some not-so-fun news, nothing life-threatening or anything but just not fun (more on that in a minute) and then early Friday morning I woke up in a cold-sweat, shaking and throwing up, feeling so sick. I thought for sure I had gotten the flu but now it looks like I may have gotten food poisoning. Friday I went to work, feeling okay but very tired and weak. Thankfully, my boss told me that I could take my work home for the day and just take it easy, so that's exactly what I did. I really think I must have just ate something bad because by late afternoon yesterday I was feeling almost back to normal. And good thing too because hubby promised me a dinner-movie date night tonight and I've been looking forward to it all week!

So now for the bad news. It really is only bad news for me. Seriously, I'm sure no one else cares... but I guarantee if it were you, you would care. Well, I'll just say it. I have to get braces. Again. Ugh! Yes that is why I gave Ugly Betty as my hint, because when I think of an adult with braces, Ugly Betty's metal mouth smile flashes into my mind. You're probably thinking "But Lindsay your teeth are straight!" Well yes, yes they are. Unfortunately that's not the problem. It's a long story... if you care to read it, here it goes...

Way back in October I went to the dentist for just a normal teeth cleaning and checkup. Like a good military spouse (always overly prepared) I brought along my dental history and past x-rays from my dentist in California. After looking at my teeth and comparing x-rays, the dentist started asking me questions like "Do you get bad migranes? Do you wake up with a locked jaw? Do you have any neck or back pain?" All my answers were no, which seemed surprising to him. He told me that he was referring me to an orthodontist in town for a check-up because he was concerned about my "deep bite". Hesitantly, I went and saw the ortho guy and after lots of poking and proding around in my mouth and many more questions he finally told me what all this was about. He said that I have a type of deep overbite that is most likely genetic and gets increasingly worse and more severe with age, hence why the problem was not fixed when I was 12 and had braces... the problem had not shown up yet. He then said that most likely this problem will lead to severe head, neck and back pain in the future, not to mention that cosmetically my smile will continue to become more and more narrow, forcing all my teeth to crowd and begin to stick out. WHHAATT? I've always thought I had a fine smile. I've noticed lately that I had a little overbite but nothing worse than most people! He said I needed braces and a series of special retainers to correct the problem. I told him NO, not gonna happen. He said I had some time to think about it because I needed to get my wisdom teeth out before he could do anything anyways.

I did not tell anyone about this because I was convinced that this was not going to happen. But Jake was nervous about what the dentist had told me and thought we should get a second opinion. Jake thought that if it was, in fact, that bad then I really had no choice but to get the braces. He said I might as well get it over with now and save myself a lot of pain and frustration years down the road. Thursday morning was my second opinion appointment with a different orthodontist here in town. I was hoping he would tell me it was not that bad... turns out, he thought it was even worse and probably had gotten worse just since October! He told me a bunch of doctor terms and mumbo-jumbo but one specific part I do remember is him saying that most people's bite should be about 20-30%... mine was at 90%! Again, WHHAATT? Oh goodness. Apparently I really do need to fix this.

I started asking what seemed like a million questions... Do I have to get the metal braces? How long will all this take to fix? What happens if we move in 5 months? So. Many. Questions. As far as the type of braces, I will be getting ceramic braces on my top teeth (thank goodness!) These braces have brackets that are tooth colored, and while the wire is still metal, the braces are much less noticeable... especially in pictures. He says that most adult patients opt for this type. Unfortunately I will still have to get metal brackets on my bottom teeth... something about my overbite putting too much pressure on the ceramic brackets causing them to damage my teeth. After hearing all this I was practically crying by the time I asked him "How long?" To my surprise he said there should be no reason that this cannot be fixed in just a year. I guess I was a bit relieved... one year is not so bad. In reality, that means the braces would be gone by next summer... that's not so bad right? Anyway I look at it now, this IS going to happen and I am going to have to just get used the idea. I go in for impressions on April 19th and on May 10th... it's go time. Braces on. Me looking like I'm in Junior High again.

See why I had a bad day? It's kind of ridiculous actually because I mean who really cares?! Do you care if I have braces? No. It's just me and self-image issues. The only person that might care would be Jake and he's the one telling me to get them! He genuinely does not care if I have braces which just blows my mind. I guess I just need to embrace the fact that this has to be done, try to be confident about it, and remind myself that a year from now it will all be worth it and just about done. Things could be so much worse and I just need to be thankful. Encouragement please!!