Braces

[g-bebe]

So I'm at a kind of crossroads with my teeth this summer.

As a child, I grew in a bit of a different pattern. In my early elementary years, I was one of the biggest kids I remember. As I got older into early highschool, I was just average, and from late highschool until where I'm at now, through two years of university, I've grown quite a bit, and thus, because of my late growth, my teeth have grown as well. I've always been happy with the way my teeth looked, even though I had to wear a retainer while I slept for a year or two when I was about 13.

The way my jaw has grown, the inscisors (sp?), the front middle teeth on the lower jaw, have crowded and have overlapped a bit. However, my bite is still fine, I'm comfortable with it and how my teeth and face looks.

My orthodontist is giving me the option of doing nothing (obv), getting jaw surgery and then braces (which I've already ruled out), and getting one of the inscisors removed and then get braces (which is my top option, if I choose to do something). This would mean having to take a few weeks off of work probably, in addition to the 1-2 years of braces.

The whole background for this was whether or not braces are as big a pain in the ass as they seem to be? Do they require insane amounts of cleaning so you don't get [censored] stuck in them whenever you eat? Is it harder to eat, do they hurt? Do they require too much maintenance?

I'm leaning toward not doing anything. I like the way I look right now, but my parents think I should do it because of the dental care plan I'd be on right now, and because they don't want me to regret passing up the option right now if my teeth get rough later in my life.