How I Ended Up Em(Brace)Ing Myself

I have lived my life, believing that I had pretty good alignment of teeth, meaning: no teeth problems such as gigi tak tersusun or gigi yg cosmetically tak cantik la untuk dipandang. Kalau kena jumpa dentist, okay je, cuma the only frequent problem I had was cavity, which to me, normal la tu sebab memang dari kecik makan gula-gula banyak sangat pastu tak rajin gosok gigi hahaha. Secara kosmetiknya, gigi aku memang tersusun la senang cerita, cavity tu lain cerita. However, my belief and stance had changed drastically when I started to notice there's something wrong with the alignment of my teeth, which I believed did not occur before. Around February 2016 (I was 18 years old during that time btw), I noticed that my front tooth macam terkeluar tau, sorang dia je pulak tu terkeluar...macam terkeluar daripada landasan yg betul la haa gitu. The first few months when I started to notice the change, it wasn't that noticeable pun sebenarnya, cuma sebab aku yg belek muka depan cermin tiap-tiap hari ni mestilah perasan kalau ada perubahan yg berlaku kan? So I started to tell my parents about my concern. And then sejak tu barulah diaorang pun perasan. Tapi biar jelah tak buat apa pun sebab rasa mcm takde mudarat apa pun kat aku kan...

This was during February 2016. And the circled part is the particular tooth which seems to be 'out of track' lol.

Months passed by and I started to feel that my front tooth ni makin ke depan dan makin terkeluar. But no it wasn't that severe sampai kena ejek gigi hodoh ke apa hahaha takde lah semua tu. But it was my concern la like kenapa mengapa bagaimana perkara ini boleh terjadi sedangkan selama 18 tahun sebelumnya, aku rasa gigi aku elok je takde masalah. Start la risau sikit-sikit. On December 2016, my parents decided to bring me to a dentist, nak tanya la apa masalah gigi aku ni. First, I went to a government clinic to do little dental check-up. However, the dentist was like "takde apa ni, you je yang perasan lebih..", but did somewhat agree yg memang gigi depan aku tu terkeluar. So my mum tanya la apa solution kan, and dia kata buat braces la senang. However, the government clinics will only 'sponsor' the cost of doing braces to those aged 18 and below, and they only accept severe cases. Well in my case, dentist tu cakap tak teruk.

I don't know but mum wasn't that satisfied when the dentist said that aku je yang perasan lebih & sebenarnya gigi aku ok je. After that, mum brought me to a private clinic instead, again, asking about my teeth's condition and everything. The dentist told me that my front tooth tu terkeluar because it's being pushed by other teeth, gigi bongsu aku tak keluar lagi, tapi as a preparation untuk dia tumbuh, dia start to push gigi-gigi yg lain supaya ada la space untuk dia tumbuh nanti. As a result of the pushing, maka, gigi depan aku yg satu ni pun terkeluarlah daripada landasan yg betul. Bila tanya apa solution, dentist tu suruh pakai braces but before that, I have to consult an orthodontist for further explanation and information. And so I did. The orthodontist (who is also my dentist now) then did a few explanation regarding my teeth's problem and also did an x-ray of my teeth.

This is the x-ray version of my teeth. The circled part shows how my front tooth was way toooo front. According to my dentist, the gap or distance between my upper and lower teeth was quite abnormal so that's the highlight of my teeth problem hahaha.

I then asked my dentist a couple questions:

1) With the current condition of teeth, is it really necessary for me to wear braces?

-Boleh kalau tak nak pakai braces, but my teeth will keep on pushing each other and ada kemungkinan besar kalau dibiarkan, gigi depan ni akan lebih terkeluar lah in the future. Gigi bongsu belum keluar pun tapi dia dah start pushing other teeth, bayangkanlah kalau dia dah start tumbuh nanti??

2) To solve my teeth's problem, is wearing braces the only option? Sebab rasa membazir kena pakai braces hanya disebabkan gigi depan ni terkeluar padahal gigi lain okay je huhuhu.

-Ada method lain selain daripada braces, which is dental crown. However, my dentist said that kalau aku buat crowning, dia kena matikan akar dulu. Plus, according to her, gigi aku masih elok, takde decay ke apa, so membazir la buat crown ni, mcm tak berapa sesuai la. So the best method is, wearing braces.

3) Since yg bermasalah tu only my upper teeth, boleh tak kalau pakai braces untuk betulkan bahagian atas je, tak payah pakai braces bahagian gigi bawah?

-Not recommended. According to my dentist, kalau pakai braces dekat gigi atas je, of course dia akan betulkan alignment gigi tu, tapi nanti bahagian bawah pulak tak okay. So seeloknya pakai braces bahagian atas & bawah sekali, supaya semua gigi tu dapat bergerak sekali sesama untuk dapat kan position yg betul balik.

Everything happened quite fast la jugak sebab tahu-tahu je, eh dah pasang braces dah. And so I started to wear braces on the 31st December 2016. So with this post, I hope that I'm able to clarify things to those who wonder why I wear braces in the first place. My friends, especially, memang sangat terkejut lah when they saw my new appearance, with the braces and everything.

Never did it cross my mind that one day I'd have to wear braces. Takde niat takde hajat pun utk pakai braces ni. And honestly, aku tak nak pun pakai sebab memang rasa membazir lah, problem aku kat gigi depan belah atas je tapi sebab nak betulkan dia sorang je, kena pakai braces utk gigi atas & gigi bawah. Aku sendiri still takleh brain. Plus, the cost is not cheap, very pricey and rasa tak patut pun hmm ada la sikit rasa menyesal tu like kenapalahh aku setuju je nak pakai braces bila dentist tu suruh hahhaahha. Menyesal tak menyesal, sekarang ni dah almost 17 months dah aku pakai braces. How time flies... It feels like only yesterday I felt the pain of wearing braces and how I wasn't able to chew solid food, only ate porridge or soup for couple of weeks sebab senang, terus telan, takyah kunyah. But sekarang okay je, I'm now at the phase where I'm still pushing myself to take extra care of my teeth in terms of brushing, flossing and all.

So that's all about it. I only include literally how i ended up wearing braces, nothing else. In terms of the cost, my personal experience and all shall be shared another time 'cause I believe it's going to be one hella long post so I'm gonna save it for later (if I have time and the spirit to write hahaah).

Toodles!