That's crazy man, you're so lucky! How much will the treatment cost (approx.)?

I got half of my braces today. Unfortunately, the model for the upper plate seems to have warped slightly. The appliance fit the model perfectly, but doesn't fit my jaw, which the ortho wasn't able to fix. Another set of impressions for the upper jaw was taken and the appliance will be remade. Thus I only got the lower appliance for now and will get the one for the upper jaw in one week.

Here are some pictures:
https://dereferer.me/?https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/530075173014077451/817415470420197386/1.jpg
https://dereferer.me/?https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/530075173014077451/817415467693637712/2.jpg
https://dereferer.me/?https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/530075173014077451/817415476749402132/3.jpg

The lower brace feels absolutely massive. Talking is pretty hard already and the tongue feels very restricted. And I only have 50% of the appliances so far Even if I learned to speak with the lower appliance alone, I'll need to relearn how to speak anyway once I get the plate for the upper jaw.
I didn't get a close look at the non-fitting upper appliance, but from what I could make out, it looked like it had a Y-screw and several springs, some of which were going back to the wisdom teeth. So maybe no buttons and elastics for me…

For now I'm just supposed to get used to them as nothing has been activated yet. Still, everything feels like a weird surreal dream, but I hope the dream will never end

The top surface was polished originally, but I couldn't bite on it properly. Only a single tooth connected. Thus the ortho ground away material until it fit better.

I always think that my bottom retainer has more effect on my speech than the top one.

The top one looked quite bulky as well and was pretty thick in the front. It'll be interesting to see which one will affect my speech more. It won't be a fair comparison though, as I'll already have worn and practiced with the lower one for a week.

I don't need to wear them 24/7. I should have them in for a minimum of 12 hours a day, but should strive for 14-16 hours if possible. I'm definitely not self-confident enough to leave my house with my braces (yet?). As the top plate has a labial bow, which will be visible instantly, a discrete color doesn't really matter. So even though they did have a transparent option, I just went with blue for both jaws. And I definitely like how the color turned out!

Regarding speech I'm currently just taking them out whenever I have meetings, which doesn't really help with learning to talk in them. Home office and digital meetings are definitely a blessing and curse in that regard I'm not sure how long it'll take for me to get used to them enough that I'll just leave them in (at least when talking to friends).

Hi Foobar,

 I initially wanted a removable brace ( like I had in my youth) when I started out with my adult  orthodontic treatment, but it did not seem to be an option these days with any ortho. I eventually went with a fixed brace with clear Damon brackets and came to realise that it was probably a good option for me to have a fixed brace because I would have been constantly taking a removable one out and would not have had the willpower to wear it enough. Having a fixed brace meant I had to acknowledge it both with friends and in my work, and after I had broken the ice with it, it became less of a deal.

It will probably be best to try to wear your braces 24/7, in terms of both speed of speech improvement and efficiency of treatment. It would be ideal if you could have a couple of weeks holiday spent doing a lot of talking with someone you trust. Then you could present yourself to the world with your braces and make yourself understood and after first meeting with people, it will become no big deal for them.

FYI I wear a hawley retainer at night which I really like . I would be happy to have a blue one like your braces.

Why are there so many springs in the front?

Those springs will probably be used to align my front teeth, which are slightly crowded and rotated. I'm wondering why they won't need a labial bow for that, but I guess they know what they are doing.

I initially wanted a removable brace [...], but it did not seem to be an option these days with any ortho.

I also needed to look around for quite a while. It helps tremendously to live in a large metropolis where I had lots of orthos to choose from. But even here, from among hundreds of orthos, I didn't find many that had removable braces on their website, and even less that actually use them for treament.

It will probably be best to try to wear your braces 24/7, in terms of both speed of speech improvement and efficiency of treatment.

It's always easy to say that, especially after you've already done something similar At this point I'd also recommend everyone that's thinking about getting braces to just go for it. However, it took me over a decade and 3 attempts to actually go through with it, having chickened out of 2 earlier attempts.

I've thought about this, and you're probably right. For now I think it makes sense to wear them around my friends (mostly in voice chat anyway). They likely couldn't care less about it, and it increases my wear time and makes it easier for me (no need to take them out and put them back in repeatedly). During work meetings I'll still take them out though.

Regarding speaking, with just the lower plate I can create most sounds perfectly fine (when I talk a bit slower than normal). The only problems are (post-)alveolar fricatives (e.g. "sh", "s", "z"). After a day of trying to relearn how to talk, I think I've somewhat managed "sh". But my "s" sounds very unnatural. The way I create that sound also won't work once I get the top plate. It's crazy to realize how many words actually have an "s"-like sound somewhere in them, it feels close to every second one. It'll be interesting to see which sounds the top plate will restrict, as I'm surprised how little different sounds the bottom one actually hinders (even though just the "s" is already a pita).

Also, could you please post a pic while wearing it?

No, sorry.

(I know that my images of the lower brace have been removed. I don't know why they were flagged as virus as virustotal finds nothing wrong with them. I've written to Marty and am waiting for a response on how I can restore the links / reupload the images.)

Quick update after close to a week of wearing the bottom brace, and one day before getting the upper one. I've told most of my friends that I have braces by now, and they really don't care in the slightest. It's just an "ok" and that's it. No more mention about it. Talking hasn't improved much. I can talk faster again, but "s" sounds are still impacted. Probably even more so tomorrow when I get the top plate. Some friends say that they hear quite a difference when I'm talking, others didn't notice anything (at least in voicechat). With having my braces in around friends I've been able to consistently wear them 16-20 hours each day, which is way more than I expected to be able to do. Maybe it's just the honeymoon period

I've already noticed that my teeth don't meet perfectly anymore, even though nothing has been activated yet. I guess that's due to biting into the bite-plane all the time when wearing the brace. That'll be something I'll (need to) get used to during the next year. I also have slight headaches every now and again, probably because my jaws are further apart than I'm used to.

I'm really intrigued by the appointment tomorrow, not only because I'll finally get to embrace (pun intended) the upper plate, but also because I'm interested in when / how the braces will be activated and whether buttons will still be part of my treatment or not (which didn't get mentioned last week).

I just noticed my top Centre and bottom Centre are not meeting in the middle

That sounds like your midline is shifted. All 3 orthos I've been to said that correcting the midline can only be done with fixed brackets unforunately. My slightly off-center midline is my only concern that won't be corrected during this treatment as I went with removable braces.

that all sounds very interesting, thank you for sharing your experiences! Would be great to see how the applainces look in your mouth! Can you share some shots? Cheers from Berlin, Jan