The big decision

Well, this is it, I have really decided to get braces! Since I did NOT want the visible appearance of traditional braces, I did a ton of research and found the new self-ligating systems, which are less noticeable and don't use elastics. They also offer clear brackets for the front teeth, which make them even less noticeable. Then I found lingual braces, which go behind the teeth so you can't see them at all, but they used elastics which concerned me about the hygiene and inconvenience. Finally I found the best of both worlds...lingual, self-ligating braces!!! Surprisingly the cost was not much higher than the other options, and for me it is worth it. In my search for the perfect smile, I have had consults with 3 orthodontists in Coppell, 1 in Dallas (Highland Park) and 1 in Carrollton. The cost of treatment ranged from $6,000-10,000 and all of them estimated the same treatment time of 18 months. I finally settled on a fantastic ortho in Coppell, Dr. Alexander, because I was the most comfortable with him and his staff, the environment was very friendly and welcoming, and he is the only ortho I could find who offers Harmony, although I found him while looking at a different type of brace. Good thing to note, most orthos in the Dallas area offer free consultations, including an estimate on the treatment, and I even went to see Dr. Alexander twice because I was getting cold feet and had some more questions I wanted answered. All of the offices also offered no interest payment plans, which was a big help although I know there are other options like Care Credit if you need to stretch your payments over a longer period of time. So now that I have decided to move forward, I go in next week to get the molds taken of my teeth, and then it takes 6-8 weeks to get the braces back from the lab and have them put on. I think the waiting will be the worst part, because now that I'm going ahead with my decision I want to get started right away!