u/gibrael_

At 39, I'm just 5 months into my 3rd round of braces (first 2 rounds got interrupted due to life / work etc), and it's my first time reaching this long with the elastics on, since the previous rounds had to deal with a bunch of other issues first.

It hurts a lot, yes. I can barely open my mouth to speak. I can't eat a lot of my favorites most of the time.

But oh my god, the progress is real! Just 4 months in and the gaps between my upper teeth left by premolar extraction done 10 years ago during my first round are already completely closed! These gaps are a constant insecurity since my job requires a lot of meetings with C-level people and I can physically feel the cringe in their faces when I first meet them, or during presentations.

So this time round, I religiously change my elastics everyday, sometimes more than once when I feel they've lost strength.

Just 4 months and my confidence has gone up by a lot! Only regret that I did not make this a priority much earlier. I still have ways to go but I'm so f*cking happy right now and have these painful elastics to thank for it.