After 4 long years, I got rid of braces.

Total amount spent : About a lac. 

Any major problem? Absolutely not. 

Then why this long? That's a long story but I will tell anyways :)

So here it goes. 

I always wanted a perfect smile but my teeth were irregular. The mental picture which I had of me was mismatching the reality. The teeth were somehow making my smile ugly so almost in every pic of mine, I have this straight face with a subtle smile. Things were insane but wanted to laugh out loud internally but never really laughed out like I should have. 

My first treatment started when I was 15 but after 4 extractions and 4 sittings, I was bored and exhausted of tooth extraction as dentist was pitching for 1-2 extractions and it didn't make any sense to me ( thanks to my ignorance about knowledge of dentistry ) and also it used to take me half hour to cycle to reach my dentist's clinic. So I quit with braces still placed for next 2 years until I somehow thought of removing them.

Thereafter the second treatment in December 2013 which was such a distrastrous move. Things went well for 6 months and after that I moved to Ahmedabad for my new Job. 

And I was there for a year during between I did to-fro between Delhi and Ahmedabad 8 times and missed 4 sittings. I used to fly down / travel through train just for my dental appointment + meeting with family. 

It was exhausting and I didn't want to change my dentist due to investment bias and also because I think one shouldn't change doctor in mid of any treatment.

One fine day I left my job and stayed there in home city for 6-7 months during which the treatment continued with lesser problems. 

But then I moved again to Ahmedabad and this time it became harder for me to adjust with the travel exclusively for my dentist. I was losing my patience so I changed my dentist ( Third treatment ) - "Fine Feather" which is one of the best chains of dentists in Ahmedabad. 

My dental treatment continued and they were understanding and did well. After about 8 months, treatment was going good and according to them only 2-4 sittings were left. 

Somehow, I left my job again, and this time I moved back to Delhi. I did go back to Ahmedabad next month for my appointment ( basically flown down to Ahmedabad and came back by train to average the costs for 30 mins appointment ). 

Now, the work was getting crazier and I didn't have luxury of time to do this drama over and over. but still next month, I was all set to go to ahmedabad for my dental appointment but I got late and missed my train. 

What a relaxing feeling it was, to skip the 17 hours journey (one side) for that 30 mins appointment. 

I started talking to dentists around - to get different opinions. 2 dentists told me about the Open Bite I got because of some reasons ( perhaps while aligning the teeth, open bites is generally caused ). 

This time I chose Sudha Rastogi Dental College ( Fourth Treatment ) for my treatment and I was assigned a good ( sort of perfectionist dental/ ortho dontics student ). In about 6-8 months, she fixed the open bite. 

But while there were 1-2 sittings left for final touch, I was sent to Goa for official work for a month and somehow I couldn't fix an appointment just before the departure with my dentist. Since I had to interact with countless people for the event I was hosting in Goa, I thought of getting rid of braces there only. I googled and found Naik Dental Clinic ( Fifth Treatment - minor ) in Porvorim. The orthodontist had a pleasant personality and was very empathetic. He used to tell each step he was gonna perform and took time to listen to all queries I had.

Finally I was here, on verge of getting rid of braces 

and after 1 hours of the process, I was like this: 

So what are my learnings from this entire mega project: 

• If you have any dental treatment due, get it completed in your school time or max college time. Delaying beyond that will cause you a lot of trouble as you won't have luxury of time ( I know the reason now - I should have been smart enough to do it ).
• Find the best doctor around - the one who is empathetic and can give you appointment time when you desire ( 2/5 times, my dentists were rude enough to not give appointment when I actually wanted ).  
• Get tooth wax when you have braces, it saves chances of bleeding. 
• Ensure that you get the treatment from a dentist preferably having chain around your city or state or country - depending upon your schedule in 1-2 years as if you will keep on moving around, you will have hard time getting appointment in the time it should be.