Shall we share some ideas about our teeth?

[Catherineli]

Wow, I have 175 "likes" now. It's much more than last year!! I'm sooo happy. 175 should be my highlight for today. I've not come to the forum for quite a few weeks. How is everyone doing? I'm going to correct my teeth even lately. So I'd like everyone's idea about making the teeth even in another topic. Please tell me anything you know or heard about it, be it positive or negative. See you there.

 

xiexie da jia!

[Catherineli]

HI Guys,

I'm considering if I should spend some money to have my teeth straightened. I don't like to wear some braces like some teenagers do. I'm not a teenager after all. Recent years, there has been a way to straighten teeth by wearing a sort of transparent, plastic tooth case. The tooth case is called "liner". The way to straighten teeth is called "invisalign". It takes a long time for sure, maybe a year at least. I would like to know or to listen to those who have experienced the same. Do you feel it's worthy of the time and energy? I'll have to pay over 4000 dollars. Is this sum of money more or less than yours? Any ideas are welcome to me, be it positive or negative. Please share. Thank you!

[amberjack1234]

Good to hear from you. I got my wife's teeth straightened when she first came her 18 years ago. She was 27 at the time. She had 8 teeth pulled in China without any pain killer in preparation. I was a little angry with her over that but oh well it was already done. The dentist here do have the plastic liners but the dentist that we went to wanted $7,000. My doctor had two young children at the time and he told me about a dentist in another town that straightened teeth for $1,000. So guess where I went. He did a wonderful job but after you have them done you have to put the plastic liner on for awhile (about a year) or they will go back to being crooked. She didn't do that so I just had them straightened again. This time it was $1,200 because he put in a retainer in the back to keep them straight because she is lazy.

 

So if you do decide to do it ask around who is the cheapest. You will be amazed in what you may find or save. The guy that did my wife's teeth was semi retired is the reason that he did it so cheap. Great ole guy. His son is a dentist and she has been to him too and he is EXPENSIVE.

 

Yes, I do believe it is beneficial as it improves your appearance, straightens you teeth so that you can brush them and your gums well and it helps prevent bad breath which is a sign of bacteria between the teeth and teeth and gums. I have no idea how crooked your teeth are so it all depends on that. My wife's teeth were terrible.

 

You might get a much different picture from many parts of the country when others answer. I only live in just one little section. Had one guy on here that sent his wife back to China to get work done but I think that she had the post put in and had the false teeth attached to them. The best that I can remember it has been a long time ago. Mexico is a good place if you require a lot of work and know where to go. If not then it can be almost as expensive as here in America. Dentist are not like other doctors. I won't say unethical but I had a friend that was a dentist and he told me that some dentist would say you had a cavity behind your front teeth where you don't normally see. They would drill a little bit and put a little filling material in there. He said that it was called "shotgunning". So be careful with these new kind of doctors to you.

 

Yaji take a look at this video and you will see what I am talking about. Yes, I know that it is in Canada but would anyone think that US dentist are not doing the same think?

 

[Allon]

My wife had very crooked teeth since her jaw was so small and the teeth that came in crowded everything. She 7 teeth removed. I noticed before the removal she was chewing like a cow does -- rotating her teeth and it seemed her chewing was painful. The x-rays showed her back teeth were actually vertical instead of horizontal.

 

So we sat down to talk about what to do. After a long silence, and looking at the American women showing off their beautiful white teeth on the TV, she started quietly weeping and finally said, she had always dreamed of having straight white teeth since she was a child.

 

That was it. We got an estimate for the work. It totaled $5600. My insurance paid for $1800 and I managed the rest. It was worth the smiles I get today. She is now 52 years old and she started with the teeth about 4 years ago.

 

She chews much more lady like and uses whitening for that Gong Li look. It has changed her whole outlook. She smiles more and is not as quiet. She doesn't cover her mouth when she smiles.

[Catherineli]

Well, thank you for all of your answers. I'll not jump into the treatment for sure.

I never wanted to do anything for my teeth because I've been used to my ugly teeth lol. I have one more extra tooth outside of my low front teeth. I didn't think it's ugly as a matter of fact.

 

Then in August, 2017, I was put on a local TV channel as a celebrity for the reporters to boast for me. On TV, I saw my teeth sooo terrible as if I have three layers of teeth in the mouth. I felt I'm losing reputation now.

 

Larry, do you mean I'm allowed to be lazy if I have a retainer in the back? I don't want to be lazy but I don't want to be an OCD either.

 

xiexie da jia

 

Ms. Li

[amberjack1234]

No, you can't be lazy then either because it requires a little extra attention every day but a very minimal amount.

 

Have a good day and a better tomorrow.

 

Larry

[True Blue]

HI Guys,

I'm considering if I should spend some money to have my teeth straightened. I don't like to wear some braces like some teenagers do. I'm not a teenager after all. Recent years, there has been a way to straighten teeth by wearing a sort of transparent, plastic tooth case. The tooth case is called "liner". The way to straighten teeth is called "invisalign". It takes a long time for sure, maybe a year at least. I would like to know or to listen to those who have experienced the same. Do you feel it's worthy of the time and energy? I'll have to pay over 4000 dollars. Is this sum of money more or less than yours? Any ideas are welcome to me, be it positive or negative. Please share. Thank you!

 

Laoshi Li,

 

I had a lot of dental work done during my last visit to Beijing. There are many American trained dentists there (mine was trained at the University of Texas) and the total cost to me (with no dental insurance) was $1,700 plus a couple boxes for chocolates from USA vs $9,200 cost quote in USA. That's a savings of over 83% and quality of care was excellent. I only needed 3 visits over 2 weeks vs a planned 4 1/2 months to get same work done in USA. I don't speak much Mandarin and the dentist and her assistants didn't speak much English but we communicated very well.

 

I agree with Larry, Mexico or Caribbean can also be an option. People call this medical tourism, the savings from your medical treatment more than pays the cost of your travel vacation. I think if you go back to visit family and can get away China is perhaps best option as you can ask references and do check of the dentist training, education and qualifications. As for the amount of procedures you want or think you need, I've always followed the 80/20 rule to get most (American's say) "bang for the buck" which means value for the money. So unless your husband is Bill Gates or Warren Buffet you may not want/need to get the most expensive, elaborate treatments unless you plan to star in High Definition Hollywood movies but get reasonable cost that addresses much/most of the issues that you feel you may have. From your picture, it looks like you are very attractive young lady so ask your husband and best girl friends, children to be honest with you re: how much (if any) treatments your teeth may need. Maybe you really only need a little or just adjust one or two teeth.

 

Remember people tend to be very self conscious with their looks so some small problem like a 1 mm pimple on a forehead that 99% of people don't even notice tends to look to ourselves in the mirror like a 20 cm cut from a axe hitting our head.

 

Hope this helps and I will "Like" all of your posts.

 

Best wishes,

True Blue

[Catherineli]

LOL, thank you True Blue. I'm laughing out all my all teeth for your "like", yes, thank you for more likes now. Thank you for the donation of likes to Donblett, True Blue, Dan1984 and Amberjack and everyone whom I can't think of the names. I really love those "likes". Wow, I'm rich now!

However, I'm hesitating. I may give it up. Maybe I'm just self conscious like Blue said. Yesterday at a party, I showed how to cut vegetables with my big knife while I closed my eyes. Friends took a video of me cutting without looking. I laughed a lot but I didn't see my extra teeth exposing from the video.

 

Have a good weekend everyone!

 

Catherine

[True Blue]

LOL, thank you True Blue. I'm laughing out all my all teeth for your "like", yes, thank you for more likes now. Thank you for the donation of likes to Donblett, True Blue, Dan1984 and Amberjack and everyone whom I can't think of the names. I really love those "likes". Wow, I'm rich now!

However, I'm hesitating. I may give it up. Maybe I'm just self conscious like Blue said. Yesterday at a party, I showed how to cut vegetables with my big knife while I closed my eyes. Friends took a video of me cutting without looking. I laughed a lot but I didn't see my extra teeth exposing from the video.

 

Have a good weekend everyone!

 

Catherine

So I had to laugh when I read this posting. Making a video of cutting vegetables with a large knife with eyes closed??? I remember I have seen this before, ....in a movie theater.... in China. It's the story of a blind girl who fights with swords called "House of Flying Daggers" by my favorite Chinese film director, Zhang Yimou,

 

Watch this short clip

and your eyes are mesmerized on whether the blind girl will cut herself or not.

 

Now that you have seen this video, the actress will be familiar to all of us ---she is also the one who stole the sword in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"

BUT...did you notice her teeth? Nope! Did she even have any TEETH? Hahaha! No one even noticed because we were all worried that she would cut herself with sharp blades.

 

A very clever idea so I am awarding 3 bonus "Likes" for this post for ingenuity, but also subtracting 1 "like" since it is dangerous to your safety -you could lose a finger

 

Final Score: 3 (net) likes.

 

Regards,

True Blue

Edited November 1, 2017 by True Blue (see edit history)