Q.
I was totally dental phobic as a child due to bad expereinces at the dentist with tooth extractions and, as a consequence, I never wore a brace. Now, as a result, I have severely crowded teeth. The 4 front teeth (incisors?) aren’t really affected and are relatively straight but the canine teeth stick out Dracula-like to the extent that I can’t bite on them at all and they poke through my lips if I smile. There is really very little gap between the second insisors and the premolars next to them and the canines stick out above them. Can anything be done for me? I don’t want to wear a brace at my age (early 40s) and think my only hope is to have the canines removed and try to do something with the remaining teeth. My teeth really are the bane of my life and have made my life a complete misery over the years. It seems to be getting worse lately and is making me quite depressed and is having a real negative effect on my life to the point that I feel quite depressed most of the time. They are on my mind constantly and I have no one to really share all this anxiety with as I feel so embarrassed about my teeth I won’t draw attention to them. I even change the subject if anyone so much as mentions teeth! I feel that if I could get my teeth fixed all this would stop and I could finally enjoy my life and actually smile and not feel scared or embarrassed to smile. Nowadays, I read about all the marvellous advances in cosmetic dentistry and I think more and more that a few thousand pounds spent on my teeth would be money well spent if it made me feel that my life was worth living. To me, to have teeth that I didn’t feel embarrassed to show the world would be better than wining the lottery. Can you help or advise?