Hi Brian,
I also was a late starter. I started my treatment at 47. My ortho
explained to me that he had to make my overbite a little worse to get
the teeth into a position that would allow for the jaw alignment. I
may be lucky that all this has taken place rather quickly. I wore
rubber bands for 3 months and actually overcorrected my bite just a
tad. I was told 3 years for my treatment and after 14 months we will
be adjusting brackets to align the roots.
I wish your ortho would spend more time explaining things to you but
I think they get used to the kids and all of us adults take some
getting used to. Try explaining to him that you feel like he is
blowing you off and you just want some straight answers. Also keep
in mind that they have a plan but how quickly it is progresses is
dependent on our teeth.
There is hope and I'm sure you'll end up with a beautiful smile.

--- In adultswithbraces@yahoogroups.com, "brian_rex2001"
<brian_rex2001@...> wrote:
>
> I just saw my ortho yesterday and, after 7 months of treatment, he
fitted me with rubber
> bands to help move my lower and upper jaws closer together. I'm a
45-year-old who started
> treatment because of a mild crossbite and underbite. I've been
pretty depressed by the pace
> of my progress recently, as it seems like the underbite has
actually gotten a little worse to
> me. Whenever I bring up my concerns to my ortho he reassures me
with a witty comment or
> two, but he doesn't spend a lot of time explaining things to me.
>
> I now suspect that my treatment to this point has focused on
aligning the teeth in each arch
> as opposed to correcting the underbite. If true, I feel like there
may be hope for me yet.
> I'm writing now because I need a little reassurance and
encouragement to stick this out. I've
> found myself wondering at times whether all of the inconvenience
and expense is really
> worth it. Anyone else out there have a similar situation that
culminated with successful
> treatment? What can I expect from wearing the rubber bands? How
soon should I see some
> improvement with the jaws moving? Thanks in advance.
>