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Anna5 wrote:That wire sounds good, Bickerchick. I may ask my ortho about it!
You honestly think my teeth don't look that bad? And that I don't need surgery to get a good result (as initially recommended)? I am particularly worried about my crossbite, narrow and canted upper jaw. On the other side, the crossbite is in the back (at my molars) and that't not too visible, so who cares (apart from myself) if it won't be completely corrected? Surgery still scares me very much and my ortho first wants to see how much he can improve without surgery.
I want to thank you all very much for your kind and encouraging replies. It means so, so much for me, as I am still feeling self conscious and worrying a lot about my teeth. I am sure I couldn't cope with this all without all your loving support.This forum is such a great place to share our stories, but also our struggles and insecurities. No matter how bad the teeth are, we are here not to judge or laugh at each other, but to lovingly support each other on our journeys, and that is so wonderful!
I'm no ortho but I think you'll have a great result. I'm surprise your bite closed up that much in 7 months. I would think your ortho would be pleasantly surprised as well! The upper jaw problem is hard to notice in pictures. I'd ask yourself if you will be pleased without surgery. I'd say if your results are satisfactory to yourself and functional in the ortho's eyes, I would say leave it be. It's too early to tell now, but they look fantastic. I'm sure you've seen worse cases than yours have a good result without surgery. Keep your heads up and try to focus on other things. That was the best thing I did. I kind of forget I have braces now. I'm just letting it ride. My one year anniversary is around the corner and I feel like I just got them. Maybe ask your ortho what he thinks about your progress and ask if he thinks surgery is still a possibility. It might give you some peace of mind to hear his response
Thank you so much, Bickerchick, for your kind and encouraging reply. I think that is a very good advise to try to focus on other things, to just let it ride. I still find this very hard but I will try to because it is so essential for my happiness to just relax a bit about this!
I think my ortho is also quite happy with my results. At least at my last consultation this week, he was very happy with the improvement of my crossbite. So I should be happy as well!
Today I had an appointment with my ortho to talk about my progress and he thinks surgery for my crossbite or any other surgery is not necessary anymore, or at least it is not worth the risk of complications ed. However, my upper jaw will always remain narrow, there is nothing more he can do about this. And he also cannot widen my smile more with braces, because it has already widenened a lot.
My original sentence was 9 months in braces. I have been in braces for 9 months now and I will be in braces for another 6-9 months. So I am going over my orginal estimate, but I am totally fine with this.
I hope he is right that I will get an acceptable result without surgery and then I should have peace with this (that I will never get a perfect smile, just a 'good' smile. ). Or should I go for a second opinion? What do you think?
Do you think my smile is 'acceptable'? How obvious is my narrow upper jaw? How obvious is the cant in my upper jaw? And how obvious is my midline shift? But maybe I should relax about the latter, because I still have months to go!
But I should not only complain and worry, I must add that I am very happy with the huge progress I have made in these first 9 months!
Anna
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Just wanted to thank you for your support earlier. Lovely to read your positive story although I can't see the pics yet, judging by people's comments you're making fab progress.
I have a 5mm open bite, and will begin my journey at the end of the month to get it corrected with braces and TADs. I will be posting photos and progress as my orthodontist takes the pics at each visit.
Thanks for your compliments, Mrs V and Ellabelle. I wish I could see my teeth this way. I still see all the imperfections, but you really think they look great?
Welcome to this forum, Playmaker7206! I am looking forward to you sharing your pictures and journey with us. I am happy that you are able to avoid surgery, and I hope you will get a great result with braces asnd TADs. Good luck with your treatment!
just remember Anna....people can choose to skip your pics if they dont really think youve had great progress. If someone goes out of their way to give you a compliment then they really mean it. (telling myself this too)
Thank you, Sunshineray, for your very wise comment. I think I still have a way to go to really accept a compliment, to really believe that I made made great progress and that my teeth are not too bad anymore (or even fine!)
I am going for a second opinion on Thursday with an oral surgeon. Just want to know whether my jaw clicking (my jaw clicks every time I eat or open my mouth) is a serious problem or not and what should be done to fix this. I also want his opinion about my teeth/ jaw and whether he thinks surgery is necessary for health and/or esthetic reasons. I am very scared for this appointment, about what he is going to say.....
But maybe I should keep in mind all your positive comments here on the forum, that my teeth/ jaws are not TOO bad. And maybe I should just trust my ortho that he thinks I can get a good result without surgery and is it despair that drives me to the surgeon?. But my mind is still not at ease, especially because of the jaw clicking, therefore I thought I want a second opinion....
I had an appointment with the surgeon today and he said I don't need surgery! He thinks my jaw problems/malloclusion are too small to talke the risk of surgery and he is confident that my ortho can give me a good bite with braces only. He said I am lucky, that the braces probably did a much better job than the ortho initially expected.
My upper jaw is a bit narrow, but not so narrow that he thinks it is not worth doing SARPE. And my ortho has almost corrected my crossbite, which is good.
The surgeon also said that surgery not always takes away TMJ problems (as was common thought in the past), but may as well cause it. He expects the jaw clicking to get better when my braces are getting off. Sometimes jaw clicking gets worse with braces (my case) and then it will get better as soon as they are off. Anyway, I will go back to the surgeon after my braces are off and then we will see if there is still something that needed to be done to protect my jaw joints, eg another referral to the jaw fysiotherapist to make sure that I open my mouth symmetrically.
I so much hope this all will give me the peace I am longing for. That I am not longer so self conscious about my teeth. When both my ortho and the surgeon say that I am fine, then it must be true! I want to thank you all for your loving support. I am sure I wouldn't have coped without this forum!
(telling myself this too)
