Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi all just wondering if anyone else has had the same treatment at the finishing stage....my ortho is planning to take off my top linguals and replace with ceramic braces on the outside of my top teeth for the last few weeks of my treatment. (I have ceramics on the bottom teeth) He said its so he can optimise the final finishing stage and align my bite and minor teeth alignments just that bit better.

Is that a normal thing to do? Also I think he is also going to get my mould done for my plate so I am not waiting once I get the braces off, but I'm concerned as my teeth aren't yet at the stage I am happy with, I still want my 'fangs' to come down abit more. Will it affect the way its stablises my 'finished' teeth once I start wearing my plate?

anybody?

Ok so I got it wrong..... I did not get any moulds done yet for retainers, I must have understood him wrong. I guess they will be done once I'm finished as normally it would. But I did get the top linguals taken off to get ceramic brackets placed on the outside of my top teeth to help level and finalise my teeth better at the final stage. My ortho thinks it will 'optimise' the treatment. No wonder no one has responded to my post it must have sounded crazy!

Dear CuTie from Sydney Australia
Hats off to your orthodontist. Making the teeth perfect with linguals can be most difficult in the last few months of treatment. When I come close to the end of treatment and I am not pleased I always offer to replace the lingual with labial braces at no additional cost because I know that with labial braces I can place the teeth in a more perfect position and please both me and the patient in a much shorter time than with labials. Lingual adjustment can be tedious and time consuming (labor intensive). So bravo to your doc, he really cares about providing you with a good result. I don't uderstand the last part of your post. However, the day I take the braces off is the day my patient gets a retainer. That way the patient is happy and I don't have to worry that their teeth will move in between the time I remove the braces and the time they get the retainer. I don't use retainers that are like "plates". I use the retainers that are like invisalign trays. Your doc may call them "Essix" retainers. Cordially,

Hi drted,

I am very happy to hear that. I am enjoying the process knowing my front teeth will be in an optimal position. I can see more improvement on top of my already straightened teeth after 3 weeks. Though I am still not happy with the position of my canines...I would like them to come down abit more, my ortho thinks that they don't need to come down much more, but when I smile I can see 'black triangle holes' at the bottoms between the canine and lateral incisors. When I see other peoples teeth their canines seem to be positioned lower than mine.

My ortho said my braces won't come off until I'm happy but it seems at the same time he won't listen to my canine issue. How low should a canine come down anyhow? I'm also planning to get a gum lift on some teeth as the gum covers some teeth too much, how common is it for people after braces to do so and when is it safe to do it?

I was just told the same thing today. That in 3 weeks they may take the linguals off to put ceramic braces on.
My teeth are oddly shaped and they are having an issue with the movement they want. They told me at no cost to me, they would put the other braces on. To get the finishing results they want.

drted wrote:Dear CuTie from Sydney Australia
Hats off to your orthodontist. Making the teeth perfect with linguals can be most difficult in the last few months of treatment. When I come close to the end of treatment and I am not pleased I always offer to replace the lingual with labial braces at no additional cost because I know that with labial braces I can place the teeth in a more perfect position and please both me and the patient in a much shorter time than with labials. Lingual adjustment can be tedious and time consuming (labor intensive). So bravo to your doc, he really cares about providing you with a good result. I don't uderstand the last part of your post. However, the day I take the braces off is the day my patient gets a retainer. That way the patient is happy and I don't have to worry that their teeth will move in between the time I remove the braces and the time they get the retainer. I don't use retainers that are like "plates". I use the retainers that are like invisalign trays. Your doc may call them "Essix" retainers. Cordially,

Dr Ted that is excellent of you to give out the Essix retainers the same day as to make sure the teeth stay in their optimal positions. I wish more orthodontists were like that. I am not sure how the orthodontists in Boston do it, as I have not asked my orthodontist as of yet but we shall find out sometime in the future. My sentance as an orthodontic patient is 30 months, I've already had three months. Where I live my friend was given both Essix and Hawley retainers the same day, but I am unsure as I travel three hours to go to Boston for my braces. I would however like to point out it is definatly worth it. Have a wonderful day Dr. Ted

linguals are a scam

sharp wrote:linguals are a scam

No they are not. Those of you who are having problems are probably seeing orthos who are not that skilled with using lingual braces.

My orthodontist's practice only do linguals, and everyone I have seen there has PERFECT teeth. My teeth are on that journey too...and i'm very confident i will have a smile that i'm proud of in the end.

Do your research, and probably pick orthos who have done linguals for people you know.

diegorgeous wrote:

sharp wrote:linguals are a scam

No they are not. Those of you who are having problems are probably seeing orthos who are not that skilled with using lingual braces.

My orthodontist's practice only do linguals, and everyone I have seen there has PERFECT teeth. My teeth are on that journey too...and i'm very confident i will have a smile that i'm proud of in the end.

Do your research, and probably pick orthos who have done linguals for people you know.

see how you go in a few months/years......

Hi Sharp,

Just curious.. have you had linguals? Bad experience?

sharp wrote:

diegorgeous wrote:

sharp wrote:linguals are a scam

No they are not. Those of you who are having problems are probably seeing orthos who are not that skilled with using lingual braces.

My orthodontist's practice only do linguals, and everyone I have seen there has PERFECT teeth. My teeth are on that journey too...and i'm very confident i will have a smile that i'm proud of in the end.

Do your research, and probably pick orthos who have done linguals for people you know.

see how you go in a few months/years......

It's all going good. Everything is going according to plan...my arch has straightened and my extraction gaps are closing as planned. I'm sure you can look on the board and find lingual success stories or even online. You probably just had a bad experience. There are loads of people in the world that have had good experiences. People with bad experiences are the most likely to post/document

I have to say that i'm nearing 3 years in braces. Originally I had linguals top/ceramic bottoms. I started off with linguals - a decision I regret now, all that money wasted. Note I also don't have braces on all front teeth just the front 8. I have full braces on the bottom. I feel as though I haven't received the 'full treatment', but thats another story. Its been almost a year now since I had ceramics replaced on the top on just the 8 teeth - as part of the 'finishing stage'. That stage was meant to only be a few months. The ceramics have done alot more in aligning my teeth than what the linguals had done in 2 years. That said I am still not happy with how my teeth look and they are scheduled to come off next appointment.. Note: I had also asked my ortho if I could get full brackets on top - I even offered to pay extra, but he said not neccessary. I keep thinking it will make a difference with end result. My bite still does not feel right, but he is so stubborn.

I just got told I had to wear one elastic again on the right side to help correct alignment of my bit, my jaw was shifting to the left - meanwhile at that same appointment they took mould impressions for fixed wire retainer :/ So not happy and trying not to get depressed.

QT wrote:I have to say that i'm nearing 3 years in braces. Originally I had linguals top/ceramic bottoms. I started off with linguals - a decision I regret now, all that money wasted. Note I also don't have braces on all front teeth just the front 8. I have full braces on the bottom. I feel as though I haven't received the 'full treatment', but thats another story. Its been almost a year now since I had ceramics replaced on the top on just the 8 teeth - as part of the 'finishing stage'. That stage was meant to only be a few months. The ceramics have done alot more in aligning my teeth than what the linguals had done in 2 years. That said I am still not happy with how my teeth look and they are scheduled to come off next appointment.. Note: I had also asked my ortho if I could get full brackets on top - I even offered to pay extra, but he said not neccessary. I keep thinking it will make a difference with end result. My bite still does not feel right, but he is so stubborn.

I just got told I had to wear one elastic again on the right side to help correct alignment of my bit, my jaw was shifting to the left - meanwhile at that same appointment they took mould impressions for fixed wire retainer :/ So not happy and trying not to get depressed.

hi

click on my profile and see the threads i have started

also which orthodontist are you seeing? send me a message.

dont get braces off until youre happy

demand money back

get another opinion from a better orthodontist. dont waste any more time like i did.

Today I went to get a 2nd opinion I was lucky to get the appointment as there was a cancellation. Well he agrees with me and thinks that things still can be improved including the right incisor that obviously looks too rotated still, he could clearly see it. My ortho thinks its the best he can do. Well I feel more empowered now to get him to fix it and my bite. The other ortho I saw is going to write a letter to him to suggest to him what he would do.
I just don't want my ortho to get offended. But that said I'm the one who has payed all this money so I do expect to be happy once they are off. Next step I will set up another meeting to discuss all of this 'again'.