Help! I got constricted tongue & sunken face already!!!

Message

#1 Post by **xyz2008** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 10:43 pm

I have been wearing brace for over a year now. My biggest concern when I start to wear brace is my facial profile because my face is thin. The orthodontist reassured me that it won't dish in and it would only change for better. But now my nightmare has already come true.

Before treatment started, I had an overbite and space in my four upper protruding teeth. However, I had no space in my bottom teeth. They were pretty straight.

First time after he put wire on my bottom teeth to mirco-adjust, he shifted the 2nd innermost teeth toward the center arch so much that they are one-half tooth more toward the center than the all the other teeth.

Then, a few months later, I noticed that the space between the drastically shifted left side 2nd innermost tooth and 3rd innermost tooth were trapping food. That was about the only space on my all my teeth at that time. After I pointed that out, the orthodontist immediately decided to use two elastic chains on both of my upper and lower teeth even though at that time my upper space has already been closed.

In less that one month, after suffering from more than a week of unbearable pain which was like foreign object thrusting on my throat, middle ear and innermost teeth root, I found that my inner most teeth have shifted toward the center by one-half tooth width each. They now align with the already shifted 2nd innermost teeth. In the meantime, my facial profile has significantly changed. My cheekbone is poking out. I got a sunken face with newly found dent at the joint of my cheekbone and ear. Because he shifted the right side innermost tooth even more, the dent on my right side is more prominent. The right side skin feels loose. I am very upset with the facial profile. To make it worse, my tongue is constricted and irritated, and constantly in pain, which also seems to be blocking my airway making it difficult to swallow.

I would like to know:

1. if I have the wires all removed right away, would my innermost teeth go back to their original position?

2. Is there anything any other orthodontist can do to bring my arch back to its original width? Do I have to live with the sunken face and curl my tongue all my life ???

3. Before he removes my brace, my orthdontist wants me to sign a piece of "termination of contract" thing which states that whatever happens later on will have nothing to do with him. I do not want to sign this doc, unless it mentions the sunken face and constricted tongue space. What should I do?

#2 Post by **kimous** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 1:54 am

xyz2008,

I really feel for you. I have a slightly narrow face and one year into treatment my arch is currently looking more narrow then my original teeth. From all my reading of face changes on this forum firstly i found from extensive reading is that lots of extraction cases have caused sunken cheeks. However I now know also from personal experience is that you cheeks can sink in also when arch becomes more narrow. It appears that this is more noticeable when you have a longer thinner face.

You may need to ask your orthodontist for options of expanding you arch. Maybe ask him to try using a palatal expander somehow there is differring opinions among orthodontist whether this works or not for adults without surgery. Some Adults on this forum have said that it works to expand arches for them without the need for surgery and the palatal expander seem to do the trick. Some have gone and done surgery. So maybe just ask your orthodontist whether you can try some sort of expander first and if you don't achieve the arch you want then surgery may be you next step.

Apparently damon system claims that they can expand arches just with the system alone.

At this stage I really wish i didnt do this as my face was more fuller and my teeth before braces are actually more straight and my arch at the begginning was more wider then now. I really dont know what they are doing but it is very obvious that my arch is slightly narrower then before.

I had a slight overbite before.

Kim

#3 Post by **xyz2008** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 8:01 am

Thank you Kim. I regret so much that I did that. And I no longer trust that orthodontist so I just want to stop the treatment with him. The only thing that I did right is I haven't got my teeth extraction yet. Thank Goodness.

#4 Post by **xyz2008** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 12:06 pm

Meryaten,

Thanks for your info. In my case, I just wanted my teeth arch to go back to where they were. So, I was wondering if it is possible for all my teeth to move back to where they are if I have the brace removed right away. The last elastic chain adjustment happended 2 months ago, which drastically narrowed my arch. So do I have a good chance here?

Another thing is that to remove the brace, this orthodontist wants me to sign something that he would not be responsible for anything that happened to me. I just don't know what to do. This sunken face is going to more sunken as the braces are removed.

#5 Post by **xyz2008** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 12:11 pm

Also, I already saw another orthodontist for 2nd opinion, who turned out to be my orthodontist's friend. So, I paid the consultation fee, and he only examined my bite. But he did tell me that if it were him, he would have suggested lower jaw surgery instead of teeth extraction. And now that my tongue is already constricted, he do not think I should go through teeth extraction as teeth extraction would make it worse.

So, I am going to try to find other orthodontists who are not his friend and who can treat in-town transfer patients.

#6 Post by **xyz2008** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 3:27 pm

Thank you Meryaten. I just got my "complete" records from my orthodontist. But except for the panaramic Xrays, it was useless. It only includes the contract, the chronological stuff like "Day xxx, upper arch wire, tooth#xxx 45min." When I asked, I was told the teeth models "were destroyed for privacy reasons and no storage place", and the initial measurements for making of the brace "are not stored due to security reasons". Well, I could pretty much open a bank and do not store anyone's deposit info for the same reasons

. They didn't even print out my photos. When I asked, I was first told, "cannot be downloaded"; then "charge a very high fee to download the pics", then "Dr.xxx is too busy today, I am not authorized to print out your pics". Hopefully I will get my authenticate pictures tomorrow.

I will have to show these "records" to the other orthodontists and see what they have to say. Without a teeth model or initial measurements, I don't know how they can make comparisons.

Regarding the disclaimer, if I sign it, does that mean he would not even be responsible for anything happened prior to the removal of the brace?

#7 Post by **xyz2008** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:38 pm

I am in the US. The state law states the following:

"A dentist shall be required to maintain a patient's complete dental record, which may include, but is not limited to, the following: treatment notes, evaluations, diagnoses, prognoses, x-rays, photographs, diagnostic models, laboratory reports, laboratory prescriptions (slips), drug prescriptions, insurance claim forms, billing records, and other technical information used in assessing a patient's condition. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a dentist shall be required to maintain a patient's complete treatment record for no less than a period of ten (10) years from the date of the patient's last office visit."

So, do you think there is some violation there?

Thanks for being so patient and helpful for me. Wish you all the best for the new year!