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I've been in braces going on 7 wks and I'm still trying to determine whether to get extractions or not. The 1st ortho I saw said I needed them. The 2nd ortho said it wouldn't be necessary and that he could do IPR between the teeth to achieve good results so I went with the 2nd ortho. Well, now that time has passed I can't get the 1st ortho's opinion out of my mind (btw, the 1st ortho came highly recommended by my dentist who did his braces).
Anyway, now that I'm in braces the last thing I want is to be disappointed with the final result....but I'm also afraid of having extractions unnecessarily (esp. at age 45!)
What are some of the downsides of extractions vs. not having them? Were any of you in a similar position? If so what did you decide?
Btw, my ortho says that my total treatment time will be 12 months more or less. Initially I thought this was a good thing but now I'm thinking it's because the teeth can only shift so far w/o extractions.
I decided NOT to do extractions. At age 45 my ortho believes it may make my mouth droop prematurely. He started IPR yesterday and already I have seen some shifting. I think I will be very pleased with the end result.
