How Did You Decide Which Orthodontic Treatment Was For You?

[Winkos]

I have a deep bite. One ortho wanted to push my top teeth up, my bottom teeth down, and let the molars extrude.

The ortho I chose wanted to shift my top arch to the right and move up one bicuspid. I have the models of my teeth and when I saw what he wanted to do it made sense. It lined up my molars and gave me verticle height without moving my teeth very far. I hope this happens in real life. This is why I chose him.

How did you decide?

[SunshineRay]

I went to SIX consults. I'm not even braced yet and I feel like Ive been doing this forever. The last consult had the best treatment plan, was a plan I was totally comfy with and worked with me on some issues I had, he will actually turn out to be the cheapest too. I wish it hadnt taken as long as it did to see all the orthos but I am really glad that I did. Keep going until you feel totally comfy.

[arciedee]

Hm... well, I had been intrigued with the Invisalign thing since I'd first heard of it. I liked the idea of having "invisible" correction and being able to brush and floss normally, so that's what I pursued. My first consult was with a general dentist who felt that I was a very simple case, so almost went there, but wanted to get a second opinion from an actual orthodontist.

He agreed that I was a candidate for Invisalign, but not, perhaps, as simple as the general dentist thought. His timeline was longer and he suggested starting with a fixed appliance (Carriere distalizer) to improve my bite. While his treatment plan was a bit less on the invisible side, I knew that, while I was pursuing this for mainly aesthetic reasons, I wanted my teeth to end up as healthy as possible and once I saw the pictures and understood his plan fully it made more sense to me.

I would have maybe "shopped around" a bit more, but the guy I'm going to seems to be the most experienced person in the area, so I didn't think I was going to get better care anywhere else, so I stuck with him. Thus far I'm happy with my choice!

[OldBikerBag]

I didn't really "click" with my orthodontist right away. I'm not used to regular "citizens" so much and especially not surfer types. However, he said he could make corrections in my bite without surgery, which had been offered as my only option until then. Since I had it in my head that I could not get perfect results, I went into his office with the intent of pushing my lower teeth back down so I wouldn't lose them. He explained why it would be better to just correct all of it and be done with it....and that he could do it.

Surgery and extractions were out of the question for me, although extractions were encouraged. I just couldn't bring myself to amputate healthy, functional parts of my body. He was willing to work with me anyway.

He came up with a treatment plan that made sense, didn't overcomplicate anything, financed the treatment and proceeded within my parameters. As a plus, I found he has a great sense of humor and "gets" my off-color mumblings.


And he doesn't have a building covered with enormous, hungrily leering, salivating plastic circus animals.

[flips712]

My family has been going to the same dentist for decades so I asked him to refer me to an Ortho as I trust him completely. Went to the recommended Ortho for a consult and got braced two weeks later. This was the only consultation I went to. Strangely enough the Ortho is located in my old Ortho's office that I went to as a teenager. Talk about major deja vu! Turns out she took over his practice when he retired.

[MrsCharisma]

I had 3 orthos tell me they can't close my diastema completely because it's not enough space between top and bottom teeth to get it done. I had another tell me she can do it for like $8K. I got a referral to my current ortho from my dentist office and I really liked him during the consultation.

Also, like flips712, it's the exact same office as my previous ortho which was not a decision making factor but was pretty cool Old ortho retired, new ortho took the space.

[safetysquirrel]

Hey!

I think I'm probably in the minority here. I went to one consult, and set my brace date the same day as the consult.

The orthodontist was recommended highly by my general dentist, who I really like... so that's what I went with.

[junglejulie]

All I knew is that I wanted the diastema gone, this year, so I took a big risk and went with the first consult. So far very happy I did that. Best investment ever! I chose metal since they are cheapest and supposed to move teeth faster. Also I knew I wouldn't wear invisilign like you're supposed to. Weight loss has been an added bonus....now I have changed my lifestyle by adding diet and exercise. All in all, the risk paid off.

[Ciara]

There aren't a huge number of orthodontists where I live so my choice was limited anyhow. I asked around and 3 names came up repeatedly; one of them was the orthodontist who owns the clinic where my regular dentist is so I went with her. It is nice having my dentist and orthodontist in the same clinic and my dentist often pops her head in to see how things are going.
That being said, I did see 2 orthodontists in Ireland when I went back for a quick visit. They basically said the same as what my current orthodontist said so in a sense, I had 3 consultations.

[bbsadmin]

Over the years, I had seen many orthodontists. They all told me that I would need 4 teeth extracted. One wanted to put me in headgear, as well. I didn't like the thought of extracting "perfectly good teeth" so I kept saying no. And headgear? At that time in my life, I had a toddler and an infant, so there was no way I was going into headgear.

The orthodontist that I chose was willing to TRY the ortho treatment without pulling teeth first, and he didn't want to put me in headgear. But 6 months into treatment, my gums didn't like it and began to recede slightly due to all the crowding and pressure. So I had a choice: stop my ortho treatment, or get the 4 premolars pulled and continue treatment. I decided to get them pulled. After all, EVERYONE else I'd seen had told me it would be necessary, so by that time I was at peace with it.

Anyway, the other reason I went with my ortho is that I just felt very comfortable with him and his office. He had really nice office staff and he was a very laid-back but professional guy with a lot of experience. An acquaintance was also seeing him and had good things to say about him.

In my case, most of the orthodontists had a similar treatment plan (except for the guy who wanted to do headgear). If you see a bunch of orthodontists who have different treatment plans, it's probably a good idea to ask them why they think a particular plan is the best approach. There are many ways to accomplish the same goal. Sometimes you have to do a little research on your own, as well. And sometimes you have to look at what they want to do and ask yourself whether you could deal with the type of plan that the orthodontist suggests, especially if it entails extractions, appliances, surgery, or anything out of the ordinary.

[metalmeredith]

i have a huge diastema and deepbite. i always wanted to close that gap. is getting even bigger with time. so i'm on my 10th day of braces. I choose my ortho by the price, is the cheaper. let's hope it will work.