Was extraction orthodontics right for me? You be the judge

[tomahawk1717]

Hello all. 2 Years have passed since my braces have been put on. I went with the choice of extractions because I didn't know better and i visited 4 different orthos and they all said they would extract. I feel like my teeth have been pushed in as a result of the braces. I liked how my teeth were before, just a couple crooked ones. I'll post photos of myself before I got my braces and photos of how I look now, and I would love your opinion.

Before:


After: The gaps you see in front of my canines are all I have left on my upper arch.



Thanks a lot for your opinion!

[Lovespain5]

Hello all. 2 Years have passed since my braces have been put on. I went with the choice of extractions because I didn't know better and i visited 4 different orthos and they all said they would extract. I feel like my teeth have been pushed in as a result of the braces. I liked how my teeth were before, just a couple crooked ones. I'll post photos of myself before I got my braces and photos of how I look now, and I would love your opinion.

Before:


After: The gaps you see in front of my canines are all I have left on my upper arch.



Thanks a lot for your opinion!

Your results seems very nice for me. You may still wear some rubber bands to achieve a perfect occlusion. Why do you hesitate? How many and which premolars had you extracted?

You don't have to think that 4 extractions are always a bad solution. It depends a lot of your face structure.

[tomahawk1717]

Your results seems very nice for me. You may still wear some rubber bands to achieve a perfect occlusion. Why do you hesitate? How many and which premolars had you extracted?

You don't have to think that 4 extractions are always a bad solution. It depends a lot of your face structure.
[/quote]

Finally, a reply!

I hesitate because I believe my orthodontist has brushed my desire of bringing my molars forward aside. I had 4 of my 2nd bicuspids extracted. Looking back on it I feel that it was unnecessary to extract that many teeth but it's what 4 orthodontist had told me.

What methods are available to pull my molars up? class ll elastics would also cause my front teeth to come back, right?

[assertives]

I thought your results look very nice too.

I'm not sure what you meant by you are hesitating because your ortho brushed aside your desire to bring your molars forward. What is it about your profile/smile that you are unhappy about currently?

It would be good to think about exactly what kind of end results you are expecting and communicate that to your ortho instead of just going to him and say you want your molars forward. It may be more helpful for both you and your ortho and your ortho could perhaps also recommend options if necessary, or advise if bringing the molars forward could achieve what you are looking for. Your ortho would most likely also be able to explain to you his "vision" for your case, such as the entire facial profile, angulation of teeth to jawline, etc etc.

Also, another thing is, you don't know what kind of other effects you may end up experiencing with that movement, so have a chat with your ortho, and if you find you cannot trust your ortho, perhaps seek a second opinion would help too.

[tomahawk1717]

I thought your results look very nice too.

I'm not sure what you meant by you are hesitating because your ortho brushed aside your desire to bring your molars forward. What is it about your profile/smile that you are unhappy about currently?

It would be good to think about exactly what kind of end results you are expecting and communicate that to your ortho instead of just going to him and say you want your molars forward. It may be more helpful for both you and your ortho and your ortho could perhaps also recommend options if necessary, or advise if bringing the molars forward could achieve what you are looking for. Your ortho would most likely also be able to explain to you his "vision" for your case, such as the entire facial profile, angulation of teeth to jawline, etc etc.

Also, another thing is, you don't know what kind of other effects you may end up experiencing with that movement, so have a chat with your ortho, and if you find you cannot trust your ortho, perhaps seek a second opinion would help too.

I'm sorry. I'm not really hesitating on anything. Lovespain just asked me what i hesitated on, and I gave an indirect answer.

Currently I'm only unhappy with how much teeth I see now when I smile vs how much I saw before I got braces. It's probably something I could live with, but I'm worried since braces sort of add an extra dimension to my teeth, that they'll look even further back when my braces are gone.

I definitely plan on talking my ortho next week, since the scheduled plan is to power chain everything and that would just result in pulling my front 6 inward. I'm going to first ask if reversing a bit of the retraction of the front teeth is possible. Then if it is, ask if pulling everything forward would be an attainable goal in not-too-long of time.

[pcspinheiro]

If I had teeth like yours I would NEVER touch them in the first place. People don't know how good them have until they start messing around with them... Anyway, good luck sorting that out. If you're not happy try to explain your ortho why and try to reach a solution, if still possible. You can never get those teeth back, but maybe you can still move things forward a bit.

[Lovespain5]

Ok 4 premolars. But your smile is very nice and nobody can guess that you've had 4 extractions. Even if I am very happy with my results on the whole facial profile (I was treated with my 4 first premolars extracted because of bimax protrusion and lip incompetence what I dont regret), I would prefer a slightly toothier smile than what I have now. Even if I largely prefer my smaller arch now than my protrusion before treatment. And your smile dimensions seem perfect to me. Photos of my results to compare :

[tomahawk1717]

Ok 4 premolars. But your smile is very nice and nobody can guess that you've had 4 extractions. Even if I am very happy with my results on the whole facial profile (I was treated with my 4 first premolars extracted because of bimax protrusion and lip incompetence what I dont regret), I would prefer a slightly toothier smile than what I have now. Even if I largely prefer my smaller arch now than my protrusion before treatment. And your smile dimensions seem perfect to me. Photos of my results to compare :

I too wish my smile was a bit toothier. I also feel like my smile caves in a bit more, meaning my cheeks sink a bit when i try to smile big. My girlfriend is telling me all these tiny details are only visible to me. I guess it's true, but thats the biggest deal, right?

I'm going to talk to my ortho and see if she is willing to pull everything up a tiny bit. I'd even wear headgear at home if i have too.

[tomahawk1717]

Ok 4 premolars. But your smile is very nice and nobody can guess that you've had 4 extractions. Even if I am very happy with my results on the whole facial profile (I was treated with my 4 first premolars extracted because of bimax protrusion and lip incompetence what I dont regret), I would prefer a slightly toothier smile than what I have now. Even if I largely prefer my smaller arch now than my protrusion before treatment. And your smile dimensions seem perfect to me. Photos of my results to compare :

I too wish my smile was a bit toothier. I also feel like my smile caves in a bit more, meaning my cheeks sink a bit when i try to smile big. My girlfriend is telling me all these tiny details are only visible to me. I guess it's true, but thats the biggest deal, right?

I'm going to talk to my ortho and see if she is willing to pull everything up a tiny bit. I'd even wear headgear at home if i have too.

[almost40]

In a consult today the doc said that I had a wide smile because I showed 8-10 teeth when I smiled. Looks like in your prebraces photos you had the same but your post-braces I am only seeing 6 teeth. Maybe it’s the way you’re smiling too. But arches do get smaller when you remove some teeth.

[Lovespain5]

Tomahawk : when you wear elastics and powerchains as I worn for 18 months you feel a lot how your teeth are retracting so you notice things that people dont remark, with some exagerations sometimes. For example, I felt my chin becoming stronger than he really become. But your smile now is still toothier than mine. Almost40 : the arches nearly always become smaller after extractions, above all the upper arch but often your whole face is better. I personnally dont regret the extractions at all.

[Lovespain5]

In a consult today the doc said that I had a wide smile because I showed 8-10 teeth when I smiled. Looks like in your prebraces photos you had the same but your post-braces I am only seeing 6 teeth. Maybe it’s the way you’re smiling too. But arches do get smaller when you remove some teeth.

For me it's the same thing : I showed until 12 teeth when I smiled before treatment whereas I show 6-8 teeth now (10 teeth if I smile very very large).

But all facial changes (the balanced proportions and the competent mouth closure I have now) are excellent.

[yogurtyoga]

Your result looks very good.

[tomahawk1717]

I appreciate everyones comments! I was really worried that I was loosing the "toothiness" of my smiles. But I guess sinces theres a band with black elastics on it, it'll be hard to see my teeth! I'm just ready for these braces to come off now.