Does anyone else feel unsatisfied so far?

[LoobyLou]

Hey all,

I've worn my braces for nearly a year now (will be a year next month) and I honestly think my teeth do not look much different at all! I am due to have eleastics (I already have the wires on top and bottom with the hooks for them) and he very nearly put them on at my last adjustment but right at the last minute decided to 'give me an easy month'?! I feel this is slowing me down even more. He has closed up gaps in recent months, 2 of which are opening up again and my midline is getting progressively worse, not better. As my wisdom teeth grow up further they are crooked too and he has said in the past)hat he will band them too but hasn't (He seems to forget!). On the whole I don't feel like I'm making much progress at the moment and think I'm gonna be in them for longer than planned at this rate!

Anyone else feel this way?

LoobyLou x

[paw655]

That must be an incredibly frustrating situation. I agree with Kiwi...call and arrange a "consultation appointment" with the ortho (and/or supervising ortho) and indicate that you will pay for the time separately. Hopefully you can afford to do so, but if he doesn't think he's getting paid for a 30 min consult with you, he'll probably blow you off.

Ask for a detailed treatment plan, with estimates by month for when he expects what to occur. If he even hesitates to do this, and assuming you are paying him for the consult time, you may need to discuss a switch in orthos. He is expected to have a basic plan laid out for you, in writing, which indicates how he got to the dates/treatment options he did, and he needs to be held accountable for it.

Although I am not braced yet, since I will be paying for braces out-of-pocket, I would not be interested in "easy months." I would be interested in getting the desired results in the least time possible, done safely.

I don't know the ortho system where you are, but can you go to another ortho for a "new patient consult" already braced. You could always say you are moving in from out of town so you are already braced and are trying to find a new ortho in your new city. Sometimes a person needs to get creative to find the best solution to a problem..

Good luck, keep us posted.

[LoobyLou]

Thank you both for your comments and suggestions. I don't find my ortho particularly easy to talk to and he does not readily give me any information about his plans for my teeth unless I ask. I literally walk in, sit on the chair, he says hello, tilts the chair back and hardly says another word throughout the adjustment, let alone tell me whether I am doing well or not or what he is even doing that day. I often sit in discomfort and pain but not knowing what he is up to so I don't think he'd be overly willing to sit down and discuss anything with me.

I feel awful critisizing as essentially my treatment is in his hands and I'm sure (well I hope) that he will create good results eventually but at the moment I feel disapointed. Maybe it's just me, but surely being 2/3 of the way through treatment I should be on the homeward stretch?

Ps on my last visit he actually said he hadn't tried hard enough to keep one gap closed and now the same thing is happening again with another gap. I'm sorry for moaning but sometimes I just feel a little neglected!

[Flora2006]

I'm so sorry to hear you are disapointed thus far. Having trouble communicating with the ortho is not cool at all and I agree with the others, you should give him a call and ask to talk...and I don't think you should have to pay for a visit to simply talk. That visit would be about your braces and you are paying a huge amount for them...so if he would charge you...wow...

Also, do consider looking at other orthos...it's so important to be happy with the treatment and the ortho...

[nimo]

I've seen a few people on here say they feel like they haven't made much progress...and then their pictures show that their teeth were nearly straight to start with. It's a lot easier to see a lot of progress when your teeth are waaaaay off the mark.

That being said, I would definitely talk to the ortho. Tell them your expectations, and then they should be able to tell you why they aren't happening now, and how they plan on making them happen.

[ingyandbert]

Lucy, you should not have to tolerate non-communication from your ortho. I would either (a) start requesting his partner for your appointments (assuming he has one) or (b) have a very frank conversation with your ortho in which you explain to him that you view your treatment as a partnership between him and you, and that you’ve been frustrated by the lack of communication. Tell him from now on you’d like him to explain the details of his treatment plan as it develops. Believe it or not, there are a lot of patients who just don’t care to know. They show up, have their adjustment, and then leave. It’s up to you to let your ortho know you are not one of those patients.

[LoobyLou]

Many thanks to all of you that replied and for all of you advice. The general consensus seems to be that i need to sit down and talk to him matter of factly and that's gonna take a lot of courage but you guys are right - I'm not happy so far and don't want to be left unhappy with the end result. Perhaps I will post some before and current pics soon and you can tell me what you all think. Thanks again all of you.

Luv LoobyLou xx

[paw655]

Meryaten

Perhaps I did not make myself clear. I was NOT suggesting that the author actually plan to establish a relationship with the secondary provider. My suggestion was to go, get a consult, and that's it.

There is nothing wrong with that. I would not advocate misleading a provider when one planned for a long term relationship, but just to get a "second opinion", no harm done.

And, if the secondary ortho is really great, the author might make referrals to the secondary guy, thus the secondary could stand to benefit, too, for all of 10 minutes of his time.

For the record, it actually would be perfectly professional for the author, if he were to simply walk away from the first ortho, to NOT bash the first one and start elaborating on the other guy's faults and not reveal the first guy's identity. If he had records transferred, etc, then that is different, but sometimes when you want to cut your losses you just start fresh, if you feel strongly.