Metal Mouth Message Board

For the first year of your treatment the ortho has very little idea of how long it will take, orthodontics doesn't run by a specific schedule so its really a waste of time asking at your bracketing appt and every appt from then on.
I am coming to the end now so I might ask during my next appt and see if I can get an estimate!

For the first year of your treatment the ortho has very little idea of how long it will take, orthodontics doesn't run by a specific schedule so its really a waste of time asking at your bracketing appt and every appt from then on.
I am coming to the end now so I might ask during my next appt and see if I can get an estimate!

I agree.. I can't imagine asking at ONE MONTH when you have 1-2 yrs to go.. they have NO IDEA any more than you do how responsive your particular case will be to braces. If they did, no one would get their braces off later than their original estimate!

I never asked, and because of that, my orthodontist volunteered information any time he felt he knew. They're not going to hide it from you like a secret; once they feel "wow, only a few more months" they'll say that.

In fact, nothing was better than being told "By the end of the summer!" in March and then being told last month "we're going to put a permanent retainer on the bottom now and in 3 weeks take these puppies off". I was STUNNED. It's better to be surprised in a good way than in a bad way.

(Also, I had them for 22 months; I was quoted "probably less than 16 months".)

I would just ask. I tried to be as patient as long as possible before asking, but I broke down at the appointment before my last one, lol. When I did finally ask him he totally ignored me, but in a joking way.

Wow, I had no idea this question was so offensive to Orthos!!

Ill have to be careful next time I ask mine! Which isn't often, but I didn't think for a second it would be offensive or annoying to be asked that. I ask myself everyday how much longer I think I'll have mine on, so the infrequent times I see my ortho, heck yes I'm curious enough to ask! And I'm not some 12 year old impatient child either, I'm a full grown adult but these braces are so annoying to me, that yes I'm counting down the months and am very curious to know how much longer. My ortho is still kind of vague, he says he "hopes" mine will be out around the time they're supposed to be out. I don' tknow what that means!!! Like, I hope so to, but do you THINK they'll be out by then?

VA5 wrote:Wow, I had no idea this question was so offensive to Orthos!!

Ill have to be careful next time I ask mine! Which isn't often, but I didn't think for a second it would be offensive or annoying to be asked that. I ask myself everyday how much longer I think I'll have mine on, so the infrequent times I see my ortho, heck yes I'm curious enough to ask! And I'm not some 12 year old impatient child either, I'm a full grown adult but these braces are so annoying to me, that yes I'm counting down the months and am very curious to know how much longer. My ortho is still kind of vague, he says he "hopes" mine will be out around the time they're supposed to be out. I don' tknow what that means!!! Like, I hope so to, but do you THINK they'll be out by then?

He probably means your estimate time. What was your estimate and what month are you in now? If he says he "hopes", I would think they aren't coming off until at least the estimated time has run.

He's a medical professional. It's part of his job to answer any questions you may have. You're paying LOTS of money for his expertise - answering a simple question is the least he can do.

My ortho actually has a progress bar that shows up when they pull your up your record. It says time remaining : X mo. [/i]

I mean, I can understand if I kept asking every time, that would be annoying. But I don't.

i'm supposed to have about 6 months left. And about 6 months ago, I would have guess that I would be finished early. But at the rate things have been going (in my eyes at least), I think it might take the full 6 months left. I hope I'm wrong!

I think it depends really where you are in treatment, and also how often your appointments are. If someone was estimated 20-26 months in treatment and they are now at month 16 and only go for adjustments every 3 months, then I would think from about that point on, it is fair to question how things are going, does the ortho think you're on task for a 20 month treatment or is it going to be closer to 23 or 26... or longer.

I don't think I started asking my ortho until I had had my braces on for 2 years because it took a LONG time to straighten my teeth out. I used common sense based on what they looked like and based on how my bite felt too - but then I was in the stupid car accident which of course made my 2 1/2 years into 3.

This time around I doubt I'll be asking at all, I'm more interested how often my recall visits will be since I have nothing bonded on my teeth. So far I think it's going to be every 2 months, but we'll see what happens as far as movement in 2 months.