Metal Mouth Message Board

isthistaken wrote:It wasn't orthodontists telling me I needed extractions, sirweird, it was the all-knowing hygienists who did most of the dentists' work the last 20 years. And also a dentist. I did not ask for no extractions from the ortho, I did not bring it up. He volunteered that he would not need to do extractions. My point in saying "where do I sign," was that this made my decision to go ahead with orthodontics at my age--I am one of the older ones on here--that much easier for me.

omg sorry about the typo!

Stargirlxx wrote:I am considering going to a better qualified ortho who will expand my palate and re-open the extraction sites for implants. ARGH. And he is in California, whereas I live in BC, Canada. I have already spent nearly 8 grand and the last 6 years in ortho treatment and I hate that I'm no better off than before. Actually, my health has deteriorated as a result of this last round of poor treatment.

While going to a local orthodontist would probably be a good idea, if there are stability concerns about the final result, permanent palatal expansion may require jaw surgery. (Read up on SARPE.)

I'm actually pretty surprised your original orthodontist didn't immediately come up with a plan to get you in back in some form of retention after your retainer broke. Such a short period of retention, (especially with a potential surgical case handled non-surgically) was never going to work; as you can see, uncontrolled relapse leads to undesirable consequences. (My wife still wears her retainer at night a few times a week about 30 years being out of braces and she can tell if she hasn't worn it in a while.)

I'm not seeing the same aesthetic consequences you are. Your upper arch is narrower, yes, that would be expected as a result of the extractions; it was kind of the point. It's different, yes. But I'm not seeing it as an overwhelming negative aesthetic change. (It's kind of hard to tell since you don't have another diagnostic photo series to compare with.) However, it does seem kind of disingenuous for your ortho to argue, now, after the extractions, that you still need surgery, since the whole point of the extractions was to avoid jaw surgery.

sirwired, that's what has upset me the most, I was told that the extractions would be a "quick fix" to get some of the benefits (but not all) that I wanted from the jaw surgery. To have gone through with the extractions against my better judgement, and to still be facing the same problems and MORE is devastating.

The kicker is that originally I was only set to have LOWER jaw surgery. Now, post-extraction, double jaw surgery is what they are telling me! I am so upset about this.

Ultimately, the cosmetic consequences are not as important to me as the level of discomfit I am experiencing. I have been crying about this daily. I just want it to be over. I wish I could fix it.

Extractions will ALWAYS change your facial appearance. How can it not? You are literally removing bone, but the muscle tone, volume and skin mass around the region remain the same. It is natural for your body to adapt to the sudden loss in bone mass. I suffered from the traditional extraction orthodontics. But thankfully when I had the bicuspids removed I was 20 years old. So it is unlikely that the jaw shrank in size. I'm getting the spaces re-opened and my dental arches expanded( as much as possible) to correct this now 8 years later.

Evolution has determined that we need 32 teeth. Why do some people have spaces BEHIND their wisdoms and some can not even get their wisdoms to sprout? Is it just genes? Would that mean if your parents have bad teeth you can never change? Malarkey.

It's all down good oral posture - resting the tongue on the roof of the mouth, chewing good, hard food and good resting posture. It is easy to do this in a child and see results since their growth spurt is imminent. Possible in adults , but it will be a gradual and a smaller degree of change.

Grow your jaw to fit your teeth. Do not extract teeth to fit your small(er) jaw.

Stargirlxx, if you see this could you please update on what happened? I am in exactly the same situation now, and also in BC, Canada. I had two lower jaw extractions and am experiencing all the negative consequences you described. I am planning to get a reversal but am lost on where to turn. If you managed to find someone locally, I would be very grateful to hear about your experience. Cheers x