Metal Mouth Message Board

A lot of you have been gracious in congratulating me on my debanding date. I expressed some concern over a certain tooth and now I want your opinion. This is a picture of the tooth that is really bothering me. My braces are scheduled to be taken off on April 18.

First of all, in this picture it doesn't even look to me as if that tooth is reallly closed as far as it can go, like the assistant said it was. Am I seeing things? What do you guys think? Do some orthos not do the slenderizing that I've read about on here or are there some cases where that isn't even an option?

This is going to drive me nuts. I honestly don't want them off until that tooth is at least a little bit closer.

Before even reading your post, I saw your picture and thought to myself, "Hmm, there's a tiiiiiiiiiiiny bit of space between the front laterals. I guess you're not really seeing things after all! It's not all that noticeable, but you do want to get the best results you can before being debanded.

Really, your teeth do look quite nice! Lovely shape they have. Hopefully, everything will settle into place before you get your braces off! Keep up the awesome progress.

MadeIn1984 wrote:Before even reading your post, I saw your picture and thought to myself, "Hmm, there's a tiiiiiiiiiiiny bit of space between the front laterals. I guess you're not really seeing things after all! It's not all that noticeable, but you do want to get the best results you can before being debanded.

Really, your teeth do look quite nice! Lovely shape they have. Hopefully, everything will settle into place before you get your braces off! Keep up the awesome progress.

Thank you! At my last appointment before I heard they were going to be taken off, I had asked the assistant if that gap would close. She said, nope, the tooth is wider at the top than at the bottom and that's as good as it's getting. I was incredibly disappointed. I also never asked the actual ortho about it. Obviously I should have.

That tiiiiiny bit of space that you see makes the bottom part look much more obvious in my opinion.

Is this something I should call and ask about, considering my debanding is coming up? I'm sure this kind of stuff irritates the heck out of them.

linda21 wrote:Can certainly see what you're getting at mtbrncofn. Part of my braces treatment includes the recontouring of my teeth (shaving, slenderizing) in order for my teeth to come together as best possible.

Strongly recommend you bring this up with your ortho if slenderizing hasn't been discussed previously. However, what you have to consider is whether years of an incorrect bite have worn your teeth down to the extent in which slenderizing is not a viable option, in which case you may want to seek or discuss with your ortho other alternatives like a veneer or porcelain cap. This is only my opinion but it looks as if your central and lateral incisors are in their correct anatomical postions in relation to your bottom teeth. Your central incisor looks to be structurally concave lending it that rounded appearance from your gumline. If you want to slenderize it to induce closure of the gap it may upset the alignment and require delay of debracing until alignment is achieved.

Just some food for thought but definitely worth considering. Best of luck to ya with your deliberations on this one mtbrncofn.

Thank you, Linda for your post. That was the only tooth in my whole mouth that needed to be pulled down a bit. I was wondering if that had anything to do with it.

Like all of us, I want my teeth to look the best they can, and it just doesn't seem like I'm there yet. Also, the IPR was never mentioned, but early on, he even out a couple of teeth a bit by just filing them down.

I would wear the braces for longer if that could be fixed.

Again thank you for your insightful post.

KK wrote:Your teeth look great mtbrncofn ... and that black powerchain looks fantastic!

... but I agree with the others ... there is definitely a quite obvious issue with the 'shape' and 'connection' of your lateral. I think you need to talk to your ortho about it. I recommend you do this before your debanding date to let him know that you want to have this looked at.

... as annoying as having braces might be, it would be far worse to have them off and still feel you didn't get all you wanted achieved! Good luck!

I agree, Karen. I just wanted some reassurance to make sure I wasn't seeing things. I think I will call them tomorrow and see if I can go in and talk to my ortho about it.

Thank you for your lovely compliments too! I was a bit hesitant to go with the black, but I figured what the heck. And bonus.....that baby won't stain!

Except for that teeeeny gap (that probably no one but a braces wearer would notice) your teeth look terrific!

If the gap can't be closed with braces, maybe you can have a bit of bonding done after the braces come off to close the gap. I remember Lynn trying for months and months to get several of her tiny gaps to close and finally ended up having some bonding done after treatment. Just a thought to consider.

Chris

Definitely call and see if you can get a quick appointment with your ortho to have it checked out. After they set my de-banding date, I called three times and had quick appointments to fix small things that I noticed. I didn't want to show up to my debanding appointment and then have them tell me that they couldn't come off!!! My ortho and his assistants were very accommodating and they told me they were very glad I was paying attention to what was going on. Good luck!

Thank you, Lucy for your sweet comment on my teeth. I know I am probably being ultra picky, but I figure this is what I'm paying for!

Thank you too, momof2grlz! ( I have 2 girls too. )

You all gave me enough courage to actually make the call. I hate doing stuff like this especially after I read about some people's experiences on the board.

So I called this morning and the lady said oh yeah, come on in, in an hour. SO I did, and apologized for being picky and lo and behold, I was right...we all were! It was even worse than I thought though.

If you look back at that picture you can kind of see what looks like one of my central incisors leaning in a bit. I chalked that up to looking like that because of all my teeth grinding and it would look fine when it evened out. It wasn't though! It actually was turned in a bit and that was making that little gap worse. The teeth weren't fitting together right as a result of that.

So he popped off that front bracket, put a new one on, put a different wire in, wired tied about 4 teeth together and sent me on my way. I was so pleased and relieved that something was done and that I wasn't being a freak. He was very friendly about all of it too. I go back in a week to see if what he did today is doing what it's supposed to. He said I'd still probably get to get them off on the 18th too.

So thank you to all who offered advice and gave me the guts to actually make the call, because I was so gonna wuss out!

I'm so glad all went well Good for you for speaking up!

Good for you! Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Chris

to me it looks like your front tooth is a little crooked and that is causing the gap.

T4raegirl wrote:to me it looks like your front tooth is a little crooked and that is causing the gap.

Yep it was and that was what was causing part of it.

There's already been progress in the straightening of the central and also the other little gap has closed up a bit. I'm very happy that I didn't wuss out and gave them a call.

Thanks, bracedagain....that's exactly what I thought. No freakin gappage!

I wish my teeth looked like that! Seriously stop complaining! Just joking but seriously to me your teeth look great but you know what you just spent $5000 plus on those babys and you decide if you are satisfied or not. Obviously you are not, so you go to the ortho and tell him/her your concern. I wish you the best!

From that angle, it looks like your top right "big" tooth is tipped just a wee bit inward.

You're right, it was tipped in a bit. He fixed it rather quickly and the other gap I was worried about too and I'm still on schedule to get debanded on the 18th. Wahoooooo!!