General braces question

[itsjustme]

So I have read on here that the skill of your ortho is the most important part of the results, and because of this you shouldn't worry so much about type of braces you get. I have also read that the way your teeth move, is that they will try to align themselves with the natural shape of the archwire. My question is this: if your teeth will simply move along with the archwire trying to go back to its natural shape, where does the ortho's skill come into play? Won't your teeth just move in the right direction, so long as they are attached properly to the archwire?
Also, are there different shapes for archwires? Enough sizes to fit everyone's mouth size? Or is there an "ideal" shape for your arch, that would fit everyone's teeth and mouth?

Hope these questions are not too dumb, but I found myself wondering about this!

[jenfire]

I don't think it is as simple as: put an archwire in and voila everything in your mouth becomes perfect. Orthodontics requires a great deal of training and orthodontists don't simply have a "one size fits all" type of treatment. Just look at the variation in our orthodontic treatment that each of us on this site has experienced.

Bracket positioning, decisions of extraction/oral surgery/expanders, IPR, the progression of archwire size and shape are all decisions made by the orthodontist to ensure that the teeth move at a slow enough and steady pace and ultimately achieve alignment and leveling for an optimal bite. I would not minimize the skill that is involved in doing this--in some cases, it may be extremely difficult while others simply require minor tweaking to get the desired result.

Hope this helps.

[dena]

When I selected my orthodontist, he ran through my treatment program with me at our second meeting. He showed me a computer program that had a 3D diagram of my mouth and teeth and he explained how my teeth would move, etc. There was a screen that involved a lot of geometry, and from the conversation, it seemed that the orthodontist basically looks at a lot of measurements on the shape of your mouth and considers that along with the x-rays in order to lay out the treatment program. I think that your teeth will move in line with the archwire, but his/her expertise is in the planning of which archwire/how long/when/etc. In any event though, it looked seriously complicated.

[SDFD TSchott]

I never had a conversation with my ortho. The longest conversation with my ortho was, why do you want braces and what do you expect out of braces. I answered that and he asked if i had any questions and I said no I'm all good other then I'd like to know my treatment plan and he said we will discuess it. Well we never did and went into treatment plans and that was it.

~Tim~