Metal Mouth Message Board

Get this, called today to get a ortho consult because i would like a second opinion ( already saw one ortho). There is three in town and this guy is supposed to be the best. The one i already saw is treating my wife and has a good rep. in town, I would just like a second opinion, anyways i was told they could get me in for a consult on nov. 6, this seems like a very long time to wait for a second opinion (7+months). any input? thanks, bob

7 months??? forget about it, if you really do need braces you could be 1/4 done with your treatment.(that is if its 2 years)

What?? Were you like, "uuhhhmmm, are you looking at the right calendar, did you know it's March?"
They must be so busy they're unable to take on new patients or something. They might be good, but jeez, being able to get in and see your ortho when you need to is kinda of key...
Forget it!

Well, you could always take the appointment and get your second consult from the other ortho in town. Then, cancel the one in November if it isn't needed.

Seven months is a very long time to wait for an initial consultation. I'd take a 7-month wait period to mean that the practice isn't accepting new patients or they're very particular about accepting new patients. Maybe they don't want to start treatment unless they can get you in for adjustment appointments? When I was making appointments for my consultations, I had to wait at most 6 weeks.

Hi Hank,

The same thing happened to me. There are only 2 orthos in my town and, after booking an appt. with the first one(still had to wait a 6 weeks) I called the other one and it was going to be August!(I call in Jan.) So, I stuck with the first one and got in early b/c they had a cancellation. You could alway ask them to put you on a cancellation list if you really want a second opinion, I guess. Good luck!

It sounds like he doesn't really want or need your business if the first available appointment is in November.

Thanks for the input, I am going to call ortho no. 3 today, I like my wifes ortho but i would just like a second opinion because this involves extractions and theres no turning back after that. I am also worried about relapse years down the road with extractions and having gaps showing up.

Meryaten wrote:I think that some docs set aside a certain part of their calendar for consultations (makes sense: here in the USA consultations generally = $0, so setting too much time aside from them not only makes it a bigger challenge to schedule the paying patients, but also eats into the profits!) and if they are popular then this can indeed get booked up well in advance (although this is an extreme example!) I did run into this trouble myself (with a different ortho than the one I ended up using), albeit the delay was more like 3 - 4 months, and it was also at what can be a busier time of year for this type of appointment.

I live in michigan and first consult was not free, it was $50 and if i want to have a records appt (x-rays, molds, pictures, and whatever else they do) it would be $320, I would like to do this so i have a better idea of the exact treatment but i am not going to give each ortho $320. guess i will wait and see. It would be so much easier decision without extractions! p.s. potential paying patients are priceless

Wow 7 months is an extremely long wait...I probably wouldn't wait that long. Make the appointment anyway and get yourself on that cancellation list.
You should definitely get another opinion. I was told by several ortho's that I'd either have to get surgery or get 2 upper teeth extracted. I saw a total of 5 ortho's and it was the 5th one who told me that braces ALONE would fix my problem!!!! He told me that I absolutely did not need to get teeth pulled and surgery was out of the question!
Good luck!

Jessica

I called ortho no. 3 and got an appointment for the end of june, so i guess i am waiting 3 months for second opinion. I will say they were way more professional on the phone than ortho no. 2. Ortho no.2 said they couldn't get me in till nov. and would i like to make an appointment or "go somewhere else". That just sounded unprofessional to me. Maybe it was the tone of voice?.

As to a potential paying customer being priceless: yes and no. The doc obviously has the practice balanced so that the number of consultation slots he has per month are sufficient to translate into enough patients moving forward with treatment to maintain his practice at the size or growth rate he desires. It's all a balancing act too: if he offers too many consultation slots, that eats into the appointment slots available for those already in treatment, leading to patient dissatisfaction, which in turn hurts his reputation, which in turn leads to fewer potential patients in the future. I know I'd be beyond dismayed if I'd found it easy to get a consultation with an ortho, but then when I had a pokey wire I was asked to wait two weeks to get in to have it trimmed!

[/quote] Meraten, imo i disagree with this because it seems to be the techs do the bulk of the work (wires, ligs, pokey wires) and the ortho does the "homework" and consultations which the techs cannot do.

Ask to be put on the cancelation list. I saw my ortho quickly but the records appointment wait was about 6 mounths. I called another ortho who didn't have such a wait, but Orhto #1 called back with a cancellation the very day I was supposed to have my records appoitnment with #2. It was still between 3-4 months wait though. I am so glad because he is so good. Sometimes it is worth the wait. There is probably a wait for a reason (people like him). I almost used #2 besause he was fine, but I am so gald I didn't. It was meant to be I guess.

Meryaten, I apoligize if i offended you by quoting you (sounds like i did) it is a moot point. I am probubly going to wait for both opinions, whats 7 months, again i apologize. bob

I am glad I waited 8 months to see third ortho. First ortho wanted to extract lower wisdoms and three premolars to fix a 4-5mm overjet, 1mm upper crowding, 3mm lower crowding and I have class I occlusion. Treatment time of 2.5 years and $5100. Third ortho which my daughter did an internship with 6yrs ago said he would extract the wisdoms and do a lab setup which consists of two sets of lower moulds showing me wwhat it would look like if extracted lower bicuspid (no. 21) or left it in. It was nice to look at the moulds both ways. We decided to just straighten out what was there and tip the teeth to slighten the overjet. He said he would give me three invisaliners on the top to straighten 1 lateral. I asked about stability and he thought I would be fine as long as he gave me a bonded retainer. I asked about the overjet and if I went with pulling upper premolars and he said it would definatly flatten my face. So I am going to start with no extractions (besides wisdoms), can always go the other route later. 12-16 months lower braces, three upper invisalines and $1500 (I think he liked my daughter) Sorry for the long post, extractions dec. 1, brackets dec. 3

yes meryaten he is a nice guy, it took 8 months to see him and now I have been in to see him three times in two weeks. I would recommend people to ask about this mold thing (he called it a lab setup) because things look alot different when you have them in your hand. He told me he was going to recommend to pull the bicuspid because he thought it would be more stable but after seeing the molds he said no way. I am going to deer camp this weekend but I will try to get some pictures of my molds he has three. One of my teeth now, one with themstraightened and one with the bicuspid removed and straightened. They cut out the front 6 or 7 of the mold and replace them with the straightened version.