Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello,

I'm 28/M and am interested in improving my smile line (make smile more gummy since my anterior incisors only show half of the teeth) AND fix my edge-to-edge bite (if necessary.) Since my front teeth are higher than the back teeth, it looks like I have fangs (my cuspids are longer.)

Here are some pics:

http://img19.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5580gw9.jpg
http://img16.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5570xd7.jpg

Normally, one would get veneers or crowns to obtain a more gummy smile, but I have a minor malocclusion (type III, edge to edge) - So my bite needs to get fixed before I obtain veneers/crowns on the anterior incisors, otherwise they will get chipped by hitting the bottom teeth. Maybe, I won't even need veneers/crowns once my edge to edge bite is fixed- I don't know.

So here are my questions:

1. Can/should I get braces for only my top teeth to fix the edge-to-edge bite and extend anterior incisors so that they overlap my bottom teeth? I have an implant on my lower 2nd bicuspid and a crown on my 2nd molar, so I am a bit hesitant to get braces on my lower teeth.

2. Will invisalign work to fix an edge to edge bite?

3. Any way to 'fix' my cuspids or will they get fixed once I correct my edge to edge bite?

I'm interested in getting work done soon, so please reply if you can help.

Thank you!

-Shawn

Just wondering, have you consulted an orthodontist yet with your questions?

bbsadmin wrote:Just wondering, have you consulted an orthodontist yet with your questions?

Not yet. I'll be making an appointment to visit several Ortho's in the next several weeks. I just wanted to get some background information from actual patients on this forum before I proceeded.

Thanks.

I'm not dentist by any means, but from my knowledge, I don't think invisilign would work for you.

If you are trying to fix your bite, I think you'll be in elastics for quite some time. So I think you would need brackets.

I think the ortho can answer a lot of your questions better than any of us could, but I don't think you would have to be concerned.

Looking at your teeth, they look pretty good to me. Some people like fangs.

Wow, if you did get braces, you'd probably be in them for a very short amount of time since it'd be just to fix your bite.

If my smile looked like yours, I'd be really happy with it.

*melissa* wrote:Wow, if you did get braces, you'd probably be in them for a very short amount of time since it'd be just to fix your bite.

If my smile looked like yours, I'd be really happy with it.

Thanks, Melissa. That's nice of you to say, but we are always hardest on ourselves

So, I went to the ortho consult today and he recommends fixing my edge-to-edge bite (duh!) Once done, my smile will look nicer because more of my front top teeth will show and I won't have to worry about all the problems associated with an edge-to-edge bite down the road.

Some facts:

Cost? $6500 (I thought this was a bit high because my teeth are straight and the only issue is the bite itself.)
Length? 1.5 Years.
Top and bottom braces.
Good news? No jaw surgery needed to fix edge-to-edge bite.

I'm self employed and have crumby dental insurance (Aetna PPO) which won't cover Ortho stuff, so I will be changing insurance companies (thinking of Delta Dental.) With Delta Dental, they only have you pay $2700 and the rest is taken care of for up to two years. Not a bad deal at all.

On another note, I got my teeth deep cleaned today (root scaling/planing) and damn, they feel clean! Definitely worth it if you are in need of a deep clean

-Shawn

You're welcome and it's true, you look like you had braces already!
And your case definately doesn't look like it would cost $6,500! That's crazyness.

You're welcome and it's true, you look like you had braces already!
And your case definately doesn't look like it would cost $6,500! That's crazyness.

oopsies...double post

xxshawnxx wrote:1. Can/should I get braces for only my top teeth to fix the edge-to-edge bite and extend anterior incisors so that they overlap my bottom teeth? I have an implant on my lower 2nd bicuspid and a crown on my 2nd molar, so I am a bit hesitant to get braces on my lower teeth.

2. Will invisalign work to fix an edge to edge bite?

3. Any way to 'fix' my cuspids or will they get fixed once I correct my edge to edge bite?

Hmmmmmm that quote does seem a bit steep to just fix the upper incisors. I would be asking what the lower braces are doing, as (to an untrained eye) they don't appear to need work. Although part of the problem might be that the lower incisors need to shift back, rather than the upper ones forwards....

Invisalign has a poor track record for extruding teeth (pulling those top incisors down slightly) so I'm sure orthodontists would hesitate to recommend it.

Not sure that the cuspids need to be "fixed" - they look in a good position to me!

Actually the more I think about it, the more it depends on whether the correct fix is to push your upper incisors forward, or pull them down - or perhaps a combination of both? Invisalign could push them forward, but would probably struggle to pull them down.

From what the ortho said yesterday, the lower braces are needed to move the front bottom teeth back.

Also, here's another picture where you can see my canines sticking out and you can also see how my upper teeth aren't straight across (front teeth are higher up than the back ones.)

http://img24.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5602xm7.jpg

I'm gonna go to another Ortho soon to get another opinion, but there's no way I think my teeth are jacked up enough to justify $6,500!!!

Invisalign is ruled out completely because it won't help my specific case.