Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi everyone :] I am 18 years old, and currently in college. More than a year ago, I noticed my smile started to change, especially on the left side of my mouth. I have had metal braces before (age 10-12), I always wore my retainer at night, so I did not understand why my teeth started to shift again. I brought this concern to my ortho and he gave me 3 of the following options:

1) Keep wearing the retainer (to leave it the way it is and hope for the best)
2) Pull 4 teeth out, and get braces again.
3) Pull 4 teeth out, braces, and orthognathic surgery.

He said my teeth have shifted due to an active tongue thrust, and lower jaw growth (my lips do not touch naturally).

Naturally, I did not like any of the ideas presented. Why can't he just give me a new retainer to shift my teeth back into place, because I only have a problem with one tooth on the top, and one tooth of the bottom. I do not like the idea of extractions, (if he could move my teeth when I was younger, without pulling them out, why can't he do it now?), I do not want to wear braces because I will become very insecure, and invisalign is not an option because my case is too complex??!!!!

My mother and I decided to head out to other orthos to seek out their opinions....Here is what was said...

Ortho 1:
"Get the extractions and braces. Orthognathic surgery seems to drastic for your case."

Ortho 2:
"I would file down your teeth and get Invisalign."


Concerns:
I do not know what to do at all. Getting braces would mean treatment for 18 months. I may study abroad for the fall which may prolong the process if I do get them. I do not want to pull out healthy teeth. How about if it changes my face shape? Opinions?






Problem area below....

I heard there is this thing called inman aligners. You should look into those. I def wouldn't pull teeth out your teeth don't bad at all.

Why on earth would they want to pull out four teeth!!?? I'd stay away from that option. Your teeth are almost on track. It seems like they could do something minor.

Option 4: Get 2 veneers placed on your lateral incisors.

If you do not care about your profile or lip compentency and really only care about the 'look' of the teeth that is an option.

A gingivectomy in conjunction with the veneer on the UR lateral will really make your case 'pop' That will provide much more symmetry.

Don't let them pull out your teeth! Your teeth don't look that bad to me. I would go for number 2.
Good luck!

Your teeth and bite look great, only thing i see wrong is that small incisor. If it were me personally, i would do what Dr. Rick said.

Update:
Today I went back to my regular ortho, I expressed my concerns about pulling teeth out. I just wanted to fix the aesthetic apperance of my smile. You cannot see it clearly in the photos, but on my lower left my canine(? i do not know what it is called) is crooked and shifted outwards; I wanted to fix that too. The reason the ortho wanted to pull 4 teeth out to shift everything back, fix my lip incompetence and appearance of the jaw bones. I told him it dos not really bother me, so he gave me another option. The other option was just to get the braces again, without pulling any teeth to fix my smile. I liked that idea so much better. He said if I want to get extractions, I would have time to think about it while I have the braces on.

So today, I got braces.... It wasn't what I expected coming out of the office today, but the sooner I get the braces on, the sooner I will get them off. "Second time's a charm???


I thought about the idea of veneers, but honestly, I have been going to the ortho since I was 8 years old. I want to fix my own teeth, and I didn't want all those years of painful orthodontic work and money to go down the drain.

I will post pictures later :]

Yaay good for you! I found myself in the same kind of position when I was 18, I noticed my smile was changing but didn't do anything about it for the same reason - I was planning on doing a year abroad and didn't want to prolong the treatment (or go abroad with braces!)
Now that I'm back, I have my braces but I'm about to graduate and go out into the working world with a full metal mouth! Good for you for going for it right away. Best of luck!!

even with veneers your previous ortho treatment would not be going down the drain.

Braces will moce the teeth of course but will not change the shape or fix lack of symmetry of yout teeth. Look at your 2 lateral incisors they appear to be different shapes and sizes. The shape will not be fixed with braces alone.

Personally I would do the cosmetic ortho treatment and then most likely some cosmetic dentistry to improve sym and balance to your smile.

FWIW, I love the new plan. I do treatment like that all the time.