Metal Mouth Message Board

Is it wrong to ask my ortho to pick up the pace? I got braced in March with an estimate of 10 - 12 months. Last week I went for my dental cleaning and they said he told them 14 months! Now, I know it's a short tx time overall but I have some big things coming up in April and would REALLY like to have them out by then. I, of course, don't want to compromise my treatment in any way but I feel like he's taking it easy on me to minimize the pain (only working on one arch at a time).

Has anyone ever had this discussion with their ortho? Is there any way to say "bring on the pain" without sounding like I'm questioning his tx plan? Just for reference all the work being done is on my 4 top and 4 bottom front teeth. I have been told there will be little to no movement in the molars as the bite is still good from my first round in braces. Thanks!

To be honest. It is best to just let your ortho do what he thinks. It is very tough to actually predict someone's treatment length since every individual is different. The average time is normally AT LEAST 18 months. You are actually very lucky to will have yours off in 14.

just be patient. I would honestly wait 3 years if I have to to get the best result.

bottlecap1990 wrote:To be honest. It is best to just let your ortho do what he thinks. It is very tough to actually predict someone's treatment length since every individual is different. The average time is normally AT LEAST 18 months. You are actually very lucky to will have yours off in 14.

just be patient. I would honestly wait 3 years if I have to to get the best result.

I concur!!!

I am not questioning your post, or your Ortho. But I always thought that even for simple cases braces are on for about 18 months? (as it's not all about the movement/aligning of teeth, it's much more complicated than that - which is something I cannot explain because I haven't a clue )

When I asked at an Orthodontic practice how long roughly someone will need a brace, they said at least 18 months and they didn't even see how simple/complicated my case was either.

Try consulting another orthodontist!

My first orthodontist was an idiot. He couldn't even tell me when I would be ready for jaw surgery. I asked him what he wanted to see and he couldn't tell me directly.

I went to another orthodontist and he took some x-rays of me. He drew some lines on an image of my x-ray and told me it is 90 degrees perpendicular to something and said I was ready for surgery.

Then I went to a 3rd orthodontist and he told me he wants to close the gaps created by the previous orthodontist and raise 2 of my upper molars. That took 4 months to complete.