Metal Mouth Message Board

Last year I wanted to do something about my teeth. I'm 30. Haven't gone to the dentist in over 10 years.

After the first visit, my dentist said I had perio, numbers were high and I got deep cleanings, still get the deep cleanings now. I asked if I would be able to get braces and he said no, good bone structure is needed. Apparently, I have bone loss. I had planned on going to ortho last year but was discouraged after what the dentist said. My teeth are not wiggly and I still have them all. Gums are a bit receding.

Its a year later and I really really need to do something about my teeth. Need it straight. Should I still go to the ortho for a consultation or am I wasting my time? I have good heath insurance and am willing to pay for a solution if its not covered. Maybe implants? Mini implants? Dentures at my age?

I don't know about the US, but in Canada you can go to most orthodontists for a free consultation. Mine included a full head xray, an exam and a thorough description about what was wrong and how it could be fixed. Maybe you just need to do some homework and find a doctor that's right for you. In this day and age, I'm sure there's a solution for everything, you just gotta find the right person with the answer for you.

As long as you dont have active perio disease you can typically get braces. I have treated TONS of pts with bone loss. It is not an absolute contraindication. I would go for a consult for sure.

Ok, thanks for giving me some hope

Hey Dangerdude,
I'm 56 years old, went through the deep cleaning stuff, had a tissue graft on my bottom front gums last year due to gum recession. Now I've had my braces on for six months and it's going well. I think you should definitly get another opinion. Don't give up hope!

Ok, I just made an appointment for a free consultation. I have a deep cleaning on Monday at my dentist's office and a consultation on Wed at an ortho/dental chain.

@ wired nana

Did the grafting hurt much? I'm freaked out about grafting after watching something on tv about skin grafts for burn victims. But the gum grafts don't sound too bad though. Whats the ballpark cost of the gum graft?

The thought of it freaked me out, too, but it really didn't hurt much at all. Much less that I expected. The "bandages" that you have to keep on for a week or so (made out of some kind of plaster, maybe?) was the most annoying part to me, but not painful.
I want to say they charged around $1700, but my dental insurance paid most of it. It was definitly worth it, my gums look much better now.

The plaster bandage does look horrible But I'm willing to do whatever at this point.

Looks like my copay for a graft if needed is 40%. Not too bad. Deep cleanings are 100% covered. Ortho treatments are 50%

I think my brace options are on hold for now. Came back from a consultation and the ortho was concerned about some movable upper lateral incisors and bone loss. I didn't know my lateral incisors were movable in the first place Who knows what else is movable.

He wanted a copy of my xrays from my dentist since I just had them done a few days ago. He said treatment time would be 18months for my teeth if my bone was still good. Later on, the ortho coordinator was going over the pricing and wanted to sign me up and get the ball rolling. I was like, its not happening. He needs to see my xrays and I'll probably need to see a periodontist doc first. Metal braces would set me back $3,500 and ICE brackets would be an extra $900.

My insurance covers 50% of the treatment so this place is on the high side. I'm not going back since its a chain dental center and its kind of ghetto.

So now, its onto laser perio consultations...Then I will go from there

I called to get a quote on laser periodontics and I was in for sticker shock, $7,100

Needless to say, I have an appointment with an in-network perio doc under my dental plan later this week.

I went to the periodontist today. I have bad news and some good news. Bad news is that I would need osseous surgery/bone grafting to be done by the periodontist. Surgery so they can clean everything under the gums better. Slice into my gums, peel them back and then sew it back on later

All of the pockets were around 6mm deep. After insurance, the surgery would run me $2,200. Laser version of the surgery would be $7,100. Can't find any laser place that takes my insurance though...Still pondering if I should shell out $5,000 more for some lasers.

Also need my wisdom teeth removed by an oral surgeon. Bottoms are sideways.

But the good news is that he said there would be no problems with me getting braces after all this stuff. So 2011 is still a possibility for me. I just have to shell out a whole lot of money and endure some pain

$2,200 osseous surgery + bone grafting
$4,000 braces
$1,000 wisdom teeth removal (estimated w/insurance)
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$7,200 - $8,000 total

The perio dr told me to get the perio work before the wisdoms out but I'm going to the oral surgeon next to see the price and procedure.

Glad to hear that you have a good prognosis.
Get your perio disease in check and then you should be ready to rock with the braces.

Good prognosis? It was everything I didn't want to hear, surgery after surgery I had a small panic attack on the drive home because didn't want to get cut up. Of course the periodontis made it sound like it was a walk in a park All of the staff was nice though, never been in a friendlier medical office in my entire life.

After I got home and calmed down, I decided it's time to fix everything. I'll get it done. If that's what it will take to get me into braces, then that's what it'll take. I've just got to man up

Yeah, I was refused braces until I got a ton of gum tissue grafted over some teeth. They thought it looked thin and might recede to much when the teeth started to move. It was super annoying to deal with. It's all over and done with now... but it was obnoxious at the time. It seems like nothing my doctors have told me have ever been absolutes. During the time that I had got the grafting on my gums done- they completely changed around my treatment plan and pushed up a surgery on my jaw that they wanted to wait a year on. lol. Who knows. You just have to trust that people know what they're doing, I suppose.