All adjustments from the right?

[threescompany]

Perhaps this is a dumb question but do you think your overall treatment is affected by having the tech work only on one side of you? I just had my 3rd adjustment and once again the tech stood on my right side. When the powerchains went on (end to end) all the pulling is done to the right. Same with the extra elastic they thread through my front brackets. I ask because my midline on top is now slightly off to the right, which my ortho says is normal in my situation (closing a big gap in front).

[Snowglobe32]

What an interesting observation. I never thought of this but all my work is done on the right, although, I don't think anything is effected by it. I wonder if it has to do with being right handed? Or there is just more room on the right side of the chair?

[catgyrl]

Maybe that's because most people do things left-right (reading, etc.), and it would be more difficult to stand behind you on the left and start there? Interesting observation. My ortho and his assistant stand right behind me (I think... can't see them!) haha

[threescompany]

I'm certain it has to do with handedness, but I've definitely wondered about it. When I look at my powerchain, you can really tell it was put on from the right side. As in, attatched to each bracket and then tugged to the right for the next one. Each loop is stretched ever so slightly to the right.

Interesting.

[hellokitty]

Any dentists or dental assistants reading this forum, I really hope you take notice and keep this left/right issue in mind everytime you do work.

I have noticed the same effect with my braces. First off, my teeth were not that bad to begin with a small gap in the front, some flaring of the teeth but that's about it. My dentist and her assistants do all of the work from my right side and I noticed my midline and all of the teeth adjusted to be slightly right as well as the angulation of most the teeth being better on the right than the left. The angulation of the two front teeth around the midline are also angled with the bottom facing the right (5:00pm position if clockwise). The shape of my teeth in the front are not the same on either side. Whenever I complain about the midline, she shows me how it looks right (to her) from the right side. I tell her that's because she's only looking from the right. My teeth may be a bit straighter due to braces but my midline and smile looks worse due to this difference in right/left-view perspective. I can literally feel more teeth on the right side and where my tongue normally hits the midline now it hits the tooth left of the midline. I had a slight occlusal cant on the rear left side of my teeth before but now that everything's shifted to the right, the occlusal cant has shift to the front and looks uneven. I used to be able to have a fairly even bite on both sides and now my teeth on the right side can't meet its lower half and the left side is downward even more so I barely have to close down before the teeth hit and they hit painfully!

Every visit, I keep asking her to compare both sides and to make them the same and to shift my midline back to the center, and it's like talking to wall. She looks at the tall from her right angle and keeps saying it looks fine. I said, "yeah it looks fine if you tilt your head and look at my head on." Everyone I ask notices it. Nothing is more frustrating than a dentist that doesn't explain what she plans to do, that doesn't confirm that it is what you want, and doesn't listen to you when you're the person that knows your teeth the best. I thought that the client is the one that's paying for this???

Mind you, this dentist was very good at making herself sound like she knew what she was doing but this is brief summary of how my treatment has been.

Remove 2 upper and 2 lower teeth (so far so good but not sure if it was really necessary in hindsight)
Go through various strengths of archwires for 6 months in total pain
THEN, she finally gives me some dental wax after I ask her (I didn't know about this beforehand or else I would've asked earlier. I assumed that as a dentist, she would explain everything and it was her fiduciary duty to educate me with orthodontic equipment and care as I go through the process). So I spent 6 sleepless months without the wax because she was an idiot.
I notice that one bracket in the front isn't positioned like the others and ask her about it. She says don't worry about it.
I continue to notice the same tooth on that one bracket move in a slanted way and all of my front teeth shifting toward the right, along with the midline shifting to the right. I asked again about it. THEN, she finally admits that she's PURPOSEFULLY creating space to slant that one tooth some since it's slightly smaller than it's sister tooth on the right. ???? I was not happy about this. I did not want this. She never asked me if this is what I wanted and obviousl was shady about telling me what the hell she was doing. First, the tooth being slanted felt really weird trying to eat with it. Imagine trying to eat on the corners of your teeth not an L shape but a slanted V shape instead. The pressure on the teeth would wear that tooth's corner down as well.
I noticed also that on the right side, there's some angling of my teeth due to crowding. I tell her about this and also reiterate everytime that I want my teeth moved back to the center. She refuses to do anything about it. My mouth is now shaped in a YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE COME HERE YOU SHOULD GO TO THE COTTAGE DOROTHY! OH SUGAR BARBARA STANWYCK swish shape instead of a U shape.
1 year and 10 months into the treatment, in December, she tells me that she's going to try to get me out of the braces before the holidays so that she can go on a month long vacation. I refused to let her take them off because there was obviously some gaps that needed to be closed. She says, "Oh yeah, you do have some gaps, I guess stay in them a bit longer." What the hell? Are you a dentist or are you blind??!
6 months later, I'm still in braces because the gaps haven't completely closed yet and there are some bite issues. Yet she was going to take the braces off 6 months earlier. Can you believe it??

I start getting plaque in my gums because she insists on keeping my lower teeth in the heaviest archwire though there's no need to. The longer I stay in the heavy archwire, the more angled my teeth go inward and it feels like my bottom teeth are uprooting. By the way, she also intentionally moved my bottom teeth to the right to "fix" the midline. I didn't want my midline shifted to the right, I wanted the midline in the freakin center where it's supposed to be! So, imagine having a technically aligned midline but it's to the right of your nose. So now that I'm 2 years and 6 months into treatment now, because I ask her about what else I can do to help my bottom teeth feel better, she THEN gives me one of those tiny dental brushes and dental floss with a threader designed for use with dental appliances. UMMMM wouldn't this have been more helpful to freakin tell me all this stuff at the START of treatment??? Unbelievable! Not only have she and her assistants "finished" my appointments several times without trimming the wires in the back or closing or banding all the brackets but then she forgets what has already been done and I have to remind her. What the freak is the dental file for? Aside from that, I also got really bad allergic reactions to the braces when she had put me in the wrong archwire shape and made my front teeth more V shaped. The brackets rubbing against my inside mouth/lip caused the swelling, itching and burning. Of course, she didn't even care or suggest anything when she saw my swollen lips. Since she wouldn't give me any medication for it, I saw an allergist and an internist who agreed it was the braces causing the reaction. It only happens when the braces are pushing/stretching my upper inner lip.

Having no faith in her whatsoever, I've now started using rubberband patterns according to the research I've done to help improve my bite. And it has helped. She thinks her instructions are helping but it's not. I've only been doing my rubberband patterns (rightside up and upside down triangles to close some open bite areas . I have already consulted several other orthodontists, who didn't seem any more skilled, but since I've already paid this lady, I'm going to see if I can get my dental supplies from her and fix it on my own and let her continue to think that she's actually doing something right. I've gotten it about 90% fixed so far using my own methods but if I can't do anymore, then I will reconsider seeing another doctor. I'm still searching for a good doctor though, looking for one that is very skilled in occlusal therapy, Tscans, tads, etc. so that I don't waste my money on yet another idiot. The ones I have seen already actually confirmed that what I observed was right. They said that not much needs to be done with it, just some minor tweaking... and then I shock them everytime when I tell them, it wouldn't have gotten to this stage had I not made the dentist switch to the more natural archwire shape for my face. Their analysis confirms that all my complaining was doing some good. I am usually not one to complain though but when I saw that this lady was very stubborn, unorganized, and not very knowledgeable, I had to get involved with the state of my teeth. I've never cried or complained with needles or with teeth pulling and had always had a comfortable regard for seeing the dentist... at least prior to this experience.

I will post some pics later so you can see what I mean.

[BraceFace2o1o]

I have wondered this too, I might ask my Ortho one day. I also wonder why my Ortho doesn't ask me to sit up and close my bite or look directly from in front sometimes. Surely your lower jaw shifts back ever so slightly in that low low Orthodontic chair position