General condition of your teeth?

[braceface74]

Hi Folks,

I am due to get braces next week which i am excited about but niggling at the back of my mind in the general condition of my teeth. By that i mean the number of fillings i have!!

I have more or less a mouth full which include front some fillings! all of which i have had from my teens!! This purely down to not looking after them when i was young . Anyway, the mouth i have at the moment has been stable in terms of cavities since i was in my mid 20s (now 37) so i hope they will last me til my old age. But in the event that i need crowns or veneers etc in the future at least i will have straight foundations to build on!!

Question is do you think i am doing the right thing? Would i have been aswell going the cosmetic route i.e using crowns or veneers to straighten my teeth now?

Do any of you guys have a lot of fillings? mostly all the progress pics i see you all have such great teeth (except alignment) in the first place.

My biggest worry over my teeth would be needing dentures so i want to do what ever will give me the best chance of making and keeping the best of what i've got .

You can see pic in my braces story below.... think i'm having those last minute nerves of 'OMG what am i doing?'

[kellyb]

i also have a few fillings and a crown. i am a little concerned about my crown as there is a chance i will have to have it removed and replace while wearing braces, hence the reason the ortho will not put a bracket on the crown. i know for sure i will also need a veneer after the braces are off as one of my front tooth which suffered trauma when i was a child has now discoloured abit.

i totally agree with the route you are taking as that is exactly what i am doing. straighten what you have got first and do whatever else is necessary later

[braceface74]

thanks Kelly, i guess i'm just looking for some reasurance! It's a lot of money to be spending only to be followed by spending even more money not to mention the time it takes if a perfectly sensible option would be for me to cut to the chase and have them cosmetically straightened in the first place.

My reasoning is that the longer i can hold on to the teeth i have without further damaging them then the longer i will keep my own teeth!

btw have you not asked your ortho about spreading the cost over 2yrs? This was just the standard at my practise which is managable for me. I didn't question my ortho at all about the costs.. i would imagine they can be flexible to a certain extent particularly if you are going to be in treatment for more than a year anyways.

[kellyb]

as my treatment is expected to be 18 months, i did ask them if i could have the cost spread over the 18 month period and while this was possible, it would incur some interest. doing over 12 months was interest free so it seemed like the best option. i am paying far too much already for this treatment and to think about adding interest to it was not very appealing to me

[sirwired]

So-called "instant orthodontics" where crowns and veneers are used to "straighten" teeth are effective to a point. But if the correction "de-centers" the stresses of chewing too far off the foundation of the tooth, it produces a poor result long-term.

You are doing the right thing. And yes, if you ever need extensive restoration work or implants in the future, the orthodontics you are getting now will provide a quality place to put them.

As a side note, if you have large fillings on the sides of your teeth, those particular teeth will have to be banded instead of bracketed, as the adhesive is only designed to work on actual enamel. (I have them on two molars.) The disadvantage of bands is that they are harder to clean, and if you have crowding, require the placement of (somewhat painful) spreaders prior to getting your braces on.

[Bracer215]

Hi Braceface 74
I am considerably older than you and I had the same concerns. I also have fillings in my bottom front teeth and well as several crowns/fillings on molars. I was concerned that the force of the braces and especially the gluing of the brackets on my front bottom teeth would rip out my fillings. I consulted my dentist, ortho and perio about my fears and all I got was encouragement to go ahead. Well I have had my braces on for a year now and all is well. All my teeth with fillings and crowns are holding together very nicely. And has been said before when I need new restorations my teeth will be in the proper position.

[Marigold]

All of my molars have fillings or crowns . I definitely agree with the others that ortho is a better route in the long run as opposed to veneers. It is possible to put brackets on crowns and veneers though, but there are extra steps in the adhesion process. My ortho couldn't get bands on my molars because my teeth were so tight, so he had to do brackets instead. My laterals are veneers too. So far no problems. I only had one fall off but it was because I ate a hard candy. Come to think of it, I think that was a real tooth and not a crown.

[braceface74]

thanks for all the reassuring words... b-day is tomorrow so i'm need all the encouragement i can get right now.

There is only one tooth that is looking dodgy according to my ortho and that is one of my molars has a large filling where the enamel that is left on the outside is cracked and whilst the tooth doesn't require any treatment she did mention that it might crack when the bracket is glued on. She said if that happens i would need the tooth re-filled which i guess is where i would then need that tooth banded but she hasn't mentioned banding to me for now. It was one of the things i was worried about so thanks for info re needing spacers first.. i do have crowding but no spacers so can only assume that bands are not part of the plan right now.

Thanks again everyone, feeling a lot better that i'm doing the right thing .

[catgyrl]

Rest assured... You will be just fine. Just about every tooth in my mouth has either a filling or a crown. I've got 2 silver crowns on my back molars, 1 porcelain crown closer to the front, and tons of other fillings. The silver-crowned teeth have molar bands around them, while the porcelain crown has a bracket glued to it. Initially, the bracket popped off the porcelain crown, but they re-bonded it, and it stayed out. I've had no problems whatsoever since then. you can see pics on page 4 of my story (link below). WARNING: There's a LOT of silver in there! LOL

Good luck tomorrow!

[braceface74]

thanks catgyrl, I had a look at your pics and think i may out-do you on the silver work but your post has reasurred me that this isn't something to overly worry about... you can see my pics in my story (link below)

Does anyone know if there are options to have silver fillings replaced with something a little more natural looking? Just curious .

[belistic10]

i think what your doing sounds like a very smart idea go for it!

[Snowglobe32]

I also have a lot of fillings, one crown (which is bracketed) and one molar that never had a crown put on after a root canal (also bracketed). I do not have molar bands, my crowned tooth had the bracket come loose at the 3 month mark but not again since.

My ortho has mentioned that all the silver fillings will be replaced with natural looking something (?) after the braces are off. I actually have two fillings now that are natural looking and they look like regular teeth.

Good Luck!

[Jano]

Hope your brace day went well Braceface 74 . .I have almost everyone of my teeth filled with amalgam and 6 porcelain crowns and 2 veneers . I have a banding on one back molar and brackets on the rest . One bracket came loose from one of the veneers in the first month and was quickly replaced with no fuss and they all seem to be holding on ok but its early days .
I am sure I will need some more veneers and probably one or two old crowns replaced after the straightening is done . I dont mind because that is not for at least 2 years so I can save up and schedule the gradual replacements for the cosmetic stuff. Definitely best for me to do the orthodontic work first .

[braceface74]

thanks guys, i was very relieved to log on here this morning to so many positive replies ... dunno what i would've done if everyone told me i was mad to be doing this lol... so thank you all.

Anyways, i've been and gone and done it!! So far so good.. feels like a bit of a mouthful at the moment but i guess i'll get used to it. Just feels a bit tight at the moment but no pain *touch wood*, hopefully that continues as being pregnant limits the pain relief i am allowed!

Didn't feel at all nervous waiting in the waiting room.. i'm such a wimp normally and have always been quite phobic about the dentist probably down to all those fillings i had as a youngster.

Thanks again.

[ArchWired28]

braceface74

here's the reassurance. I have one filling, one veneer, three crowns and two missing teeth that require implants after I am done with braces. Keep in mind, I am 29. I hope this is reassuring.

I neglected my teeth when I was younger, and now I can't stop beating myself for that. I dread having dentures mostly due to bone loss and facial profile with protruding chin etc. So I decided I will do my best in correcting the situation. After my bite is normalized I will do implants (very costly but is the best in the long run, preserves the bone) and try to take care of my teeth to the best standard I can. Thankfully, there is now an option to do implants that look and act like natural teeth and preserve facial bones. Of course this is very costly, but at least we have this option now. Good luck to you with your braces! Keep in mind, straight teeth is the best investment in your dental health!