Metal Mouth Message Board

Does anyone have before and after pictures? Or any places online I could look to see results?

Sorry, no extractions for me, but I wanted to say: The only *really* useful before-and-after pictures for you will be the ones in your orthodontist's portfolio. Go for some free consults and ask to see pictures of cases like yours. Facial esthetics can be pretty subjective.

That's the thing they don't really have any! Is that a sign of a lack of experience and should I switch to another ortho?

Could be... are you already in treatment? Deciding on extractions or have had them done? Want or don't want facial change?

Yes I am currently in treatment and need to make a decision by next week! I want to make my profile less protrusive.

Well, I don't have personal experience with this, but if you give us a little more information, someone here might have good advice! What has your ortho said?? Are you worried that extractions will result in too much facial change? or not enough? I assume you're Class I and mostly aligned at this point in your treatment, and still unhappy with your profile?

I'm currently not sure if I will be getting enough retraction from the extractions. I've been in treatment for the past 6 months or so and my teeth are pretty much straight. When people say ipr won't make much of a difference, do they mean it won't help at all? At this point I am leaning toward extractions though.

A few mm of IPR is always going to make less of a difference than premolar extractions, so if you want maximum retraction you need to give yourself maximum space for the arches to move back. What does your ortho say?

I meant will I see a change at all though? If so
I would like to see if I would be happy with that change. If I can keep my teeth that would be great. I've had around 5 different consultations before my braces were put on and only one (the first) recommended extractions right off the bat. The others said my profile was fine and could treat me nonextraction.

The others said my profile was fine

See, that's where the subjective part comes in. Obviously you don't think your profile is fine right now.

Have you experimented with a flexible tape measure in your own mouth? I just measured myself; extracting 2 first premolars would give me 12 mm of space, which looks like maybe 5-6 mm of retraction. IPR can get you as much as 8-9 mm but that's pretty extreme; 3-4 mm might be more typical and that looks like 2 mm of retraction.

Also, how much IPR you can achieve depends on the shape, size, and health of your teeth. It would be helpful to know how many mm of enamel the ortho would plan to shave if you chose to go that route.

I looked on his noted and from what I could tell he was only going to use ipr to alleviate the crowding. Would 2-4mm be a noticeable amount of retraction? How much would I gain from extractions?

Thank you so much btw for the information

Would 2-4mm be a noticeable amount of retraction?

On me it definitely would, but I have thin lips and a long nose. I have no way of knowing how it would affect your face.

How much would I gain from extractions?

On me, since my premolars are 6 mm wide, I would theoretically get around 6 mm of retraction, but this is something that your ortho would be able to tell you with certainty.

If ipr can make a little change then I might just start with that. I'm also worried with my smile will be affected as well as the fact that people are reporting sunken cheeks after the treatment.

At this point im thinking about not having the extractions.

Bump*

Anyone else have any input?