Metal Mouth Message Board

I was kind of thinking about getting braces for cosmetic reasons but rather reluctant because of retainers, pain, not being able to eat when I have not one pound to lose, my husband etc. Well, I spoke to my mother and it turns out that I have a crossbite. Which I honestly had no idea what that is but she remembers it from when I was a kid and they tried a functional appliance on me.

It's on one side and it looks like the crossbite is worse on the very last teeth and not as bad on the premolars. I'm missing the 1st molar on that side on top. It just never came. I do have the wisdom tooth still though, the only one I have and there has been some shifting with that and the 2nd molar which definitely doesn't help. I never even realized I had this but in retrospect- biting my teeth completely together always felt a bit strange. So I thought, okay, so I NEED braces and it's no longer a choice...then of course I look it and and realizing that just braces won't be enough with how many teeth it is and how bad it is. Quad helix, bottoms screwed into your jaw, elastic bands, SURGERY?! I wanted to die. I'm already afraid of braces hurting, making me sound lispy or making me unable to eat, all of this seems like stuff out of my worst nightmare.There I go from thinking I have teeth that are just crooked and unattractive but perfectly functional to having something really bad.

The funny thing is, for 25 years I had no problems with this crossbite. I have a no popping or clicking in my jaw, speak normally, eating always felt normal and natural etc. I'm no expect but I don't see this facial asymmetry they keep mentioning. I look 100% normal but I guess I really don't and I just don't know what to look for, but I never noticed that anything was wrong with my face. But even since I learned I have it and how dangerous it is, my jaw have been hurting, the teeth on this side have been hurting and my head is killing me. Now at least part of that has to be in my head, I know that.

I'm NOT angry with my mother. I know what I was like as a child and the treatments they do on children with crossbite would not have happened. I would not have had anyone turn a screw on top of my mouth, they couldn't have gotten me in the dentists chair to get such a thing fitted. Just cleanings were a struggle then but now I have this crossbite and am nearly 26 and just terrified. What hurts the most is learning this is mostly heredity because I have children I would have never had if I knew what I have and they I could give it to them. We wanted a big family but now I'm 100% done with the two we have. I am glad that at least I didn't realize at 35, with a 3rd child suffering through expanders and 2 or 3 younger ones still. I wouldn't know if my parents had posterior crossbite because my father had dentures when I was born and my mother has no bottom molars so if she had posterior crossbite you wouldn't know now. But had I know that I have this and it's heredity, my children would not be here today.

I really don't know what to DO. With braces already scaring me so much, all the other stuff is just not happening. I know everyone here would be 100% against this, but if the teeth got pulled and fake ones put in (partial denture or implants), could the fake ones be made so they don't have a crossbite? Does anyone know? I have found one example of it being done for anterior crossbite but I'm not sure if it would work for posterior too. I'd get them pulled, I'd get them reduced to stumps and veneered...anything to get rid of that crossbite without having surgery or these terrible appliances in my mouth.

I'm sorry I'm just feeling so frustrated, unreasonable and scared. Why crossbite of all things? And why the worst and hardest to correct crossbite in adults, molar crossbite? I honesty no longer care that my front teeth have a crooked gap or that my bottom teeth don't look that great, I just wish I did not have to have crossbite and I'd happily live with the rest of them forever at this point.

Cross-bites don't have to be severe -- And I'm guessing that many people have it and don't even realize it. My ortho told me the same thing and I was fairly non-plussed since I had not had any issues, like you. To me it was one of those things that sounded worse than it really is. Of course I am not a dentist. I think part of the big deal is that your bite is off and over time teeth will wear unevenly, so it makes sense to get it fixed to prevent issues down the line. Get a professional assessment and opinion on a comprehensive approach. I warn you though, braces often make your bite worse before it gets better. I don't know about the question you ask about dentures -- it may be one of those things where the cure is worse than the disease. I think you need some calm, straight-forward advice from an orthodontist or two as to how to proceed, and what your options, risks, and likely outcomes will be. Best of luck to you.

Im sure it will be nowhere near as bad as you are expecting, and i definitely would not want anything invasive that isnt necessary, such as removing teeth and getting implants, not only would the cost be insane, but it would for sure hurt a lot more than braces and whatever else would be needed in your Othodontic treatment.

Have a few orthodontist consultations and then decide to go with one if them, im sure it will be fairly simple, compared to what you are expecting.

I just saw how many mistakes are in my original post- ouch. But that's what happened when you type while being emotional. I just hope it was understood despite them.

My crossbite does look bad now that I can see it. It's at least four teeth and they are back teeth. Compared to the examples I can find online for crossbite, it looks worse. What I keep reading/hearing is that for adults, braces are not enough if you have crossbite on your molars. That's the part that scares me, that I'd have to have surgery or appliances screwed into my mouth. It seems like even children with crossbite have a torture device known as an expander. If mine have to have this at any point, let's just say the tears I'd shed could fill an ocean. I did realize how that I have been leaning on that cheek with my hand while watching TV, reading etc. even since I was a child when I also did it at school. So I probably gave this to myself and though I'm trying to stop doing it now, it's too late, the damage is done. But I can now make sure my babies never do this.

I would get extractions and implants before I'd get the appliances- the appliances wreak havoc on your speech and eating, neither of which I can afford. I've seem people on here having these appliances for A YEAR. My youngest is with me all day and my son most of the day, their language development largely depends on me being able to speak. People with appliances do talk strange but people with implants or partial dentures sound fine so I'd rather the latter then get the appliance and make the kids go to daycare all day so their speech doesn't get messed up because I can't talk like a human being. I also LOVE to speak so it would get me down psychologically to sound idiotic and not be understood for this long too. I also would be afraid to eat with those things, everything would get stuck and be impossible to remove and liquid diet for a year is not healthy. So these appliances at the roof of your mouth are just not an option in my situation. I'd rather get something more invasive that gets me back to being able to speak well as fast as possible. I've heard people talk 100% normal days after extractions and initial implant screw placement. I'm already afraid of braces and retainers giving me a lisp, appliances would give me the lisp from hell. If jaw surgery and implant surgery were equally invasive, I would possibly get the jaw surgery but only if no appliances were used other than braces.

djspeece, since you had crossbite, did you have just braces or surgery and an appliance too?

Also i did have a crossbite with my back teeth on top, for me some was fixed with just elastics and some probably were fixed over time with just braces.

Although maybe my crossbite wasnt that bad.

Do you have bite turbos because of the crossbite? Because those also look really bad. I think my crossbite is bad but I have seen things that looked worse to me being corrected easier than something that to me looked very minor. I'm just so upset that I have this . But then again could it be that bad if I never noticed it in 25 years? I really need to see an ortho but if an appliance is the only option I'd rather risk TMJ or wear dentures. Anything else I could possibly consider but I'm not wearing one of those things.

McHobbit wrote:Do you have bite turbos because of the crossbite? Because those also look really bad. I think my crossbite is bad but I have seen things that looked worse to me being corrected easier than something that to me looked very minor. I'm just so upset that I have this . But then again could it be that bad if I never noticed it in 25 years? I really need to see an ortho but if an appliance is the only option I'd rather risk TMJ or wear dentures. Anything else I could possibly consider but I'm not wearing one of those things.

Well actually i don't have bite turbos anymore, but i did have them for 8 months, i had a pretty bad anterior open bite from molar to molar and a crossbite (at least on my back teeth, which were far worse than the front teeth)

So they were for the open bite? I don't have open bite as far as I can tell. I do have the crossbite, a crooked gap between front teeth and kind of crooked bottom teeth..it's like they tilt to one side kind of. I always thought my bottom teeth are "fine" and only my front teeth look bad but yeah, no. My mouth is a big mess.

I'm glad you got the turbos off. It's not even the braces that seem so bad, it's all the other stuff you could end up with. 8 months is a long long time if something is making you miserable!

McHobbit wrote:So they were for the open bite? I don't have open bite as far as I can tell. I do have the crossbite, a crooked gap between front teeth and kind of crooked bottom teeth..it's like they tilt to one side kind of. I always thought my bottom teeth are "fine" and only my front teeth look bad but yeah, no. My mouth is a big mess.

I'm glad you got the turbos off. It's not even the braces that seem so bad, it's all the other stuff you could end up with. 8 months is a long long time if something is making you miserable!

Well it was on my molars, so idk, i never asked, but i think it was probably more the crossbite as the open bite probably made things farther from teeth hitting each other.

Oh my. I thought okay braces, rubber bands, retainers...all the other stuff never even crossed my mind ugh. I heard some people get them for overbite and underbite too so I guess no matter what kind of bite you have, doesn't mean you are safe from the turbos. All the pictures I've seen for them is them on front teeth, is that where you had those? That would just be awful to have for me. I'd really have to see an ortho who would be up front with me about everything because I wouldn't agree to anything but braces and rubber bands at this point- no expander, no bite turbos or things installed on the roof of my mouth. I'm already scared of braces, all the extras are things I wouldn't endure to save my teeth, I'd rather not have them then. Strangely enough, a friend of mine is a nurse and has dentures and basically told me that if the teeth are causing problems, it could be better to just extract them rather than putting myself to orthodontics with all those extras. Not all of them obviously, but the ones in crossbite. So I do feel encouraged by someone thinking as I do though obviously I have no problems now so I won't run and pull the teeth this week.

Since I'm a full member now, I will get a picture of my crossbite up. It does look very bad to me.

McHobbit wrote:
djspeece, since you had crossbite, did you have just braces or surgery and an appliance too?

Just braces. I had issues with molars as well. Go see an orthodontist and quit trying to diagnose yourself via the internet.

I agree with djspeece...you are getting ahead of yourself so much with all of this and worrying about things you can't possibly know yet.

One thing you need to realize is that you get to choose your treatment. Get several consultations (I got 5). I had several severe issues and ended up getting the whole shebang (SARPE surgery with an expander, and double jaw surgery) but I had several options on the table. No one will force you to get appliances or surgery. You may not get a perfect result, but you get to pick what you're comfortable with.

Find out what an actual orthodontist thinks you need and then come consult the board for people's experiences. I had an appliance for 5 months and it honestly wasn't that bad. You seem to jump to the worst conclusions about everything but none of this is THAT bad.

I am being treated for a crossbite and have traditional metal and some elastic use recently. I have the attitude that "now that I am braced, I am just along for the ride and am going to do whatever my ortho deems necessary". My ortho finally told me that she was happy with the movement and my crossbite is nearly gone. Hang in there and do not jump to any conclusions. Best of luck. Sull

McHobbit wrote:Oh my. I thought okay braces, rubber bands, retainers...all the other stuff never even crossed my mind ugh. I heard some people get them for overbite and underbite too so I guess no matter what kind of bite you have, doesn't mean you are safe from the turbos. All the pictures I've seen for them is them on front teeth, is that where you had those? That would just be awful to have for me. I'd really have to see an ortho who would be up front with me about everything because I wouldn't agree to anything but braces and rubber bands at this point- no expander, no bite turbos or things installed on the roof of my mouth. I'm already scared of braces, all the extras are things I wouldn't endure to save my teeth, I'd rather not have them then. Strangely enough, a friend of mine is a nurse and has dentures and basically told me that if the teeth are causing problems, it could be better to just extract them rather than putting myself to orthodontics with all those extras. Not all of them obviously, but the ones in crossbite. So I do feel encouraged by someone thinking as I do though obviously I have no problems now so I won't run and pull the teeth this week.

Since I'm a full member now, I will get a picture of my crossbite up. It does look very bad to me.

Nope, just on 2 of my molars, and it was only an annoyance at first, after a few months i knew how to chew so they weren't a huge bother anymore, and then they didnt rebuild them anymore, before they removed the last of them.

Just go get consultations and pick the orthodontist you feel most comfortable with, im sure you will find once you go along with treatment, things are a lot easier than you expect.