Really upset with my orthodontist, should I transfer?

[penguino]

Hey everyone, I recently got braces a few days ago, and I am really worried. I have been upset about my braces since the moment he put the brackets on. They are not positioned properly at all. My brackets on my front 6 teeth are really low, almost to the end of my teeth. The rest of the brackets are okay, except for a few on my premolars that are in the center but way off to the side. I teeth do not come together anymore because of this. When I told the assistant (SHE put on my wires and ligatures, not my ortho) she was really rude and gave me attitude, and said my bite isn't supposed to be perfect now as my teeth shift. I wanted to tell her that if the brackets on my molars were positioned in the center and not off to the side, I would be able to bite down just fine. But I didn't, because they're supposed to be professionals, right? Anyway, I politely told my ortho and her that I think my front brackets are way too low, and they both said its so the brackets align with your bottom teeth. Huh??? No where online can I find any ortho say this. All the bracket placement diagrams and videos if seen, clearly state how important it is to place the brackets in the CENTER of flat teeth, usually at 4mm height. I know that improperly positioned brackets can cause tooth extrusion/ intrusion.

Also, the day I cam home from getting braces, I noticed that all my brackets on my top teeth except for one, had the ligature twisted in an infinity symbol. I called th next morning and said I think the assistant forgot to cross one of the ligs, and the lady on the phone pulled up my file and told me I was right, and to come in immediately to have it crossed. Unfortunately, when I got to the office the same assis. Who helped put my braces on the day before was there, Nd she looked at me like I was incompetent. She rudely asked what I was doing there, And I explained to her. My mom came back with me this time because I wanted her to see how rude this lady was. She told me that I had no reason to be there and that my ligature didn't need to be crossed, but she reluctantly changed it anyway. I again complained about the way my brackets are not centered, and she was even more rude than the day before, talking to me like I was a 2 year old. To my mom as well. While, ironically, this assistant has braces in her mouth that are all perfectly centered. I asked to speak to the ortho because I was two seconds away from losing my cool, and she says that he's very busy and can't see me. Just then he walks by, recognizes me, and politely asks why I'm back. I go over my concerns again, and he is really polite and patient with me, really nice guy. So, I thank him and leave, feeling no better than when I came. I should have mentioned earlier that I got brAces mainly for aesthetic purposes. My teeth apart fairly straight with just a little crowding on the bottom and one of my front teeth isn't completely straight, and my bite and jaw are fine. He filed between all of my teeth except the front top two and bottom front two to create space for my teeth to move, and I think that was really too much filing, as I have gaps now, I don't think I need the extra space in the first place, as my teeth are not tightly packed.

Overall, I am very very upset, and I made an appointment to get a consultation at a different orthodontist, and on Monday I am going to call the ortho by my house that I didn't choose, because he wanted to extract four of my teeth, and ask how he places brackets and if he takes over other people's cases. I apologize for my lengthy story, but I wanted to get every detail in. Now, you might think, why did choose this ortho in the first place? Well, he has 144 five star reviews on Google, everyone says he is fantastic and did a great job. It seems I am the only unhappy one. My mom thinks im crazy and to listen to him because he is the PROFESSIONAL. My friends mom who's daughter had braces said the same thing. Well, I want to prove her and everyone else wrong and get other opinions, from you guys and from other orthodontists. I feel like something is wrong and I can't ignore that. Everyone I see that has braces, no matter how crooked their teeth or how short or long the teeth are, the brackets are In the middle. As I side note, I have no pain at all. I told him and he laughed and said I was lucky. I don't think this is a good sign. Pain means movement, and I have an inkling that it's because my brackets are properly positioned and that's epwhy I don't feel any pain.

Should I transfer? Should I ask him to please position the brackets in the middle or I'm going to switch? I would really appreciate your opinions as I feel really alone in all this distress. Thank you for reading!

[Butterfly1]

Hi, wow you really haven't had a good start. I can't for the life of me think why you have had an 'assistant' but your braces on, that's ridiculous! I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be a trained dentist in order to put braces on- are you have six months smile?
Definitely get a second opinion- personally I would go somewhere you haven't been for a consultation.
Have you paid out a lot of money?
If so and you aren't completely happy,I would look into the fact you've had an assistant put your brackets on (eg:get in touch with the people that regulate dentists) find out where you stand in on getting a refund.
Also, do they have a Facebook page? You could ask reviewers on their personal experience through messages!
As far as pain goes- I didn't feel a lot of pain at all when my braces were first put on but I've just had my first adjustment and boy can I feel it now.
Good luck, let me know how you get on

[penguino]

Thank you very much for your reply! I know, I couldn't believe he didn't even supervise her, or come back at the end and make sure everything looked okay. I forgot to mention, the lady who was working on my braces kept looking up and around the room at the other assistants who weren't working and talking to each other, trying to get in on their conversations and trying to THIS IS SPAM REPORT TO ADMIN THIS IS SPAM REPORT TO ADMIN THIS IS SPAM REPORT TO ADMIN THIS IS SPAM REPORT TO ADMIN with them as well. She was hardly paying attention to what she was doing in my mouth. Hence, why she missed crossing an elastic ligature on my bracket.

No, I don't have six months smile, just regular metal braces with colored ties, oddly no ties on the bottom brackets, and my treatment plan is 20 months.

I put $500 down payment, and I have $220 due September 15, as I have agreed to pay monthly, not full upfront.

They charge $120 fee to transfer orthodontists. But I'm kind of hoping that he will just agree to reposition my brackets. I don't know though. What else is wrong with my braces besides the brackets? Maybe the wires aren't bent right. Maybe I should have ligatures on my bottom brackets as well. Or brackets on my last molars. I'm itching for another professional opinion, as I feel miserable about this whole experience so far.

Every single person on Facebook has given him a wonderful review, which makes me feel a bit outcast, as I've had a bad experience and it's only been 3 days. Just the rudeness of the assistant is enough to make me switch, but the ortho is nice, so maybe he'll listen to my concerns if I threaten to transfer.

Thanks for sharing your experience with the pain. It hurts a little only when I clench my teeth, but not to the point where I need ibuprofen like the ortho kept telling me to take.

May I ask if your brackets are centered on your teeth? Did your ortho put your braces on?

Thank you again for answering, hope to hear back from you :)

[Butterfly1]

Hi, my brackets are central ( I have six months smile braces)
These things cost a lot of money ( I'm in the uk,paying private. Not NHS) If you aren't truly happy I would transfer,you're paying for a professional service but you don't sound like you're getting one.
The U.K. Has a dental association,if it were me I would contact yours to see if an assistant should be 'allowed' to perform the service you are paying for. All my dentists assistant does is pass him instruments etc... I would be mortified if he left her to do his work!
If they're on fb, try messaging some of the reviewers and ask who did their braces ( orthodontist or the assistant) try and see if its there 'normal' practice
I really do hope you get this sorted x

[djspeece]

The brackets are placed based on the eventual end point, not to look symmetrical or centered at the beginning necessarily. Although my ortho placed my brackets, I have read of situations here where the technician did that work, presumably based on the ortho's instruction.

[verso]

Can we see a picture?

A technician put my brackets on six at a time and then had the orthodontist come over to check them, position them perfectly as he wanted them, scrape away the excess glue, and then he would give the OK and the tech would use the little handheld light to cement them in place.

I don't know that it's necessarily unusual for a tech to put the brackets on, but the ortho should definitely check them before the glue is hardened.

[bez]

From what i understood from your original post the assistant only did the wires and ligs, not the brackets, correct? If so then that's perfectly fine, the assistants are trained to do that. If she also put the brackets on then yeah, that would be a little unusual and you have every right to question that. Aside from that I think it's way too early in your treatment to be stressing yourself out and thinking about switching orthos. It sounds to me like you want your ortho to place the brackets where you think they should be and not where he put them. But by all means, get a second opinion if that's gonna give you peace of mind.

[angelina]

Is there a possible chance that by "so they align with your bottom teeth" they mean the brackets are in the correct position to achieve this? I've definitely seen others with brackets way off centre, and brackets can be in different positions in order to move teeth in a certain order. I know this because I recently had some taken off, moved, and then put back on again.

My bite also often feels really weird, and really uncomfortable, but then it will get better again as the teeth shift.

Perhaps you could write to them explaining your concerns given that it doesn't sound like they're explaining things properly? It's a very stressful time and I understand we need everything to go smoothly but please try to not panic unless you're certain something is wrong.

[Welshrarebit]

Penguino, please don't worry. My brackets have been placed right at the bottom of my teeth too and when I first looked in the mirror I FREAKED OUT! I immediately asked the ortho and she said she'd placed them there to achieve the movement that she wanted. But I wanted the brackets in the centre so that they looked like normal braces! She insisted that she'd placed them correctly and sent me on my way.
I got home and started frantically searching the internet to understand why I had such weird braces. I even posted a thread on here 'Do you trust your orthodontist?' because I was so worried that mine had been messed up. I'm now nearly 4 months in and completely trust my ortho. My teeth are already straightening up beautifully and I am so pleased I didn't transfer (I did ring around other orthos).
I still hate the positioning of my brackets because my mouth looks weird when I smile - the brackets on top are ceramic so I feel like I look like I have monster teeth. But the whole point of getting braces is to achieve the best result in the end, and if my weirdly placed brackets get me there, then so be it.

[Welshrarebit]

Day 1 vs after 3 months

[Welshrarebit]

Brackets placed at bottom = ugly braces

[sirwired]

I'll second that a picture would he helpful here...

In any case, it's perfectly normal for an assistant to attach the wire and ligatures; you can expect this to be the case at every visit. The doctor has a standard set of instructions, and the tech follows them; it's not necessary for the ortho to be the one with the forceps and wire clippers.

At my ortho's, the tech's prepped teeth and slid the brackets to about where they needed to be, and then the ortho came over, tweaked things with a pair of tweezers, and wielded the curing light.

[oldfart]

Why would the position of the brackets cause the braces to be any uglier than in the middle? I think you are having good improvement though between your two pics. For that you should be excited.

[verso]

^ What he said.

Not sure why the braces are so far down like that, but there must be a reason, and a good one too -- because your teeth are looking really good.

Is this orthodontist reputable? Has he or she been practicing for a number of years? Then go with it. It's too easy to question the wisdom of professionals, especially when they're reluctant or unwilling to give you a satisfactory or in-depth explanation for something.

Had a little tiff with my attorney the other day actually. The defendant's insurance company has yet to make their appearance on our claim despite it being nearly two weeks beyond the return date. No answer, either. Not sure why we haven't filed a motion for default judgement, but that's the thing... I'm not an attorney. I would have liked a technical explanation from him to make me feel better about the situation, but I'll have to be content with "Don't worry. It's normal." It sucks, but 40 years practicing... I'll have to trust him, and I do.

I'd just go with it, but hey, if your orthodontist botches your teeth, I know a great attorney and he does malpractice claims!

[Welshrarebit]

I described them as ugly just because that's how I perceive them - I think braces look more 'normal' when the brackets are placed in the middle because that's what everyone else has. When I smile my brackets rest on my lower lip and (I think) it makes me look really weird.

BUT. I've completely got over all that and am now just happy with the improvements that the braces are actually making. I posted the pics to reassure the OP that he/she is not alone in having low-placed brackets and to focus on how they achieve the desired changes instead.

Agree that not having a detailed explanation from the Ortho makes things harder to accept and gives unnecessary cause for concern. We just have to trust them. If we were kids we'd do that automatically but as adults we tend to question things more!