Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello everybody, this is my very first post.

I am an adult who's considering braces.

I have crowded front teeth on the lower jaw with one rotated tooth.
The upper jaw looks pretty fine to me (one incisor is very slightly inwards, but it's hardly noticeable).
Back teeth fit well together when I close my mouth.
Overbite is moderate.

Here's the issue.
I talked to an orthodontist, and they recommended for me metal braces on upper and lower jaw plus elastics.
They say the upper jaw requires braces too, since it's not properly arch-shaped but kind of squarish.
The lower jaw will obviously need braces and some polishing on the rotated tooth to find room for it.

I also talked to a dentist, who pretty much said the opposite: he believes it would be hard to straight the rotated tooth and said that, since the jaws fit well together, using braces could actually break a balance that is working fine for me, with a substantial risk to make things even worse.
In short, according to him my teeth are not bad enough to require braces and it's not worthy to try to improve an already good situation with the risk to make it worse.

I am confused now and would like to have your opinions.

Thanks.

I don't think anyone here can give a definitive response, since we are not dentists nor do we know your physical exam and xrays. One obvious suggestion would be to get a second opinion from a (hopefully) board certified orthodontist.

I'm assuming that the crowded lower jaw is your motivation for braces and it sounds as though you have no functional issues with your bite. Did your ortho agree with this assessment? Sometimes a patient may think that their bite is fine, but in actuality a cross-bite exists that may cause problems down the road. In my case, I had to fill a gap left by an extracted lower premolar due to some shoddy work on a crown by a dentist. My options were an implant or braces. I chose braces because I had other minor issues and a cross-bite problem, and my general dentist felt that braces were the best option for the long haul. I mention that because had she recommended against braces, I would have gotten the implant. I had a great deal of trust in her knowledge and experience. Full disclosure: My ortho shares office space in her practice. But as I mentioned, I trust her opinion. As you can guess, I am leaning toward your dentist's recommendation, but again I am not a dentist and a second opinion might be helpful.
I would press your ortho on the risks and benefits of his/her plan for you. Is there actually a bite problem that presents and issue either for the near- or far-term? If your only issue is rotating a tooth (and it sounds like this is not really a cosmetic problem) then I would have to hear more on the benefits for orthodontia. It is a long, sometimes frustrating road and should not be undertaken lightly. Let us know what you decide, and best of luck to you.

Thank you for your kind reply.

The orthodontist said my teeth are tipping inwards, including the ones on the back.
The dentist said they fit well on the back.
I reported clicks on the jaws junction to my dentist, which occur especially when I yawn.
I placed his hands on the junctions, asked me to open and close the mouth more times and concluded it's normal and there's nothing to worry about.

Getting the opinion of another orthodontist may be a good idea.

I want to add one more thing: the dentist told me that, had I not told him what the orthodontist said, he would have said nothing, since my mouth is good to him.

I consulted with another dentist/orthodontist.

He believes braces/invisalign could be beneficial in my case and solve problems (tooth crowding, rotated tooth, lip biting).
On the other hand, an orthodontic treatment in my case is not strictly necessary, since there is no malocclusion. Doing nothing would not really change much in the long term.

He said clearly it's not a case I have to vs I don't have to, but I want to vs I don't want to.
Braces can help, but no braces would not cause any problem.

At this stage it is clear I will have to make a choice based on my budget and priorities.

Are you happy with the way your teeth look? If so, I’d leave it be. There’s no guarantee that braces will fix functional problems like jaw clicking.