2 weeks into braces and still somewhat unsure of it?

[Harlequinn]

Hi All!

I'm new to the site and I think it's great that everyone's here sharing stories of their experience. It's good to know from the perspective of patients other than your doctors once in a while

Anyway just to introduce myself. I'm from Malaysia and just recently had my braces installed to fix my front rabbit teeth problem. I've always wanted to wear them and have went to a few orthodontist few years earlier, who recommended that I needed to pull out 4 premolar teeth. I finally settled for a doctor who suggested the same thing, but they way she explained was far more reassuring than the rest of the doctors I've been to. She was also pretty patient with me considering I was very skeptical about the whole thing lol.

So here was how my teeth looked like before my treatment:-

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/HarleQuinn87/media/frontview.png.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/HarleQuinn87/frontview.png[/IMG][/URL]

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/HarleQuinn87/media/horizontalview.png.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/HarleQuinn87/horizontalview.png[/IMG][/URL]

So my teeth isn't really that bad, just an overjet & deepbite issue. The rest are perfectly healthy I think. But since I was told there's no space to accomodate the front teeth being pulled to the back, I needed to have 4 bicuspid extraction on each sides. Since I am still unsure about the extraction my doctor suggested to have the everything installed first and the extraction would be the last step of the process, so I decided to post it here to get some opinion.

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/HarleQuinn87/media/20140604_172009.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/HarleQuinn87/20140604_172009.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

I have a slightly protruding upper lip prior to when my mouth is relaxed, a rounded face and I have a small palate as you can see. My doctor did provide me other options which are:-

a) Wearing self ligating brackets - they can help to expand your palate and avoid extraction but also has the tendency to cause your teeth to recede back to its old position even after a few years treatment since it is not steady. Is this true?

b) Just avoid from pulling the teeth altogether. Since there's no space there's a high chance that my whole dental arch will protrude forward which may not look good on my facial profile.

I'm just using traditional brackets, so far i've no problem wearing it since I dont really mind the sores and I kinda think it looks good on me lol. I am wearing a TPA though which I find a little bothersome. It hurts my tongue and my speech is slighly slurred. I've also read that it can cause a permanent indentation to your tongue All of my friends whose had braces didn't have them, but when I asked my doctor she said I needed to have them installed for as long as the treatment since I needed to keep my molar fixed and that I still have 3 molar tooth yet to erupt at the back of my mouth. Has anyone here has this installed and how's the experience so far? It's been 3 weeks since I had it installed and I'm still not used to it. My only option I was told was to get implants which would be more expensive and invasive.

Anyone here with similar experience with mine? Do share your experience if you dont mind

[SquishyBunny]

Hi I currently am using the Damon braces also (self litigating) and all that means is that we do not need to wear rubber bands to hold the wire in place, or require the Ortho to constantly adjust the wire, as this system allows the wire to move freely between the brackets as it straightens itself out.
I have a problem similar to yours, the issue is only my front teeth, but I have no room at all so my front teeth over lap a bit, I also have an overbite. I also have a pretty wide upper arch, and very small lower arch, so here is what was told to me.

Option 1. No extractions, however, the overbite will still exist as there is no room to move the front teeth back enough to align my bite. I will also have the issue of flared out front teeth as they will have no room to straighten out to the sides and back as normal, so they will produce a semi buck effect!

Option 2. Only extract upper 2 bicuspids to give teeth room to move back and straighten, then bring forward to align smile and fill gaps.

My lower teeth only need to be aligned to the front teeth as they are already really straight, but I have had a tooth extracted there before so at the moment I am in the beginning of my treatment and my ortho's plan is to extend my arch as much as the damon system allows without an extender, extract the upper 2 teeth, and align my bite when it's all straight.

I had a deep fear of extracting perfectly healthy teeth as well, however, it will give me the results I want so it is the route I am choosing to go. Many ortho's do NOT want to pull teeth all the time, sometimes it is in your best interest to get teeth pulled, and sometimes the ortho is being lazy and making their job easier. Pulling teeth for me will not reverse my results because it's the only option to get my teeth in their correct positions. Most results going bad are due to a lack of wearing a retainer or getting braces off too soon and not from pulling or not pulling teeth.

It's important to hire an ortho you trust! They should have NO problems explaining every detail of your treatment to you and WHY they are choosing that treatment for you. All of us are different, and a good ortho will see things we can not and while we care about straight teeth, they care about healthy teeth! My ortho also plans to leave my braces on for almost a year after they are straight since I am an adult and she wants me teeth to have a chance to stabilize in their new perfect places first. Most people probably fight and get them off earlier, but DONT do it. It's what keeps your teeth from shifting back!