New with questions

[Nille]

I was advised by my dentist to see an Ortho because of crowding on the bottom. One of my teeth sits behind the others just a bit and the others are just turned a little. He said if I didn't get them straightened that my teeth would continue to crowd that one out and it would eventually have to be pulled. He says this would happen in the next 5-10 yrs. I went for a consult yesterday and it seemed a little high and the treatment time a little long. My dentist estimated a year or less but this Ortho said 18 months. I have another consult tomorrow. My husband says he isn't sure he wants to spend $5000 on "dental work". What if I don't get them fixed and that tooth has to be pulled. Will I just have lopsided teeth? I intend to ask this question at my consult but wanted opinions from others also.

[jcdamon3]

I guess you will have to ask the question of how much is that tooth worth to you? But you also have to ask yourself if paying $5,000.00 will also buy you anything else. Are your teeth crooked? Do you want to get braces or is the rest of your mouth straight?. Are there other problems that will be fixed by getting braced, like a bad bite? If you have a bad bite or serious crowding you could stand to loose more than just one tooth.

Some orthos I have heard do pull just one tooth on the bottom but that is in conjunction with treatment so they slide the other teeth around to make it all even out. If you have to have a tooth pulled and there is no correction it could look a little lopsided.

Did the dentist say why you would lose that tooth? Would it be worth it to get an opinion from another dentist as well as an orthodontist? You may want to look into visiting an ortho to see if you can get this done cheaper buy perhaps doing just the bottom arch. I don't think most orthos would recommend this though because they use two arches to correct bite issues after the teeth are straight. Although I have heard of people that have done just one arch.

Oh well, just food for thought.