underbiter to have upper advancement

[bb]

"Advancement" sounds so much better than "surgery" doesn't it!

When I was a kid the orthodontist's plan was to break my lower jaw and move it back and cut a piece out of my lip so it wasn't so prominent.
My parents were not comfortable with that so I've been living with my underbite ever since.

Two months ago, I scheduled a ortho consult for myself because my daughter was having one and it was only $35. She(ortho) told me it was worth having done (all other dentists I've had, just pooh-poohed my underbite queries) and she said I'd need lower jaw surgery and 2 upper and 2 lower teeth removed.
Then I'd need 1 year of braces, then surgery and then another year of braces.

Well when I saw the oral surgeon, he said that my lower jaw was fine. I was quite glad of this because I've always had a tiny double chin and moving my jaw back seemed not helpful in this regard.

He said I'd need an upper jaw advancement because of my "mid-face deficiency" *I had no idea I was mid-facially deficient- how embarrassing!*
Anyhow this was good news to my double chin issue and I left with my chins held high to go see my ortho again.

More good news, my ortho said I wouldn't have to endure 4 missing teeth. She decided to leave the lower ones and only extract 1 from the upper right and the impacted one from the upper left. She had previously thought to remove my left bicuspid and hope that my impacted left tooth was healthy and could be brought into alignment. That gamble kind of scared me.

Anyhow I'm 6 days post-extraction (I was put to sleep and it was fine).
I'm amazed at how fast my mouth has healed!!

2 days until braces to close the gap, reduce flared upper teeth and bring the bottom ones close together.

I was dreading a year of being ugly - not necessarily the braces but my underbite will be extra prominent as my teeth are straightened out.
But now after reading a lot of your stories, I'm more sure than ever that it's worth it and that it might not take as long as I thought.

[bb]

Congratulations on making the decision to do this for yourself.

I really did/am going out on my own on this.
My friends don't think I need it, my husband doesn't think I need it, my in-laws don't think I need it.
Mainly everyone thinks the cost is not worth it. They're not trying to dissuade me as much since I told them it's mostly covered by my ontario health insurance and private insurance. But this is a lie because it's only half covered and only up to $2500.
They'll see, when it's all finished.

It was hard to get up the nerve to make the call and give the go-ahead but I'm glad I did and wish I hadn't waited 2 months...could be 2 months sooner that the whole thing will be finished!!!

Anyhow, had a disappointing day today.
I thought I was going to get my braces today but they only put these thick elastics inbetween my molars to make space for the braces next week.
And the feeling of these elastics is extremely annoying!! I feel like I have big chunks of steak stuck in my teeth but I'm not allowed to pick it out. Ahhhh!!! If this is annoying, how am I going to survive 2 years with braces! Someone pass my nerve pills!!
And weirdly, my tongue has developed a mind of it's own and keeps picking at the elastics. It seems like I'm going to have an elastic-cut in it if I don't stop!! Bad tongue, bad!!

Anyhow, it doesn't hurt at least.
So 8 days until braces (I asked this time but forgot to ask how long the appointment would last.)

[bb]

I went in yesterday for my braces.
My ortho didn't chat with me beforehand and I was so nervous that I forgot to ask her some questions beforehand.
One question came to me while my mouth was in the stretching device and I tried to talk (sounded something like "ah er ot eee on ohn") to her but she was hurriedly preparing my teeth for the brackets and told me that I'd just have to tell her after.

Well I was trying to tell her that I have some cosmetic bonding between my front teeth and was wondering if it should be removed first.
She later told me I had to go to my dentist to get it removed next week.
My other question was if I was having clear brackets in the front. But of course it was all done by the time I could talk and at the end I saw they were silver brackets. And I'm very self-concious about them.

I have to go back next week and get the top wired (it's empty now) after the bonding is removed.
I was thinking to ask her to remove the silver brackets from the top front and put clear brackets there.

1. Is it that much more expensive for clear brackets? I wonder why she didn't do it in the first place. Maybe there's another reason for not going with clear brackets???
2. Would it be a lot of trouble for her to remove the top front brackets and prepare my teeth again or would it be bad for my teeth to go through the process again?

[PuppySmiles]

The cost difference for clear brackets vs. metal ones varies. Of the four ortho's I talked with, one of them charged $400 extra for clear. But that would have been a whole mouth's worth of brackets, not just the "social six" in front. And the other three orthos didn't charge extra at all for clear.

There may be other reasons she wants to use metal. I gather there are some applications for which the clear brackets aren't strong enough, but she's the one who could answer that.

[bb]

Wow, $400 to $0 for clear brackets!!! that's quite the difference.
I'll hope for the $0!!

[Jill52]

First of all, congratulations on getting started. I well remember the nerves of my brace day. Those important questions get forgotten and you can't ask with the lip expander in place.

I paid 250 extra for ceramic uppers all round. I wasn't a candidate for ceramic lowers because the brackets are bigger and my teeth were too crowded and rotated for them to fit.

You probably can get them changed, but I rather suspect there will be a charge. I asked about having everything removed temporarily for a special occasion and it would have cost extra. Anyway, good luck with that. And good for you going ahead when all those around you aren't encouraging. You won't regret it.

Jill

[Brinky]

Hello bb, just found your story and had to say 'hi' as your story is so close to my own: underbite initially told lower, but diagnosis changed to upper as an adult. ...chins held high and all . I'm also an Ontario girl, woohoo!!

It can be hard feeling like you're in this on your own, and incredibly overwhelming with all the decisions to be made. But how empowering to have the certainty of doing this for yourself. Given time, Those closest to you might come around. Perhaps they won't fully "get it", but hopefully they'll rally enough when they see this is so important to you.

I've got all metal brackets and have gotten quite used to them. My Ortho and OS are not fans of ceramic for their surg patients, but this does seem a matter of preference from doc to doc.

Hope you've been able to get some of your questions answered...I write all my questions down ahead of time otherwise everything flies out the brain as soon as I'm sitting in that chair

Best of luck to you

[bb]

So I went in to get my uppers wired and was told that my ortho doesn't use ceramics at all.
Oh well.
I'm about 75% comfortable smiling with my braces now. Most of the time I don't think about it.
I'm in a play and the last two rehearsals with my new braces have been a little challenging. Some words are harder to say...like "obviously".
I have a rehearsal today and I'm going to wax most of my brackets to see if that helps my speech.

I've not seen any visible change in my teeth at this point but my bite is definitely off.

Brinky & Jill52 - thanks for visiting and your helpful comments. xoxo

[descantus]

Hi BB, can't believe your story is so similar to mine!

Had my underbite picked up at 13 and there were suggestions from my dentist then that I look into surgery, that was until my mum heard and issued a big fat NO WAY! I looked into it periodically but was always dismissed as trivial - one orthodontist had the nerve to say "my daughter has the same jaw as you and I think it's charming" damn cheek!

Started looking into it again last Jan and found a great surgeon and ortho to do the job, though like you my family thinks it's unnecessary and frivolous. They're just going to have to lump it though as the brace goes on next week

Good luck, i'll be following your story with interest!

Discantus

[bb]

My husband did mention that for the price of my braces, we could finally get our driveway repaved...hmph! He's not a heartless jrk but he is a pennypincher which does balance out my freespending soul.

My teeth have been feeling a bit wiggly these days! Yay! They seem to feel as if they've shifted as soon as I wake up in the morning.
But once I get chewing they line up again and feel normal.

I still can stand the way I talk...but friends say they can't notice.

It's almost a month...I'll have to take pics and compare!

[bb]

1 month brace-versary.
And as awful as it started with the sore tongue and sore cheeks, it does and has gotten better.
I've bravely started eating just about anything, and have the tight pants to prove it. Bring it on, I say!! I'll have to stop saying that though unless I'm gonna buy bigger pants.
I did find that no matter how well I flossed and brushed, I still felt I had bad breath. Kind of like that little white ball of nastiness that comes out of your tonsil from time to time. Yeah, that my friend if bad breath.
Anyhow, I brushed like crazy, flossed like a ninja and swished with mouthwash until it burrrrned but I still could smell it.

Last week I bought a dental tool (like the hygienist's use to remove plaque) and scraped under the molar band, under my gums and lo and behold there was a little lump of what could have been my sushi was last week!! *Ackkk!!*
I also poked it in the little tubular things sticking off my molar brackets and discovered they too were hoarding their own terrible little secrets.

I do feel much better and fresher now.

I do love my dental pick, I've rescued a popcorn hull from my gum the other night after I ate popcorn. Yes, I brushed like a fiend and flossed and looked and felt well. But my pick came through for me again.
Mwaa, haaa, haaaa you can run, but you can't hide!

Confession time.
Well you know how my braces don't hurt at all and are not even very tight on my teeth...
Each night before bed, I take my tweezers and pull the wire back on both sides so that the wire is snug. I started doing this because my teeth seemed to move overnight. I could tell because my molars didn't line up in the morning.
But as has always happened, during the day they go back to where they were because my molars just want to fit together properly. Stubborn little things. hmph.
I've been doing this, let's call it, the excelerator, for 2 weeks with no lasting improvement. *big sigh*
I know, one month is not a long time, but it has seemed like two! at least!!

I'll have to take some pics to compare.

[lionfish]

Confession time.
Well you know how my braces don't hurt at all and are not even very tight on my teeth...
Each night before bed, I take my tweezers and pull the wire back on both sides so that the wire is snug. I started doing this because my teeth seemed to move overnight. I could tell because my molars didn't line up in the morning.
But as has always happened, during the day they go back to where they were because my molars just want to fit together properly. Stubborn little things. hmph.
I've been doing this, let's call it, the excelerator, for 2 weeks with no lasting improvement. *big sigh*
I know, one month is not a long time, but it has seemed like two! at least!!

Unless you're doing this with your ortho's knowledge and agreement, I'd suggest you stop. Rather than accelerating the pace of your treatment, it could slow things down.

[dangerdude]

It sounds like you could use a Waterpik.

[bb]

Yes, maybe you're right. I have an appt in 3 weeks, I'll ask then.

[bb]

update:
7 months later.









How am I doing?
Well, my front upper teeth which were quite flared outwards, have been moving back into place for the last 2 months. At this point I can't bite into things like I used to - hamburger, corn on cob- as the teeth a tender and feel unstable.
My teeth look more crooked than ever. But I know that the important thing now is to eliminate the flare and close gaps before my surgery. After the surgery will be fine tuning, I'm pretty sure.

Surgery- I haven't brought it up as of yet but I have an appt next week so I'll ask then.

They've managed to rotate one of my upper ?bicuspids quite nicely. This hurt a bit for the first week.

All in all, I've adjusted quite well considering how horrified I was at the sight of my self at first.

I still think I look awful but I don't care. It's temporary. My ortho warned me from the beginning that it would get worse before it got better.
My upper lip is almost invisible now that my upper teeth are not pushing it out anymore. This is kind of ok, because it's another way of seeing that changes are happening.

I''ve lost 12 lbs in the last 7 months and have plateau'ed out here. I like it alot- I finally lost my baby weight....9 years later!!

I've come to realize that for 5-7 days after an adjustment, I shouldn't make any plans to go out for dinner as I won't be able to eat what I want.

Onward and upward!!
Thanks for reading.