Metal Mouth Message Board

I am nearing the end of my treatment and ortho wanted to shave/file my teeth down so they would fit better in the upper arch. I had some apprehension about this because the tool he pulled out was a circular disk that's supposed to attach to a power drill and rotate it. I asked him if he needed to take x-rays first to make sure that it's safe to file down my enamel and he said no he didn't need to because the structure of the teeth will allow him to file away. I was still apprehensive and voiced my concern. He said this is a very expensive equipment and it is highly sanitary and sounded very defensive and that he used it on all his patients. I didn't know what to say because at this point he sounded upset and there was no way I was letting him near me with that drill now after he was all worked up. I didn't immediately respond and he stood up angrily in the middle of the appointment and said I'm not going to drill if you don't want me to and went to work on another patient! I was shocked at this rudeness, demeanor and overall way this "professional" carried himself with his patients! I was so mad, I almost wanted to leave right then and there - mouth being wireless and just with brackets!

Anyways, it would really help me if can hear your stories of teeth filing/shaving. What tool did they use? Why you had to shave teeth down? How much did they take off? Can they mess up on this while doing filing? Did you take x-rays before the teeth shaving?

Thanks for your input.

I had IPR (Is that what it's called?) the day I got my braces put on. My doc said, "See that space between your two front teeth?" He took out his filing tool, put the "sander" between my two front teeth...bzzzzz for three seconds and voila! When he showed me the mirror again the space at the top continued to the bottom of my teeth. With a small power chain across the two front teeth the gap was closed literally within two hours of my appointment. I can't say that I really liked having the tool used on me, but it was definitely more the sound and smell that bothered me. There is no pain associated with the shaving. And the end of the day I was happy that it had been done and I know when I get to the end of my life in braces I have a few other areas that need to be filed where grinding has caused some chips in my teeth. It's certainly not a necessary procedure, but I can tell you that it didn't hurt when it was done to me.