Lilone taking the plunge. My story.

[lilone]

So I figured it was time to start my own story even though I've only just returned from my second consult. The first one you can read about in "I just knew I would come home crying" on the forum. Basically he strongly suggested surgery for my underdeveloped chin and told me that I would have to have 4 teeth removed (two bottom, two top). I was very upset after the consult even though he was nice enough. I am not interested in surgery...I'm fine with my chin, so that was a little upsetting but not unexpected. The upsetting part was the removal of more teeth. I am a relapse case and I already had two upper bicuspids removed for ortho the first time. Removing two more from the top would mean having no premolars at all. Just front teeth to my canines and then molars. My smile is wide and I feel I need my premolars. I really don't want to lose more teeth and I was very upset by the prospect and was almost ready to pack the whole thing in. After some support from people here I decided to go to another consult. I just got back now.

Consult 2
I really like the personality of this second ortho. She is young, understanding, gentle and made me feel in control. This goes a loooong way with me since my first ortho experience as a preteen was what gave me a phobia of dentists that has not been easy to deal with. The bad news is that she wouldn't feel comfortable doing lingual with me. She does lingual but feels that my case would be outside her comfort level with it. The good news is she is willing to consider attempting no extractions. The reason I say consider attempting is because she says I am so much on the line between possible and not possible by first glance that she would need to see more records first. But, she also feels that we shouldn't extract if we can avoid it. If it looks possible from the records, she is willing to try using a tad to push back the molars on the one side where my wisdom tooth had come in and pushed everything forward. If that works then shaving the teeth may cut it. I have to say, I feel that even if it is not possible to save the two teeth at least I know that we tried and that there really was nothing else to be done. If she takes my records and says that it is not possible without removing the teeth then I will accept that it is true and I won't feel like it was avoidable if the right person would be willing to try.
So that's where I'm at. I have a third consult Friday but I don't know if there is any reason to go to it. They don't do lingual and I'm already confident that if I don't go lingual I will go with this latest consult. She is the right person. She even said I could abort at any time (if we went for no extractions) if I wasn't happy and I would only lose the time and money of the treatment I'd had at that point. Not that I'd want to do that, but it is the fact that she will give that control to me. Control is an issue with me apparently. If I don't go to her, it will only be because tooth removal was necessary anyway and the other guy could do lingual. Fingers crossed for me!

[BraceFace2o1o]

Hey lilone, I am glad your 2nd consult went well . I remember reading how upset you were in your other post, with the 1st consult

The 2nd Ortho sounds really good, really understanding and willing to work with you as a team, I think that's the type of Ortho we all want. I remember my Ortho saying to me it isn't just about him or me, we need to work together to get a good result, I liked that.

My Ortho also said I was borderline extraction, but decided he didn't want to extract 4 healthy teeth, I was so glad about that. I am going to be having IPR (teeth shaving) instead, hopefully it will be enough. But if extractions aren't avoidable down the line then so be it. I really like that your Ortho is willing to try first without extracting.

Are you still going to the 3rd consult tomorrow? If it's free, I would. I am in the UK and had to pay for my consults and it can work out expensive! But I'm glad I had 2 consults at least, instead of just one. I didn't go with the 1st because he was a total jerk lol

Good luck and I look forward to reading your next update

[lilone]

Thanks for the reply Crystal:) I cancelled the consult tomorrow although I may reschedule for another time. It was a free one but was in another city and I have a busy evening planned so it was a lot of rushing around. The other two consults (the ones I went to) weren't free, unfortunately. The first was 90 dollars (Canadian) and another 350 for xrays and moulds (that isn't scheduled for a few more weeks) and the second was 50 dollar consult and 250 for xrays and moulds. I'm going for that session on Tuesday. If it comes back that extractions are necessary maybe I can take the xrays to the other consult and get some money off? I didn't tell him I was going for another opinion...I hope he doesn't mind. The second ortho knows she was a second opinion and didn't seem to mind at all so I hope the first one feels the same.

Anyway, I have teeth on my mind and it is really stressing me out. It's really unhealthy and I have no idea what my problem is. I'm not usually so anxious a person. Last night I went to bed in time to get 8 hours of sleep. I only got 3 1/2 because I had a nightmare about having had the extractions and then having the tooth behind with fillings crack and fall out and I had a huge ugly gap and needed to pay loads of money for an implant. When I woke up I tried to reason with myself but all I could think of was how, if I need extractions, I will have had 10 perfectly healthy teeth taken out for ortho and will be leaving in molars with fillings. My xrays will look like I had bad teeth when actually I've only had a few cavities in my life. It's just that those are the only teeth I get to keep! I went on for about 4-5 more hours, switching back and forth in my opinion...."What if I look like a horse if they try to fit them in? What if the TAD causes my bone some damage? Will I be able to handle braces on the outside rather than lingual? Will the subtlety of lingual be worth the loss of the teeth?" It just went on and on. AAARRRRGGGG! And it hasn't even started yet! How will I survive a couple of years? I honestly wonder if I can bring myself to do anything. The only reason I'm not putting it on the shelf for now is because I have spent the last 15+ years doing that and it hasn't made me happy.
Tonight, I think I'll have some malt drink before bed!

[Ellebraced]

Lilone

The anxiety is the worst part of this whole process and then once you get them it is patience. I had to drink every night to calm my nerves before my braces, it did not help that it was Christmas time.

What part of Canada are you from. I am in BC. I only did one consult but it was because my dentist is a friend of my Aunts and he told me not to bother with the Orthos in my city and to go to the city over. I wish I had got at least one other opinion but I did years ago and feel the ortho I choose has an amazing staff and seems to know what he is doing, though I never really found an Ortho or dentist with the greatest personality as long as they know what they are doing.

Good luck. I know my ortho gave me a great free consult (with a free xray) and price list for different options before I even had the moulds or additional xrays and pictures done at a cost of $400.

Take care

Elle

[lilone]

Hi Elle,

I'm in Ontario. It looks like we are not far apart on the price itself but that the way they spread it out is different. I had to pay for the consult and got very little info but my moulds session is cheaper. It stinks that it is so expensive because if you want to shop around to be sure you have the best option for you, it could cost another grand, easily.

I remember reading your story and thinking I could relate to a lot of what you were thinking and feeling. I hope I'm able to get on with things like you have. For some reason I am unable to view the pictures in your thread (says in red that I do not have permission) but it sounds like things are going really well so far, so congrats!

[Ellebraced]

Hey

I think you can not view or add pictures if you are new to the forum, just wait a bit or make sure you are signed in. I remember having that problem at first too.

Good Luck, Luchababe on here is from Ontario too

Elle

[luchababe]

Yes I am! I just went to one consultation at the ortho my dentist uses to refer people to. I thought that would be best because they communicate about their patients efficiently. He turned out to be very nice and well spoken and his staff are super friendly.

[lilone]

So I just got back from my records appointment. It was pretty easy. The top impression was a bit gag inducing because the stuff goes far back into your throat but not too bad. This ortho is so super nice and calming that I find I am more relaxed than I would expect for being at a dentist. That makes everything easier. I felt like an idiot having my lips spread for all those photos but we were able to just joke about it a little and I felt fine.

So now I've got some thinking to do. Although it will be a while before she will have reviewed the records, I really need to seriously consider life with ceramics instead of lingual. This wonderful ortho cannot do lingual with me because my case is outside her comfort level with incognito. But she makes me feel part of things and not at all judged or nervous and that counts for a lot...a lot...with me. It's not an easy thing to accomplish since I do have a long standing phobia of dentists that I fight against. Also, she agrees with me that we should not extract teeth unless absolutely necessary. Which it may be. But she is willing to consider all alternatives before jumping to that conclusion.

On the other hand, the other ortho can do lingual. He said he couldn't say for 100% whether I could get by without extractions until he did records but that it was the best way to go and it was very likely to be the only way to go. He may very well be right but I didn't get the feeling that he understood what the big deal was to me. When I asked about moving my molar back into the wisdom tooth space he said moving molars is too difficult. This is true...it is difficult but I'd like to think that all the possibilities will be given fair chances, if that makes sense. I want to know that extraction is a last resort. He also strongly suggested surgery for my lower jaw which I don't want and said that he couldn't really correct my bite properly without it. Finally, the next available appointment for records after my consultation was a month later which I'm fine with except that it makes me wonder if it will be hard to get in to see him.

Soooo... all things being equal I'd much prefer to be with her. However, I am wondering if all things are as equal as I would like. As I consider the next couple of years in ceramic braces with protruding lips I just don't know if it is going to cause too much of a blow to my self esteem. I know most people get ceramic or metal and don't have protruding lips but I will because of the prominence of my top teeth. They are a fairly prominent as it is and my lips are very very thin. I remember this being one of the worst things about braces the first time...the Bart Simpson lips. It made me feel ugly the entire time. This time I'm more mature but I'm also more out there. I'm single and don't care to stay that way. I can't bare the thought of feeling unsexy for so long.

Lots of thinking to do. Things can never go as planned, eh? If only the nice ortho was able to do lingual on me, there would be no issue whatsoever. She'd either extract or not extract...end of story. Pooh.

[Ellebraced]

Hi Lilone

I understand why you would want lingual so you can not see them BUT I wonder (no personal experience, just from reading posts) will it work as fast as ceramic AND would it not hurt the tongue a lot more???

I have ceramics upper and metal lower as you know and I must say it really isn't that bad (sure if you read my posts I was a bit anxious and crazy at first), my ceramics are not overly clear but many on here have SUPER DUPER clear ceramics.

Soooo I guess you have a lot to think about and you can see from my pics my upper teeth are large and stick out but they have moved fast and I am able to close my mouth really well now, first week was a bit awkward but I got over it fast.

Good luck I would say if you could get the super clear ceramics I don't see why you would not go with your gut on the ortho you like the best. I went into this thinking only invisigiln and only if it was cheap and short but it is the complete opposite but I know I have to do this to make myself happy with my teeth in the long run.

Good Luck with your decision!!

[lilone]

I'm feeling real, genuine panic about braces today. Maybe it's because of my poor sleep, I don't know, but I've woken up thinking I really don't know if I can do this...And I haven't really even started yet! I am still waiting on my second round of records (from the first ortho consult but it took a month for the appointment). The appointment is on Thursday so maybe that is what is causing the anxiety. The crazy thing is, I am not an anxious person normally. It's just caused by teeth, really. The idea of braces make me psycho though. I just had such an awful experience the first time around that it caused me to have a phobia of dentists that I've spent the last 20 years working to over-come. Now I'm volunteering to get tied in to (literally and figuratively) the very thing that caused me so much fear and hatred?
I think I could do it if they weren't visible at all. I truly think I could manage lingual even if they caused an annoying lisp and were painful because people wouldn't be looking at my teeth and commenting. Or looking at my teeth and not commenting. Or looking at my teeth instead of in my eyes when I talk.

Here's my biggest fear: It is confirmed that extractions are necessary and there are no other options....my teeth cannot be moved back to where they were 20 years ago. So, I get extractions and have NO BICUSPIDS LEFT (I've already had my second bicuspids out on top so if extractions must be done this time it will be canines and then molars which will be very visible in my smile) and then find that braces are too much for me to handle emotionally and I can't survive two + years without having a complete breakdown so I'm stuck with no teeth and big gaps. I know it sounds unlikely but it is possible. I really truly may not be able to cope with braces. It might cause more grief and anxiety than I can handle.

There is nothing I can do but just wait and see the verdicts but I just wish that there were more options. There is only one ortho who can do lingual. I wish I could get other opinions from people who were willing and able to do lingual. Everyone says that if you go to three ortho's you will likely get three opinions and you choose the one you like best. Well, I want to hear lots of opinions and options from orthos who are able to offer lingual as the non negotiable... but they don't exist around here. And I can't drive two hours to Toronto every time I break a bracket...or even every 6 weeks for that matter.
I am afraid of not being in control of something that is so important for me to feel some control over. This makes me want to go with ortho 2 who's personality is comforting and understanding. But that means ceramic that I don't know if I can handle.
I know I've said all this before and I'm sure no one really cares to hear me blubber on but it does help to vent. I have absolutely no one to talk about this with since my phobia does not allow me to speak about teeth in every day life. I managed to get over the part where it kept me from making dentist appointments but I'm afraid I still can't talk about it to people I know. I think this comes from all the fights I had with my mother over braces as a child. I hated my dentist and told my mom to never take me back there and find someone else to take over but there wasn't really anyone else in my small town and she no doubt thought I was being overly dramatic. Not to mention extra cost of switching half way through. So I was stuck having to continue going to someone I felt actual disdain for at age 12 (and I was not even remotely an angry or rebellious child...I was, and still am, a full fledged goody two shoes). Apparently, I have some issues. Urgh.

[Ellebraced]

Hey Lilone

JUST BREATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is good to vent, you have some thinking to do but remember it is JUST braces ( and I know its a huge expensive and huge pain in the as* and a big part of who we are), I felt the exact same way as you but don't overthink it or let it cause you too much grief.

BREATH!!!!

Good luck with your decision. Keep talking on here it really helps, once you get your braces in a couple week you will be over the whole thing and hoping the time flies by.

[lilone]

Thanks, Elle. I needed to hear that.

So, I decided to calm down and go shovel some snow since I clearly didn't wake up well. The berm from the snow plough blocked my car in and it was about two feet high and pure ice so it took a good deal of effort to clear. It helped. Yay, winter;P

I took a minute to read a few first entries in peoples braces stories and anyone who had a freakout or two before braces was absolutely fine once they were on and the initial shock was over. That will be me. Once the decision is made and I take action, then I'm sure I'll just get on with it. So now the key is to stop thinking about it until I have the info I need to make my decision. I think that means stepping away from the board until Thursday or whenever I actually get some info. I have to stop thinking about teeth! I am much more than my teeth. Time to regain my perspective....and enjoy a nice cup of tea

[lilone]

Nothing too interesting came from the records appointment on Thursday...apart from the fact that I now know why this one was a hundred bucks more expensive. Man, there were some odd contraptions used. I thought the last ortho was high tech (she did a LOT more than my original ortho as a child). This one did regular xrays plus about 6 TMJ xrays with mouth open and closed. The pictures of my "smile" were not really my smile because I was told to bite down and smile with my jaw closed. I normally smile with my jaw loose so I hope it isn't supposed to give them any indication of how I smile in real life...cause that ain't it. There was also a lot more wax imprints done at this one. One regular one where I bite down on it and then a few more where she pressed it in where she wanted it and then another one where she moved my lower jaw into various positions and had me bite down. Then there were three smartie like things that she pressed into my back and front teeth and then she attached these smarties to a big metal contraption that measured me. There were loads of measurements and I felt a bit like DaVinci's Vitruvian man. I didn't get to speak to the ortho at all so I asked the assistant to please make a note in my file of the fact that I have decided definitively against jaw surgery and that I would be willing to go to great lengths to avoid extractions if at all possible. I want him to know this and bear it all in mind when he assesses my records and creates a treatment plan. Now I just wait three weeks until he has had time to look at the records and decide what can and can't be achieved.
Question for anyone who may read this: Did you have records done at more than one practice? I didn't tell this ortho that I had another consult because those records aren't available to him right now anyway (she's still assessing them). I almost feel like I'm "cheating" on my ortho if I do all the records and have them create a treatment plan and then decide to go with another ortho. I guess I'm paying for these records though, so why not, right?

[ashesgap]

If you're paying for it, then i don't see any problem having records done with multiple orthos. This way you see there real treatment plan, not just the "I think we'll do this" plan.
Good Luck.

[BraceFace2o1o]

Question for anyone who may read this: Did you have records done at more than one practice? I didn't tell this ortho that I had another consult because those records aren't available to him right now anyway (she's still assessing them). I almost feel like I'm "cheating" on my ortho if I do all the records and have them create a treatment plan and then decide to go with another ortho. I guess I'm paying for these records though, so why not, right?

I had two consults with two Orthos. The first consult I didn't have any records done (I thought I was going to though), the Ortho said he would do my records if I decide to go ahead, which I thought was odd. Like ashesgap said, doing records allows them to give you a proper treatment plan. I wasn't comfortable with an Ortho who wanted to do my records after I decided to go ahead. My current Ortho did all the records and still made it clear I didn't have to go ahead.

If the price you're paying includes records then go for it, after all that's what you're paying for. Good luck.