Straghtening teeth without correcting bite?

Message

#31 Post by **Eric805** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:24 pm

You have to wear the retainer EVERY night for the rest of your life?

#32 Post by **Spanner** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 8:28 am

Meryaten wrote:By the way, many of the people here who are choosing a compromise treatment (eg leaving some excessive overjet) in order to avoid extractions or surgery will still be having work done on teh bite as well as the aesthetics, in order to get the best possible results without those extractions/surgery. Why not go for the most functional set of teeth that orthodontia can offer you? They'll surely serve you better.

I'm choosing a compromise because surgery for me is a step too far. I don't need extractions and I doubt that I would have had any if that had been offered because I only have 23 teeth left as it is.

Both ortho's I've seen said that surgery would be the best step (although by no means essential) for a perfect bite and smile but I'm not prepared to go that far. 20 years ago I might have done it as the surgery itself does not frighten me.

Today I'm in a job that means I cannot be away from the office for long. Taking several weeks off work is out of the question. At the moment even finding the time to get a day or two off to have it done would be hard lol. I also have other commitments that really mean surgery is not an option.

#33 Post by **TumbleDryLow** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:03 am

I'm 34 and in braces for the first time. I am at work so don't have my paperwork in front of me as to what is exactly wrong with my teeth, but I can tell you that I have a cross bite, severe crowding (complete with "fangs"), and a slight over jet and over bite. I put off braces for lots of reasons but the main one was because my dentist told me that since my top jaw is very small and since I have a cross bite that I would need jaw surgery before I could get braces.

I have full fledged panic attacks just getting a cavity filled so surgery is absolutely out of the question.

Finally I decided to get a real opinion from a real orthodontist. I saw 4 and all 4 said that, yes, surgery would be the only way for my teeth to be perfect, but ALL of them encouraged me to do braces without surgery. ALL of them were willing to treat me without surgery. And ALL of them said I would achieve great results. They all had various ways they would go about it using extractions. (I think they all said I would still need extractions even with the surgery.)

I was warned that I would absolutely need to wear my retainer most every night once my braces are off, but I am the type of person who will willingly do that. And no, I do not regret my decision at all!

Hope that helps, and good luck!

#34 Post by **dubnobass** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:28 am

I don't think anyone needs to 'defend' their decision not to have surgery. I would gladly have taken the 'no surgery' route if that had been available to me, even if it acheived a less than perfect result. However, I was told I had no chance of my new bite being stable without surgery, and after my arches were straightened out I developed a huge overjet which looked a bit daft (and worse than the old crooked teeth I started out with).
For me, there was no point being treated at all unless I went under the hammer and chisel. If you had a choice, and you're happy with the choice you made, what's to defend?

#35 Post by **TumbleDryLow** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:43 am

Sorry if I came off defensive. I didn't mean to. I simply wanted to offer my two cents as someone who decided against surgery.

#36 Post by **Moosie** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:49 am

I am about half way through my treatment. I will have braces on for about 12 months total. Not bad. I have no idea if I will have to wear a retainer every night for the rest of my life - I was trying to stress how important it is to me to have a nice smile and wanting to keep it. I would gladly wear one every night if need be. That being said I draw the line at surgery. I'm not one to leap into that option just because someone says everyone in world needs to be a perfect Class I. I have had friends in the dental profession tell me that the jaw surgery is a very big deal as far as the length of recovery. I have read blogs and seen pictures of recovering patients and it's not a piece of cake. I have had several surgeries in my long life (not jaw) and let me tell you, this is not something you go into skipping and laughing. Get ready for a big surprise. You go into it feeling like your 20 and wake up feeling like your 80. Now, I know there are people for which this is the only option and I admire their courage and tenacity. I just say that you have to make your own decision - do what you feel comfortable with. Don't let anyone talk you into something you don't want to do. My ortho says when I am finished, my small overjet will not be apparent to anyone, unless they want to take an impression of my bite. I don't know too many people outside of my dentist friend and my good girlfriend who owns a dental lab that might want to do that.

#37 Post by **Spanner** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:50 am

You are of course right dubnobass but I wasn't defending my decision at all, just merely explaining my decision for the benefit of Meryaten's question and for anyone else who has an interest in why some of us don't follow the surgery route.

#38 Post by **TsuKata** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:35 pm

For what it's worth, I'm doing braces for some cosmetic and some dental reasons. I do have a bit of jaw misalignment, but it's not severe, and it doesn't hurt my dental health in any significant way. My major dental issue is and was crowding. I have a very small mouth, and the teeth just didn't fit! So, they crowded on top of each other and came in at odd angles, as teeth do, which has led to cavities and other problems because I couldn't get to my teeth for proper cleaning.

Thus, for me, "cosmetic" braces are actually correcting my main dental issue as well.

If your goal is just to have a pretty smile, and you don't have any significant medical or personal issues with your alignment, it's perfectly fine to seek the changes you want. As mentioned, I'm sure there are orthos who will refuse to do a "partial" treatment, but this is your mouth, money, and health, not theirs. The decision is yours in the end, and your challenge is to make sure you find a treatment plan that is right for you, not for your ortho.

(PS - I didn't happen to verify what country the OP is in, but I'm taking a stab that (s)he is in the US, hence money likely being a factor.)

#39 Post by **Spanner** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:55 pm

Sorry Meryaten I did misunderstand you....doh. I thought you were implying that if surgery was the best option then why not have it, but I can see now that isn't what you meant.

Wed Jan 02, 2008 4:14 pm

Eric - Would you rather have braces on for a few more months and have a good bite or have them on for a shorter time and have a bad bite?

Anyways - If you leave the bite alone, imagine what could happen in the long run. The braces will cost the same whether or not the bite is fixed? Am I right??

Why are you in a rush?
- mariah

#41 Post by **BellBoy** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 4:34 pm

not all cases involve a skeletal problem!!!

Say for example the bad bite is skeletal is surgery the only option?

It seems to me like my week chin apearance is because of my overjet making it look like my upper jaw is further forward than it is. Overjet are corrected with braces and sometimes extractions? I also think I have a mildish overbite as well. For me surgery is something I draw the line at and I'm hoping when I do see an ortho he will be able to primarilly sort my overjet out and hopefully my overbite.

#42 Post by **Eric805** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 7:04 pm

Mariah- If it were only a few more months, I would probably be cool with that. I don't know how much I am going to dig being in braces but I will probably end up sticking it out and correcting the bite as well.

#43 Post by **ohmyjaw** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 8:30 pm

I was pretty reluctant to have surgery too - I understand the difficulty of the decision. It was not a picnic, but I was pretty much recoverd in about two weeks.

I have been told that I will not need a retainer for the rest of my life - just for two years after braces come off. But now I am worried about how Meryaten said that teeth can drift forwards, because it's not the first time I've heard that. Think I will bring it up with my ortho

#44 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 3:49 pm

Correcting my teeth cosmetically left me no choice but to fix my bite as well. Iit was going to be the same treatment time estimate. Also, I was told from more than one dental professional that my retainers would be for LIFE! But it's just like brushing your teeth, no big deal because you get used to it.

#45 Post by **RGW** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:41 pm

This thread is interesting I was never bothered by my bite, just my increasingly crooked teeth. My orthodontist, however, was horrified by my bite and was surprised that I was never in pain and didn't have trouble chewing. I've had braces since Nov. 06 and my teeth are straighter, but now my ortho wants me to have a tooth extracted to help the bite. What bothers me about this is the fact that I'm sure that this will leave a HUGE gap in my teeth. I can't imagine how my teeth are going to fill the void of this tooth. If I have to stay in braces for all of them to move over to fill the void, it seems like that would take 10 years or something.