I will soon be getting braces, this is certain, but which braces to get and what treatment to undergo is what is puzzling me. Here's my situation. This is long-winded, but it's a complicated case, so I wanted to be descriptive.
When I was about 14, I was sent to to an ortho as 4 of my upper front teeth started to go a little crooked, and I have a severe 'deep bite'. I was told by two orthos that I would need to wait until i was 18-20 and then have my lower 'jaw broken' in order to fix a discrepency. Apparently, my upper jaw is bigger than my lower jaw. Needless to say, this scared the crap out of me. I refused to have it done. I had quite a square jaw/good profile, and my teeth just didnt bother me enough to consider having my jaw broken. It sounded barbaric.
Roll on 12 years and I have changed my mind. Here's what has happened in my case. Because my upper jaw is bigger than my lower jaw, there is nothing to support my upper teeth, and my upper front teeth have reclined inwards, so that they are leaning back on my bottom teeth. The right lateral incisor is in the place that it should be, which means that it juts out further than my front two teeth; however, the left lateral incisor is also reclining in alignment with the two front teeth, meaning I have one jutting tooth (ironically in its correct position). To top it off, the three reclined teeth are now moving slightly to the right, so they lean slightly towards and behind the right lateral incisor, which is not aligned to keep the others in place. Although I have a deep bite (the top teeth completely cover my bottom set), I have had no problems because of this, no headaches, mouth infections, bleeding, grinding etc. However, as the problem worsened, my lower jaw is now being trapped slightly by the upper reclined teeth, meaning that I cant extend the jaw to its natural comfort level when I close my mouth (very irritating, it moves slightly back from where it should be). I have all teeth in tact, including wisdoms on upper and lower. My lower teeth are completely straight.
So anyway, I went to an ortho, who told me I have three options.
1) wear upper braces, then get my jaw broken (not recommended for me apparently, despite what I was told when I was 14)
2) wear upper and lower braces to straighten teeth, and push lowers out a little. However, there is a possibility that I may end up being buck toothed once my front teeth are moved foward into correct position. I believe this is called an overjet!
3)upper and lower braces, striaghtening my uppers fully while pushing my lowers out, and then extraction of both my 2nd upper bicuspids, which will correct my bite, but mean I'll be in braces for 15-18 months as opposed to 8-12. I wont be buck toothed with this option.
I have been to two London othos so far. Prices are ridiculous for consulation. £100 each just for consulation, then a further £200 for xrays and moulds. I was set on getting linguals. The first one I went to was 'London lingual', who told me that it would cost £7000 for my treatment. The second was much more reasonable, £5000 for the same time frame.
Both advise the tooth extraction method. But here's my issue, i've heard that extracting teeth can have a nagative effect on a person's profile - flat face, long nose etc. The orthos claim that my face will not be changed greatly because I have good support and strong profile, but I have to admit that im not convinced.
Ive heard of these damon braces, which apparently do the job without the need for extractions in many cases. However, I cant find any info on the net saying the affect damon brackets have on jaw discrepency, and deep overbite. They talk more about crowding. Neither of the two orthos i went to do damon, so If i wanted to find out if Damon's would work for me (without extractions), then I would have to pay out another £300 (xray, consultation) just to find out.
Before I pay it, I wanted to know if anyone out there could offer some advice. Here's my questions
1)Given my problem (jaw discrepency and not overcrowding), would I still likely need extractions if I used Damons?
2)Do linguals have the same effect as Damons, and is the damon advertising just hype?
3)Has anyone noticed any negative consequences on their facial appearance due to tooth extractions?
4)assuming I dont have prominent buck-teeth that poke out of my mouth when straightened, and I skip the extractions, would my upper teeth eventually return to their former reclined position, even with the presence of a bonded retainer?
Sorry this has been so long, and I hope it's easy to follow. i realise that you will only be giving non-professional opinions, but any advice will be hugely appreciated. I have tried to contact my orthos with these questions on numerous occasions by phone, but have not had my calls returned, so i'm a bit confused.
