Me vs Braces in pictures...and some words

Message

#1 Post by **deuxsixquatre** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:05 pm

Okay, I'm 18 going on 19.
I've always been okay-ish about my teeth. They definitely weren't a million dollar smile but I never felt self conscious enough to want to do anything to them aesthetic wise.

Anyway, so I began having quite a bit of pain in my back molars since I was 14. The lower second molars were partially impacted though I didn't know about it at that time. I actually thought they were wisdom teeth! Hahas. Went to the family dentist and he just told me to leave it alone. Fast forward 5 years, the molars are still impacted and sometimes still hurt. If I press on the gums, I taste a smidge of blood. It's always just the taste. It doesnt bleed enough to show up when I brush my teeth or anything. Went back to the family dentist and got referred to an orthodontist finally.

Turns out, it's pretty bad. The (lower) wisdom teeth is impacted horizontally and it's pushing against the 2nd molars causing it to be impacted against the first molars. And the whole area has been under a lot of pressure and that's what's causing the pain. Also, it turns out that my teeth isn't as problem free as I thought it was. The ortho said that there's crowding in the lower arch and that he would need to move the upper set back a little.
The funny thing was that no extraction(not counting the impacted wisdom teeth which must be removed anyhow) was needed for the lower arch while I would need to get 2 1st premolars taken out of my top arch. I'm having some doubts about that. My top arch isn't THAT protruded right? Would they be able to close the extraction gap and not make it an underbite/gap in the front?

Oh, so I got the separators fitted in yesterday. Overall it's okay. Just soreness everywhere but there's quite a bit of pain on my lower 2nd molar/gum area. One of the separators fell off while I slept and I'm going to get them back in later. Also got lots of pictures(good quality ones)taken by the doctor. My mold was made(I think it's called that. I had yucky putty stuffed in my mouth) and xrays taken.

Now, the pictures.

Other than the stains, it's not that bad right?

I wasn't opening my mouth wide enough, it's slightly worse, the protrusion.

A better picture of the protrusion

Lower arch. You can probably see the impacted 2nd molars if you look hard enough.

Upper arch.

Right profile.

Left profile. Now that I'm taking pictures, it is rather pouty/poofy from the side.Still, 2 extractions seem a bit extreme. What do you all think?

(Pardon the lousy picture quality. Taken from a camera phone of which the camera wasn't the main selling point.)

#2 Post by **macgirl4ever** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:53 am

Your lower arch even looks painful! It's strange that your dentist at fourteen didn't refer you at that time. Sometimes, when people see that their teeth are straight, they don't notice all the other things wrong with them. I'm not an expert, so I can't really answer your question about the extractions but I have noticed that many orthodontists have recommended premolar extraction for others on this site. You can find many of their stories if you search the boards! Good luck and I hope you get your separators out soon!

#3 Post by **Andromeda** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 12:01 pm

Just wanted to comment on the extractions part. I had my 2nd premolar on each side on the top out because every ortho I had a consult with said that I'd be left with an overbite if I didn't have the extractions. Now I'm almost done with treatment but I'm fighting an edge-to-edge bite bordering on an underbite. He finally got the front teeth on my left side to move forward enough to fit over my bottom teeth but the right front teeth are still behind or right on top of my bottom teeth. I'm pretty sure I'd be done already if we didn't have to spend all this time trying to get my teeth to move forward again after we spent all that time earlier trying to move them back to close the spaces from my extractions...

I'd ask if you could maybe get some IPR done instead to make the room because then they can control how much room they make. I think I definitely needed more space in my upper arch like all the orthos said, but I think the extractions created too much. Of course it is different for every case, but I'd bring this up to them before having anything done and get some reassurance that this wouldn't happen to you.

#4 Post by **deuxsixquatre** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 3:55 pm

macgirl4ever: the dentist STILL thinks I don't need braces. i mentioned it once(when i was 14-15) and he told my mum if i ever did it, it would be for cosmetic reasons. The one reason he referred me to the ortho was to check and get the impacted molars fixed. yesterday, i was in a lot of pain and I started blaming my dentist. I mean all those time I complained about the pain and how my teeth wasn't growing out after 2-3 years, surely, he could have seen where this whole thing was going. yet he didn't even took an xray or get me to take one to find out what was wrong. just kept on assuming that "wisdom teeth don't come out till you're 18-20" and "leave it alone, it will grow".

Andromeda: thank you(: that was what I thought as well. i ask my ortho if we can avoid removing any healthy teeth.

#5 Post by **Andromeda** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 6:52 pm

As for wisdom teeth - my lower ones are fully erupted and braced but my uppers are just barely poking through the surface of the gum and I'm 24. My dentist and ortho said the top ones aren't a problem and to just leave them alone. I am just going to ignore them until I see a reason not to since they've never bothered me at all. I was kind of curious as to why my top bicuspids were pulled out instead of those wisdom teeth, but that was the recommendation of all orthos that I consulted with so I just went with it. Hoping to have some good results to show for it sometime soon

#6 Post by **Megan11** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 7:43 pm

deuxsixquatre wrote:macgirl4ever: the dentist STILL thinks I don't need braces. i mentioned it once(when i was 14-15) and he told my mum if i ever did it, it would be for cosmetic reasons. The one reason he referred me to the ortho was to check and get the impacted molars fixed. yesterday, i was in a lot of pain and I started blaming my dentist. I mean all those time I complained about the pain and how my teeth wasn't growing out after 2-3 years, surely, he could have seen where this whole thing was going. yet he didn't even took an xray or get me to take one to find out what was wrong. just kept on assuming that "wisdom teeth don't come out till you're 18-20" and "leave it alone, it will grow".

UGH! I know how you feel! I remember in middle school begging my dentist to let me get braces because all the "cool" kids had braces. Ha, and he said no your teeth are fine you do not need braces. So here I am in college paying for my braces amongst all the other crap that needs to be paid for.

So many times I have thought to myself MAN if that stupid dentist would have not been such an idiot and realized that I definitely needed braces!! But the matter of the fact is that I can't change the past, so i just need to accept it and move on.

I must say though its nice having someone who can relate!!