treatment without surgery?

[mel2012]

hello everyone, my name is Mel from the UK and im new to this message board. I am 24 and feel really down about my teeth/jaw! my bottom jaw is too far back and my teeth come out too far,i also have a small mouth and my top lip seems short. My orthodontist said the best treatment would be to remove some teeth and put fixed braces on,(i asked for incognito instead of the ones that go at the front) but i have read that it can make the problem worse.please give me advice on the best treatment? i refused the jaw surgery and the hospital told me that an herbst appliance won't work on me because im an adult. im so confused and frightened, there is no way i would ever have the surgery but i don't want treatment that will make me look worse ( trust me , im not entirely sure it's possible to look any worse than i do now) The orthodontist did seem sure what to do either, i one of the most difficult if not the most difficult case he has had, he asked for 3 weeks to think about what he should do and when i got there he still wasn't sure,he sat there scrathcing his head,sighing and looking very confused. i hate being like this,im so disfigured! im worried about how my lips would look after treatment too. sorry for rambling on.

[starfish88]

I turned down the surgery option too. I was just way too scared, so I just got fixed braces. I've been told I won't get a 100% correction of my 12mm overjet but I think I'll be happy with 4 or 5mm even though some people get braces to correct an overjet like that! When I think about what I least liked about my teeth (cosmetic) all that will get fixed so I'm happy with that. And could you get a 2nd opinion, your ortho doesn't sound too confident. My ortho actually told me 'I look a lot less freaky than he would expect from my x-ray'...gee thanks! But at least he had a range of treatment options. But don't worry about being odd...you sound just like me so there is someone else out there who understands.

[sirwired]

Get a second opinion. Maybe another ortho can come up with another treatment plan.

However, some cases will simply require extractions and/or surgery if you want the problem fixed; there isn't any "magic" solution to some jaw issues.

[mel2012]

thanks. i know i wont have 'perfect' results without surgery but i can deal with that.Anything must be better than the way i look now.

[Skibunny]

I have a very similar problem! I can't find an orthodontist who will treat me without surgery. I hope you find an answer. I'm pretty certain I won't be taking the surgical route lightly!

[mel2012]

i hope you find an answer too skibunny.are you in the UK?