I had an ortho appointment yesterday, and I left the office feeling disappointed and a bit discouraged. (a little background) I am middle aged and this is my second time in braces. I am correcting relapse of my overbite and deep bite. I have porcelain veneers and crowns on most of my top teeth and some were oversized to correct spacing that occured as my teeth shifted and relapsed over the years. Slimming of two oversized crowns and closing the spaces as well as torquing the roots of my front two teeth was the main issue I was concerned with. The underlying cause of these issues is my deep bite and I will not have adequate retention unless this issue is corrected, but there are complications.
I have been in invisalign since last fall. I have 30 aligners total and an estimated treatment time of 18 months. Back around June, when I was in tray 13ish, I lost 2 attachments that were on crowns. (I have other attachments on porcelain that are fine) I called the office at that time and told them I lost some attachments and wanted to schedule an appointment to have them replaced. The receptionist told me that they do not usually make special appointments to reapply attachements, and the problem would be addressed at my next scheduled appointment (in Sept). That appointment was yesterday. While I was there, the assistant said they would not be replacing the missing attachments as long as the aligners are fitting. I informed her that while the aligners fit, they slip down becasue of the special dimples at the top of the aligners that torque the roots. She let me know that she would have the ortho take a look and make the final determination. He glanced at my teeth, with the aligners on, and He decided that the attachments are no longer necessary and will not be replacing them because they are on porcelain and fall off easily. Then, he informs me that everything looks good and they gave me my last 10 aligners and said they will see me in 20 weeks.
My deep bite is still severe and the root on the side where the attachments are missing is still tipped, while the other side with attachments is strait. I do not understand how I can see this, and they do not. As much as I hate my attachments, I realize the importance of them in moving the teeth. I was told at the beginning of my treatment that they would be using rubberbands to help correct the deep bite and overbite. (This has obviously changed without my knowledge) Also, at my previous appointments, they did IPR to address the oversized crowns a little bit at a time and I was under the impression they would be doing further slimmimg as they are still quite oversized.(this is obviously not happening either) When I got home, I put my final aligners in with ease. I am now suspecting my top teeth are in fact, finished and in a holding pattern for the next 10 trays. He did say that I get one rescan, which he wants to use for retainers because I need to have a broken crown replaced.
I guess I am disappointed in my ortho because I feel like I am being pushed out the door as fast as possible. I am disapointed in myself because I don't feel I am assertive enough to get the results I was expecting.
I just needed to vent while I summon courage to to gain assertiveness.