I would really value your opinion on a dilema that I/we have.
I am the mother of a 14 year old girl (14 going on 24 in many ways!). I thought about posting this on the parents forum but would really like your opinions from both parents and patients so I decided to post here. I hope that is OK.
My daughter was refered by our dentist for orthodontic work what must be about 2.5 years ago now. Her problem was that her top jaw, whilst lining up perfectly with her bottom jaw on her left was smaller and sat inside her lower jaw on the right. Also the tooth that was to the left of her eye tooth on the left had come through where the eye tooth should be and therefore it could not come through. She still had a few baby teeth at that time and the orthodontist advised getting the tooth that was in the way removed and then waiting until the eye tooth had come down and all the baby teeth had come out before proceeding. She said that jaw surgery may be necessary in the future but she thought that we would see what could be done with orthodontics first. Although all this sounds quite severe, on first meeting her you would not have noticed and indeed people would say "what does she need braces for?"
The offending tooth was removed but the proceedure really traumatised her. We found out afterwards that her mouth was not really numb when they did it but she didn't like to say - and never having had dental work before she probably did not know how it was supposed to feel.
We waited and waited and although the baby teeth came out and adult teeth grew the eye tooth did not show. After 2 year of waiting it was decided to expose it surgically. At this point the original orthodontist left and her replacement seemed to be a bit more gung-ho in her attitude and seemed keener to try surgery first. I resisited this as at just 14 I felt that the original orthodontist's idea seemed to make more sense.
Once the tooth had been exposed she was fitted with braces and a quad helix all on the same day
and it was all very uncomfortable especially the quad helix which gave her horrible blisters on her tongue. I must say though that my usually stroppy teenager has never complained bless her 
The quad helix came out after about 3 months and to be honest the improvement with that and the braces over the last 6 months has been amazing.
However, and here is my dilema, at our last visit the ortho announced that she wanted to remove one of her bottom front incisors. My initial reaction revolved around my daughter having to go through this again and calming her down as she wa distressed. We asked if she could be sedated and was told she could and so she accepted it. However we reserved a final decision until the next visit.
The trouble is I cannot see how this will look right. It will obviously not be symetrical and this rally worries me. I have spoken to the orthodontist since and she admits that the benefits are almost entirely 'cosmetic'. The effect on her bite will be minimal. The tooth is very slightly twisted and the front of the arch of the teeth at the bottom is slightly flattened but to be honest you would really have to look at her open mouth to see these things. She said that 'only you would notice' the asymetry if she were to have the extraction but isn't it often the things that 'only you' notice that bother you. The slight kink in your nose, the spot on your chin? And to be honest I don't think anyone would notice the slightly twisted tooth either.
My daughter would rather not have it done but will do so if I advise her to. My gut feeling is to say no. It seems so final! After all if she wants to undertake further orthodontic work later for a slightly twisted tooth she can but we can't put a tooth back!
It is very unusual for me to not put my trust in proffessional opinion but this time things just don't feel right
So what do you think? Please be honest - I rally value any opinions.
Thank you very much for reading
