Ortho Not Being Truthful?

[Winkos]

I am a little upset today. First off my ortho agreed to tie in my pontif (I have missing teeth) into my archwires when I moved to rectangle wires. I asked him last month if we could do this and he said "no" because the round wires would just spin the teeth around. Turns out I have had rectangle wires for 6 weeks now.

Next I read the chart while waiting for him. He told me I would be in braces for 18 months. His written treatment plan says 24 months.

Argh!!!! I am seriously considering just giving up on this journey. Get my implants, live with the overbite and say enough is enough. I asked my husband if I had been mistaken on the promises given because he was there for the consult, and he verifies that what I believed the ortho promised, was actually promised.

Where do I go from here? My personality just has little tolerance for that type of bull but I don't want to cut off my nose to spite my face. I am just so disappointed right now. I could have chosen a more honest ortho. I am sorry to say that although his reputation is stellar, my experience with him is not.

[djspeece]

Of course you know you and your husband need to speak with him privately to get it sorted out. I don't know why he would say one thing and write another, but there might be an acceptable explanation. I'm not sure I am understanding the issue with the rectangular wire, but then I am not the most informed person about the nuances of orthodontics. Best of luck with it. I suspect some of those guys with stellar reputations might get a bit arrogant over time.

[isthistaken]

Of course you know you and your husband need to speak with him privately to get it sorted out. I don't know why he would say one thing and write another, but there might be an acceptable explanation. I'm not sure I am understanding the issue with the rectangular wire, but then I am not the most informed person about the nuances of orthodontics. Best of luck with it. I suspect some of those guys with stellar reputations might get a bit arrogant over time.

And overly busy.

[jem]

I think orthos commonly tell people that treatment will be 18-24 months because that is about the standard period of time. I can see that your ortho quite easily told you 18 months and later wrote 24 months, in both cases thinking nothing more than your treatment was expected to take a standard length of time. Estimated treatment time is a rather inexact science, as I have found. If your treatment does take 6 months longer than you expected, it will not seem like a big deal once you are finished; but I do appreciate that an extra 6 months can sound like a long time when you are still in the early stages of treatment and finding at hard. Please do persevere-you will be glad in the end that you did.

As to the pontic, I would press your ortho about that. I imagine fixing a pontic onto an archwire is a fiddly job and it will have to be re-done at each wire change, so the ortho would probably rather not have to do it. But having braces is bad enough in terms of self confidence and I am sure having a gap makes it even worse. So if your ortho has said he will give you a pontic, make him stick to his promise and ensure he fixes you a longer appointment so he has time to give it his proper attention.

Good luck

Jem

[djspeece]

Of course you know you and your husband need to speak with him privately to get it sorted out. I don't know why he would say one thing and write another, but there might be an acceptable explanation. I'm not sure I am understanding the issue with the rectangular wire, but then I am not the most informed person about the nuances of orthodontics. Best of luck with it. I suspect some of those guys with stellar reputations might get a bit arrogant over time.

And overly busy.

Good point, well taken!

[chichi]

I don't know about the pontic, but as far as treatment time, my ortho originally said it shouldn't be more than 15 months... then he said no more than 18 months... and THEN I saw his paperwork that says 20 months. I'm sure it happens more often than people realize. My mind is currently set on 18 months, but after I wear these things for 18 months, what's another couple months if it gets us closer to perfection?

[isthistaken]

I'm one of the few, possibly, people who is not as concerned about being 'on time' or having chocolate chip cookies. I just want to land safely. I just want a good job done.

[NeilH]

I'm one of the few, possibly, people who is not as concerned about being 'on time' or having chocolate chip cookies. I just want to land safely. I just want a good job done.

Quite agree, it will take as long as it takes and as I'm really enjoying the whole braces experience, am in no rush to get to the end.

[Winkos]

I think the pontif issue is chair time, as it would take longer each visit to re-place the pontic in the wire. So I am miffed about this because promising something that you don't plan on delivering is not right. I may have chosen the other ortho I was considering if I had know this.

All in all though I am hanging on for now. My teeth are moving nicely and I see changes. I am not terribly impatient about the treatment time, another 6 months doesn't seem unreasonable. But still, all in all I am not so sure about my ortho right now.

[Kezza]

My Ortho hasn't really said how long I'll be braces for and I haven't even asked! Maybe I should, but to be honest, I'm so relaxed about this whole process and just happy to be sorting things out that it really doesn't bother me....It takes as long as it takes and If I'm 100% happy with the end result that what matters. At my consultation I do remember him mentioning maybe as little as 6 months to sort out my top teeth which I was surprised at but now at 18 weeks in I'm pretty sure it's going to be a bit longer than that....but hey ho....it'll all be worth it in the end!

[MrsCharisma]

I think orthos commonly tell people that treatment will be 18-24 months because that is about the standard period of time. I can see that your ortho quite easily told you 18 months and later wrote 24 months, in both cases thinking nothing more than your treatment was expected to take a standard length of time. Estimated treatment time is a rather inexact science, as I have found. If your treatment does take 6 months longer than you expected, it will not seem like a big deal once you are finished; but I do appreciate that an extra 6 months can sound like a long time when you are still in the early stages of treatment and finding at hard. Please do persevere-you will be glad in the end that you did.

As to the pontic, I would press your ortho about that. I imagine fixing a pontic onto an archwire is a fiddly job and it will have to be re-done at each wire change, so the ortho would probably rather not have to do it. But having braces is bad enough in terms of self confidence and I am sure having a gap makes it even worse. So if your ortho has said he will give you a pontic, make him stick to his promise and ensure he fixes you a longer appointment so he has time to give it his proper attention.

Good luck

Jem

I'm agreeing with this entire statement. I don't know about the pontic and think that you should definitely ask him, directly, about it. About the treatment time? I would not consider that untruthful or dishonest. I think many, many of us are told "18-24 months".

The FULL truth...you'll be in braces as long as it takes to get the desired result.

[ambraced]

My orthodontist had said 1 year........the bottom ones were removed two days ago after 3 years and 1 week and they're not perfect at all but he said there's nothing else that could be done. Initially he had told my dentist to extract my left lateral incisor and 5 months into treatment he realized there wasn't enough space and extracted the right premolar. After asking several times if the canine teeth would straighten parallel to my incisors he always said yes of course, but a couple of months ago he said there wasn't anything else he could do, and both the canines are a bit slanting. With some cosmetic contouring and tooth building to fill in the gap left by the slightly slanting canine on the left, they look decent. Sometimes I think he made a mistake in his initial evaluation for extractions, sometimes I think that things just don't always work out as planned. And I don't think teeth always behave in the same manner.
As you said for your orthodontist, he is the very best in my area, he has an impeccable reputation. He too at times gives me the impression he is too sure of himself though I wouldn't go as far as saying he is arrogant.
Unfortunately at times there's nothing more to do than be patient and hope for the best.....and ask questions when he's in a good mood. Another thing I realised is that if I point out an improvement in my teeth and then pop a question, I get a better response.
Good luck!!

[JumpTheDitch]

My dentist told me from the start that it would be 3 years all up. Since this is my second time in braces as an adult, the most important thing to me is to get it right, & that will take as long as it takes. In fact, going too fast is the last thing I want, since I'm told that the success of adult expansion requires constant, low-level pressure rather than speed. As happy as I would be to be brace-free (oh, I wish!), I couldn't face doing this again. If that means it takes 3 yrs, or more, so be it. Time isn't everything.