The benefits of more than one ortho opinion

[Viconia]

Hi everyone,

I did post a while back about two conflicting ortho consultations I had. Unfortunately I lost my post when the forum was copied over to a new host so I'm starting again. 

I had a third consultation because I did not know which option to go with and I am so relieved I did that (even though I had to pay another consultation fee)! 

This ortho explained clearly to me that lingual on top teeth and ceramic on the bottom was a perfectly acceptable treatment for me. The other two ortho's had advised me not to do this as the brackets would likely touch. The users on this site kindly told me that sounded odd and I now think they were probably just trying to get me to go for the more expensive lingual braces on both sets.

Anyhow I'm now all booked in for moulds and X-rays to be taken early June and to get my braces fitted as soon as they arrive in July. Both sets on at once!!

My ortho uses suresmile lingual braces and American orthodontics clear radiance routinely but he did say that I could use any brand if I preferred to. 

So - does anyone know anything about the relative advantages/disadvantages of the above brands of braces? Especially for the lower regular braces I'm looking for an option which minimises staining and where the brackets are as small as possible. 

Oh - and one other thing. This third ortho said that my treatment time would be 14-16 months as compared to the other ortho saying 22 months. My mind boggles over how there can be that much variation! 

Look forward to hearing your thoughts!!

:-)

[Snowglobe32]

I was not a lingual wearer but the gals who worked at the ortho's office had them. I am not sure if you are going for the complete incognito look but I could tell they had braces on the back of their teeth. It was even more noticeable when they had to wear rubber bands. I do know they were fans of the lingual brackets so I bet you will love them also.

I was a SureSmile wearer...the reason they can reduce the wear time is because your ortho will take molds, xrays and scans of you teeth then put those results into a computer program. It is a more precise way of wearing braces because there is no guess work involved. Ortho can create a plan to put your teeth in the desired place from the start. Special wires will guide your teeth to their proper position. Your wires will be made by a robot, usually all sets at one time. The best thing is they can show you the "end" result before you even begin. I don't know why more orthos do not use this technology. Maybe it is the cost??

I think you are getting linguals on top only and regular ceramic brackets on the bottom? Is this correct?

I had self litigating brackets, those are the kind that do not need to be held on with little bands. These brackets can be smaller in size and they have a flap that opens and the wire goes behind, then the flap or door, closes. I had ceramic on top and metal on the bottom.

I think you will be happy with SureSmile. Good Luck!

[Viconia]

Thanks for your reply! It's also the clearest description I've seen of what a self-ligating brace is, so thank you! I've googled american orthodontics radiance brackets and they are self-ligating so that's reassuring. Hopefully this should minimise the staining since I do love the odd cup of coffee and tea!

I'm quite shocked to hear that you could see the braces on the girls at the ortho office - did they have significant gaps between their teeth?!

As for the cost - I'm in central London so the overall price is £6500 which is just shy of 10000 USD (not sure where in the world you are). This is incidentally the same price as I was quoted by the other two ortho's I've seen, but the treatment time is waaay shorter (as the others do not use Suresmile). Also they have payments system where you can pay in self-determined instalments at no extra interest as long as you've completed the payments by the end of the treatment. How does this compare which what you paid?

I agree with you though, everyone should have the benefit of suresmile if it knocks such a significant amount from the projected treatment time!

Oh, there was one other thing I wanted to ask - the only thing I'm not entirely happy with is that my ortho told me I needed to have my teeth filed a little, to make space since my teeth are a bit crowded. Does anyone have any experience of having their teeth filed? The thought fills me with horror so any opinions would be gratefully received :-)

[sirwired]

SureSmile I think sounds like a real advance in treatment (and I'm generally of a skeptical sort; I wrote the "sticky" post on this forum about such things), and I don't think there is another brand of that sort of wire system.

As far as the brackets go: Self-ligating brackets are smaller, ligating brackets have a larger bonding area. The particular brand (despite all the marketing) really doesn't matter that much.

[Snowglobe32]

I don't recall the girls having gaps...and maybe I only noticed because having worn braces, I notice teeth more than I did before braces. Their brackets were also silver so you can still see when they smiled big or laughed...it wasn't a big deal though. What I liked was being able to see their teeth change without having brackets in the way. So, once those teeth start moving, you can clearly see the changes.

I didn't have any teeth filed while in braces, but once they were off, my ortho shaped a few teeth.

I paid almost $7000 for my braces. I paid $500 down and $250 each month. Insurance paid $1500. My ortho allowed patients to make monthly payments with no interest charged.

I also paid $500 for a positioner at the end of treatment. It is similar to a thick, heavy duty rubber mouth guard that keeps your teeth in perfect position. If I lose my retainers, I can wear this and my teeth will go back to the same position they were in when the brackets came off. If I choose too, I can wear the position (at this point for one night per week) and no retainers.
At the end of treatment, when brackets and wires are removed, they take all sorts of measurements because the positioner is custom made.

As for the SureSmile, I started it a year into treatment. My teeth were stubborn (bad crossbite that took forever to fix) and in the beginning, I didn't want to pay the extra money for the SureSmile. If I had worn SS from the beginning, my braces would have been off a lot quicker.

I would advise you to get a waterpik. It will help greatly!

[Viconia]

I can imagine noticing teeth more. I think I'm doing that already and I'm still a while away from actually having my braces fitted! Apparently I have a choice between silver and gold brackets, feels a bit like choosing jewellery!!

Did the shaping of your teeth hurt? My ortho said they only remove a tiny amount so that it doesn't damage the teeth but the thought of them wearing my teeth away however slight worries me a little. Oh and a waterpik is already on my shopping list on Amazon! Did you find regular flossing totally impossible?

Like you I also have an overbite to correct and some crowding and will need elastics. These will be strong elastics that I will only need to wear at night which is excellent news.

My fees also include fixed and removable retainers. If I'm good about wearing my removable ones he said he would remove the fixed one but that he strongly recommends everyone has both at least at first. Your positioner sounds interesting; I've never heard of those over hear.

Thanks again for your responses. Figure I can't do enough research and reading!

[sirwired]

Tooth shaping isn't painful, but your teeth may be sensitive for a few days.

Flossing with braces (any kind) is no fun, but you'll learn to be pretty quick with floss threaders or threader floss (I used Glide Threader Floss... certainly more expensive than regular floss with a re-usable threader, but very convenient.) You definitely need to use Glide; regular floss is a lot more likely to shred.

[Viconia]

Unfortunately you can't get Glide threader floss in the UK without paying an actual fortune for it, it literally is the equivalent of about 40USD for a pack of 30 (you can't get the packs of 100 at all). Unless I can find someone who is travelling to the USA in a few months time I might have to try something else. If anyone on here is in the UK and has managed to find it please could you tell me where? :-)

I've got some Oral B superfloss but have also found a brand called Thornton 3 in 1 floss which seems to be similar to the Glide threader floss. Will see how I get on when I actually get to that stage!

[newbite]

I've had all of my front teeth shaped, top and bottom (interproximal reduction as well as just smoothing the tips) and I felt nothing and have had no pain afterwards from it. This is amazing to me since my teeth are usually very sensitive. I do use a prescription strength fluoride/sensitive toothpaste so maybe that helped (also eases my mind about the enamel loss). I was worried about it, too, but it was one of the easiest parts of my treatment. Also, the gaps it created closed quickly, which was nice.

I use superfloss and love it. I used threaders at first and they were terrible-- the floss was always coming untied and for some reason the floss seemed wetter (and would hit me in the face) when using the threader. Maybe because the superfloss is thicker and stiffer? I don't know, but I'm going to use superfloss from now on!

Make every effort in the world to floss daily. I read often on here that people use the waterpik instead of floss and that is not a good idea. The waterpik is good at flushing out food, but can't remove plaque like floss.

One other thing you will want are interproximal brushes to get between your brackets. I use them every time I clean my teeth, they are quite delightful and help clean where the toothbrush can't easily reach.

Oh, and you should ***definitely**** get an electric toothbrush! That is SO much more important than a waterpik in my opinion. It's impossible to clean as well with a manual toothbrush and it's easier on your gums (important since you'll be brushing so often!). I have an oral b and use the sensitive brush heads. Definitely buy the name brand heads. I bought cheap generic brush heads and they are TERRIBLE. They wear out within two weeks and the bristles would actually get stuck in my braces! The oral b brush heads are amazing-- I'm going on 2 months with my current brush head with no signs of wear and certainly no bristles stuck in my braces! They are expensive but are totally worth it and actually cheaper in the long run since they last a very long time and take wonderful care of your teeth.

Good luck!

[lollypop]

I had the same thing! I was told at my first consultation that linguals and ceramics are likely to touch! Since then I had two other orthos saying they regularly fit both linguals and ceramics together. It's quite reassuring to hear what you're paying. I'm paying £6000 Inc retainers but wasn't sure if I was being ripped off.

[lollypop]

P.S. I've had my xrays and impressions. I'm booked in for 1st June to get brackets on. Then I need to have extractions then they'll be putting wires on about two weeks after. I have an estimated treatment time of 18 months +/- 3 months.

[Viconia]

So relieving to hear that you didn't have any side effects post-filing/shaping, newbite. My teeth sound similar to yours in that they can be sensitive day to day so hearing that you were ok makes me feel much better. I use sensodyne tooth paste normally but might start looking for stronger ones just in case! I know what you mean about the enamel loss though, when my ortho said it had no negative side effects on the teeth I was thinking about him stripping away those precious layers but he said it's so little that you don't notice day to day. I suppose, looking at it a different way, that I would be more upset if after that massive investment in both time and money that my teeth physically could not straighten out due to lack of space.

I already have an electric toothbrush, so that's something :-) I am surprised to read you use the sensitive heads and not the orthodontic heads, is there a reason why or have you just never tried them?

Lollypop- glad I'm not the only one who was told that about the brackets. My current ortho was also very reassuring and said that in many ways our configuration is easier because the bottom linguals are the ones that cause most of the speech impediment so let's see how we fare! You are about a month ahead of me so would love to hear how you're getting on :-)

[lollypop]

I hear that too about the linguals affecting speech more on the bottom. I'm also hoping they'll cut in to my tongue less but we'll see. I'll definitely keep you all updated. Just want to get started now. Feels like forever!

[newbite]

I use the sensitive heads because I have pretty bad gum recession and am doing everything I can to not make it worse. They hold up excellently to the braces and they get my teeth just as clean.

You can ask your dentist about prescription fluoride/sensitive toothpaste. I use Prevident. The ortho was really glad to hear I was already using it even before braces, he said he wished all of his patients would use it!