Metal Mouth Message Board

28,male. I already have braces on for a week. The orthodontic wants to extract 3 first bicuspid. I had a second bicuspid on my lower left removed a couple years back due to its impact on the side to my tongue since I was a teenager (16).

The problem is with my lower front teeth are crowding, he said I need to have the lower right 1st bicuspid remove for them to move.

The problem with my top teeth is that they are overlapping and protruding the lower ones more than ideal. One canine tooth is not in the right position and protrude above, so the one of the bicuspids right next to it must be extracted to bring it down, and by doing so, the other side bicuspid must also be extracted to move my top midline to ideal position as they are shifted to the left. The crowding of my top back molars is somewhat bad too.

It all makes sense to me, but I still apprehensive about extracting healthy teeth, after reading horror stories about extracting for braces. It also seems like the top bicuspid size is very big, I don't see how he can close all the gaps especially on the right side.

The orthodontic told me it is best option for me, and it will improve my profile as it will bring back the teeth so my side profile will not look as protrude.

Go get another opinion from another ortho and see if they say similar things.

We aren't a dentists here but a lot of us have had extractions, surgery, braces.... our treatment plans have been fine

The plan sounds reasonable to me, but of course what do I know. I did have an extraction to make room in the beginning -- a lower bicuspid that every dentist I have ever seen considered removing it because it was tipped lingually -- but since I kept it clean they seemed satisfied. However when I started orthodontics, my ortho made it clear that tooth would have to go, and explained the rationale. They can close huge gaps -- you just want to make sure that your midline is relatively "normal" and not shifted more than a few mm. Best of luck to you!

Lokn84 wrote:28,male. I already have braces on for a week. The orthodontic wants to extract 3 first bicuspid. I had a second bicuspid on my lower left removed a couple years back due to its impact on the side to my tongue since I was a teenager (16).

The problem is with my lower front teeth are crowding, he said I need to have the lower right 1st bicuspid remove for them to move.

The problem with my top teeth is that they are overlapping and protruding the lower ones more than ideal. One canine tooth is not in the right position and protrude above, so the one of the bicuspids right next to it must be extracted to bring it down, and by doing so, the other side bicuspid must also be extracted to move my top midline to ideal position as they are shifted to the left. The crowding of my top back molars is somewhat bad too.

It all makes sense to me, but I still apprehensive about extracting healthy teeth, after reading horror stories about extracting for braces. It also seems like the top bicuspid size is very big, I don't see how he can close all the gaps especially on the right side.

The orthodontic told me it is best option for me, and it will improve my profile as it will bring back the teeth so my side profile will not look as protrude.

Do you suffer from bimax protrusion? Or from a Class II overbite? Does your chin look weak?

When in doubt, go for more consultations and asks all potential Orthodontists why their plan makes sense.

And if 2/3 recommend extractions, it's probably a good idea in your case.