Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello, everyone. I'm new here and I have really been stressing out over my teeth!

I was born without four adult premolars. My baby teeth were hanging in just fine and I never had any major problem with my teeth. I've always been told I'm attractive and have beautiful teeth even by dentists, but lately I just feel hideous and bad about myself. I've always suffered with BDD, but these jaw issues I'm having are literally making me feel like I never want to leave the house. I'm in my late 20's and I don't have health insurance at the moment, so surgery (if it's needed) is kind of out of the question for me.. at least for now.

So basically about two years ago I started the process of getting dental implants. Nothing was wrong with the baby teeth. They were hanging in there. I wanted to do it more for cosmetics and preventative reasons. I'm really upset and even pissed off at the dentist I went to for this. I moved out of state for my career and the periodontist who did the implants referred me to this dentist, but I think they just picked someone randomly out of their list of dentists in my area. I think this dentist didn't have a of experience with dental implants. He told me after I had already had them done that he was completing a residency in dental implants and taking all kinds of tests for it and I'm sitting there thinking "wth!?" It was thousands of dollars out of my pocket.

At the consultation for this, this dentist never mentioned a word about me having an "open bite" or anything of the sort. In fact, I had never heard these words before! My story is so upsetting that I actually want to sue this dentist.

The process for dental implants was pretty long and while the implants were healing and fusing to the bone, I had to go through hell, wearing this stupid "flipper" type thing before the actual crowns could be placed. They kept praising the lab they worked with that made the crowns, but they sucked.

The thing is, obviously, baby teeth are much smaller than adult teeth and the height of a baby premolar vs an adult one is also different. I asked for the crowns to be made match the height of the rest of my teeth, but the kicker is that had braces as a child. The orthodontist aligned my teeth to fit perfectly with the height of the baby teeth. The dentist NEVER took this into account when I requested the premolars to be the same height as everything else. It was after these crowns were placed (several weeks after) that this dentist said to me, "You have an open bite."

Now, there is no way I can get braces to fix this with implants because they are all in places that prevent my teeth from moving. It would be very difficult to do with the implants in the way. it's been a total nightmare for me.

I have consulted with two different orthodontists. I've spent hundreds of dollars in x-rays. One orthodontist tried to tell me my chin "slopes in" and that I need corrective jaw surgery to fix the open bite and that it's a genetic problem. Another orthodontist who is the top orthodontst in my area said that I don't have an open bite whatsoever. I'm going back to him in a few weeks. He doesn't know if I need jaw surgery or not. But to be honest, I am horrified to know if I do... it just makes me feel bad about myself! I don't want the surgery. When I read these stories, I see so many heartbreaking stories where the people regret the surgery and want it reversed. They hate their new faces. It's just so sad and so scary. And it's so much to go through. It just seems like such a gamble to get this surgery done because there's no real way you can know for sure what you'll come out looking like. And after my experience with my dentist, I don't feel comfortable trusting my looks in the hands of other people. So many really don't have an eye for artistry.

The other thing is that I wore a bite guard that the dentist and yet another (different) orthodontist insisted that I wear so I don't grind my teeth down (this was also before it was ever mentioned that I have an "open bite). The bite guard was a retainer and bite guard in one with thick acryclic on the back of the top retainer that prevented my teeth from touching eachother. I believe this also created the open bite.

I never, ever had any type of bite problems before I embarked on this implant journey. I'm just so physically and emotionally drained and depressed about these issues. It's become an obsession and I have so much anxiety now when I go to the dentist. I can't bring myself to go back to the new orthodontist even though he was nice... I just hate hearing what they say about my bite and having them critique me and pry open my mouth. Ugh. it just makes me feel hideous. I might show pictures, but I'd rather not post them publicly.

I also forgot to add that I do have TMJ (that's what I meant by "jaw" issues) In my first post. I'm always worried that by popping my jaw, I'm damaging it or something.

You might feel better posting pictures of just your mouth (take a picture, then crop away the rest of your face if you need to).

I'm sorry I can't be much help. But the people on this forum tend to be very helpful and supportive. And there seem to me to be far more happy people with great results than folks who are upset with their results. If you do your research ahead of time, and choose your doctors wisely, it will help you get a better result. That, and talking very specifically about your concerns and goal before any treatment is decided on.

It's funny that one orthodontist said you didn't have an open bite. Does your bite feel different now? Can you feel all of your top teeth touching your bottom teeth like they did before your implants?

If people thought your smile was beautiful before the implants, I would take their word for it, and know that it's still beautiful now.

If it's stressing you out to hear an ortho's or surgeon's diagnosis, tell them up front you need to be treated honestly, but gently. Don't be embarrassed to demand that they treat you with respect and polite courtesy. Let them know that esthetics are very important to you, but you can't handle extreme criticism to your current face/smile. Maybe have them focus on possible improvements and benefits rather than the shortcomings of your current smile. If you decide to receive treatment from these people, you're going to be seeing a lot of them, so you'll want to make sure that they don't send you into a downward emotional spiral after every visit.

No, he didn't say I don't have an open bite. He said I don't have a recessed chin. Sorry if I wrote that in my original post, if I did, it was an accident.

I might post pics.. but I'm just very nervous about everything. I know I have a slight open bite. And I know a lot of people are happy with their outcomes, but there really are so many that aren't. I'm a professional writer and researcher for a living and I've definitely done my research on this topic. I like my face the way it is and I just can't imagine putting my face in the hands of some surgeon who might or might not really give me a better result. I have BDD, so it's even riskier for me. If something went wrong, I would probably become suicidal and that's just my own self-awareness speaking.

Kat, I PM'd you.

bellakai wrote:Kat, I PM'd you.

I PM'd you back

Re-reading the original post. Just thought of something. It sounds odd to me that your dentist asked you how high the crowns should be. Doesn't is seem like he should have been the one to decide how your teeth fit together and make appropriate crowns to fit your existing bite?

Yes, it does seem like he should have been the one to make that judgement call. It made me upset and confused when he told me at least 2 years after he did my implants that he was going through a residency for implants! I feel like maybe he hadn't done many of them before and I was one of the first people he did them on. It makes me so upset because implant crowns are very, very difficult to remove and could end up shattering the abutment (an abutment is the thing that sits between the actual screw and the crown). It could just do a lot of damage to try to remove on and a dentist can only drill very lightly on the surface of a porcelain crown or it will just ruin the porcelain and it won't feel very "tooth-like" to drill on it a lot.

One of the crowns feels like a bulbous lollipop inside my mouth. I have to tell myself not to pay attention to it. I don't think I should even notice that it's there. It is so annoying and frustrating.