Metal Mouth Message Board

I posted this on the Invisalign/lingual board, but figure I'll post it here as well.
And yes, there are probably a thousand similar posts, but somehow they are not turning up on the search.

I have an 8 mm overjet and had not really intended to do anything about it since I'm fine with it cosmetically. The teeth look good and straight.
But then, ta-daaah! Suddenly it turns out I need braces now (I'm 34) or in twenty years my lower teeth will have separated me from my upper front teeth.

Let me start off by saying that I live in a small town, so my orthodontic choices are somewhat limited. So far I've seen three different orthodontic doctors. Let me list them in order:

1. Had been trained to use the Invisalign system, but claimed my overbite was to severe to be treated with that. Does not know lingual.

2. talked to me about several different options, including jaw surgery, the titan screw in the roof of the mouth (yieks!!!) and three years of rails. He also quoted me a fairly high price. But the the real thumbs down was simply not clicking with him on a level of speaking as two adults discussing treatment options. Does not know Invisalign, but does do lingual.

3. Insists I have jaw surgery for her to treat me. Does not know Invisalign, but does do lingual. I'm leaning towards her treating me.

Now here is my dilemma: should I see yet a fourth doctor about getting the Invisalign?
Are there any Invisalign patients out there with an overbite/overjet my size?
Are there any orthodontic doctors reading this that might have an opinion?
And I understand the reasoning behind putting a titan screw up my gum, but is it an absolute must?

I'm no ortho, dentist, or even close, but have been in the "shopping" mode and can relate, so I'll throw in my two cents:

Preamble-Who told you that if you didn't get braces that you'd have problems 10-20 years from now? Did that person also say you needed surgery? I can see if you are starting to have problems, but if you are OK with things, and problems *might* arise, they *might not* too and I don't understand the flurry of activity all of a sudden.

1. Run, fast, from the guy who didn't treat you like an adult. Your instincts are right, this is an adult relationship and if you don't have mutual respect, it'll be miserable.

2. Again, I'm no ortho, but here goes. I do not understand why anyone would say you "must" have jaw surgery when there is not a consistent belief that you need surgery. Surgery as you are describing sounds "elective" and being forced to have it just so someone will treat you negates the concept of being elective. If it were me, I'd run even faster from that ortho, on the grounds of ethics violations.

3. Linguals, from what I understand, are not particularly well received by the ortho community, so you probably won't find many who do them. Even where I am - in metropolitan Washington DC - I have never found anyone who will do them. Invisalign appears to be the 21st century solution to invisible braces, linguals were in the 20th. They are wicked on your mouth and really impede speech. If your goal is to get your teeth fixed unobstrusively, and you are a candidate for Invisalign (not everyone is), from what I understand that is a way better solution and much, much, much more commonly available.

4. So as to get input from someone who does not have a vested interest in your orthodontic choices, can you get a consult with an oral surgeon to find out if the need for surgery is serious and imminent, or something that can be approached with expectant waiting.

5. If #1 didn't want to do Invisalign, what did he/she suggest?

Pick and choose if/what makes sense to you. Good luck, I empathize with you and your struggles to get the information necessary to make an informed decision.

Allison

Thank you Allison!
So nice to get sound advice and common sense feed back!
Well, all three orthos have said that I'll eventually push my upper front teeth out of the gum. I have noticed that they seem to protrude more now than ten years ago, so they might be right. Yeah, Ifell all weird because my former dentist always said it was nothing to worry about.

1. LOL! Yes, I did! There is no chance I'm going back to him. He even called and kind of asked me why I had changed my mind (I cancelled a an appointment for the x-ray and such when I relized that I would not feel comfortable with him).

2. I hadn't even thought about! Wow. Yes, I'll have to think about that.

3. The problem is that both the ortho's I should run from do them, but not Invisalign. Did I mention I live in a totally small town in the middle of nowhere?

4. Yes, I absolutely will!

5. #1 sent me to #2 (patronizing guy) to get the lingual braces! (#1 does not do them).

At the moment I'll see if I can schedule an appointment with an ortho that comes highly recommended to me but would require me to travel a bit. But hey, it might be worth it.

The chances are if you have a severe overbite and/or overject the invisalign system will probably not be suitable for you. Im currently having my 9mm overject treated and its requiring use of elastics which cannot be done without brackets. I have a class II division I malloclusion and a 9mm overject with an overbite and its being corrected without surgery despite an ortho telling me i'd need it.

If you need fixed braces dont worry, they are far less noticable than you may think, creamics, and saphire? brackets make them alot more discrete. Some orthos even offer coated wires so they blend in with the tooth.

Linguals are not visible BUT they cause speech problems and cut up your tounge ALOT. You need to look at the pros and the cons of the treatments you want.

Definatley pick an ortho you feel comfortable with as you'll be spending alot of time there and have alot of questions to ask.

Okay, that sounds about similar to mine. Of course, I really can't tell anymore with all the orthos saying different stuff.