Metal Mouth Message Board

Clo may your Christmas wishes of a good bite be achieved in the coming year!

Mike

Hi Clo...just checking in to see what the latest progress on your treatment is?

Hi, so glad I can communicate again here !

I prepared some info earlier hoping I could continue my ongoing story here.
First, date is the 6th of January :

I fear I have to bring again some bad news. But it will not last long, I'll explain.
You know I saw ortho 4 and had a not too bad appointment. The idea was that
he would meet ortho 3 to speak and brainstorm about my case. I really hoped
he would have much better plans than I had up to now. But I hoped too that
ortho 3 would not kinda contaminate ortho 4 with her ideas. I got a mail from
her today(i.e. some weeks ago), and I am sure she did. In essence she told me
they can't close my bite, and even if they could, it wouldn't be stable because
of tongue issues. That jaw joint degeneration is the cause of my open bite. All
things that I am sure are NOT true at all. Anyways, she will make molds next
week for permanent retainers on both upper and lower teeth, which I do not
want at all. And some weeks later she will remove my braces and install the
retainers. Maybe ortho 4 would try something with that splint I talked about
earlier. But he would extract all my wisdom teeth, which I do not want and do
not need.

So, this is probably the worst news I could get. It is obvious that I will not get
improvement at all that way. So, I admit I will end the battle. I tried so very
hard, because all this is due to mistreatment in the first place. Because I am
certain it is fixable. But not here, not now. So, I give in.

And the second, date is some days ago :

In one last attempt, I mailed to ortho 3 and 4.
To ortho 3. I told her that I do not believe that the cause of my open bite she
mentioned is correct. That I think my teeth are not ready at all to finish now.
That I don't want permanent retainers.
To ortho 4. I asked if he could help me without extracting my third molars. I
gave some reasons why I do not want this.

It took some time them to answer. But then they finally did.

Ortho 3. I saw her this week. She did tweak a bit here and there to make the
alignment better. So, she didn't make molds for the retainers yet. And she'll
speak to ortho 4 about my wish not to have permanent retainers. The plan is
now to have a lower Hawley. And a permanent retainer for the uppers so that
he still can work on my bite. So, then I would have a lower Hawley, an upper
fixed retainer and that splint thing to intrude my upper back teeth. Later on
maybe braces again to make the right occlusion. If my bite is closed. IF.

Ortho 4. He mailed me back to tell me he could do the intrusion without
extracting my wisdom teeth after all. I feel that he is not very thrilled about it.

Now, the idea is that once more ortho 3 will talk to ortho 4 about how to go on.
But I have to admit that my motivation about the whole thing is now very very
low. It feels like my motivation did the same thing as those springs I once had.
It snapped. I will wait and see what they'll tell me. Maybe that will help.

What a story.....that is all that my mind could come up with after reading your story. I am so sorry that you had to go through all this. I know that with braces it makes your bight worse before it gets better....but its suppose to get better. It's suppose to! Was it the first orthodontist you saw that made things the way it was?
You dont seem like a spitefull person but I would sue (sp) the first ortho and get my money back
No. I'm kidding...well half kidding. Again I am so sorry and I know your morale is so low right now, but try to be optimistic. easier said then done i know. Good luck

Clo, forgive me if someone asked this question before, but didn't they try to intrude the back molars already and it did not work? And what reason did Ortho 4 give for wanting to extract the wisdom teeth? Did he feel that he could do accomplish something by those extractions? And have you decided against any jaw surgery?

I know this sounds drastic but have you thought about reshaping the back teeth and crowning them so that they fit together better and close the front open bite?

Good for you for standing up for yourself Clo. At least you won't let them give up on you yet.
I hope the intrusion works and you get a normal bite again.

Thanks !

@ Chris : during more than a year now, ortho 3 tried to intrude my upper back
teeth. Hence the bone anchors. It didn't work up to now. Because, and this is
my humble opinion, she didn't do it right. If I bite down, all back teeth meet too
early. Therefor it is obvious one thinks of removing the very last teeth. Then
the contact comes a lil later, and the open bite closes a bit more. But in my case,
they would need to extract all my molars I think to finally get a closed bite in the
front. Because my 3th molars are in an excellent condition, because they were
not a problem before I started, because removing them will only give me a very
small improvement, for all those reasons I refuse to have them extracted. The
second ortho shaved a bit off of the occlusive planes. It only helped a bit because
the mess they made is too big. To me, I have a typical case now in which they
cut off the upper jaw and reposition it, the back part placed higher. Or what they
call a posterior impaction. This is done in a Lefort 1 jaw surgery. But because
all this mess is because of mistreatment, and because of all the risks and costs
and lack of knowing a good surgeon who could do that, I still hope I can have
a similar result by having braces. The device ortho 4 would use would do exactly
that : impacting the back upper teeth.

Dear God, Clo, most of this is waaaay over my head, but I just wanted to add that I am pulling for you as well... to have a decent result in the end.

Wow, I just read your story and cannot imagine what you have endured. I don’t think you should have to pay for all this especially when ortho 1 prob. Did something wrong to mess up your bite the way he did in the first place.
I hope that you don’t give up just yet, there may still be a light at the end of the tunnel for you.

Thanks allisun and miss25 !

Hi all,

some time ago, I wrote that the idea was that ortho 3 would talk to ortho 4
about how to go on. That conversation never really happened. So, ortho 3
did end my treatment. I am now without braces, after almost 5 years. Am I
happy, one assistant asked when my ortho left for some moments. Eh, no,
I said, I had an open bite and still have ... that open bite. But at least your
teeth are now well aligned, she said. Eh, they were also well aligned before
I started here (ortho 3). Yes, she said, closing a front open bite is the most
difficult thing in orthodontics. Well, I think this summarizes it well. After a
complete treatment done by ortho 3, I am about on the same spot as when
I started there. No bite improvement. When I bite down, I only have contact
with the second molars, and even then only with the outer parts of the bite
surfaces of them. I manage to eat, I always manage. But this is getting not
much for paying that much and giving it all this time and effort.

I now have bonded retainers on both upper and lower 6 front teeth, and
rather bulky Hawleys that I have to wear a lot, as much as I can, always.
This is how my teeth look now. I am not that thrilled of how they look.







I am so ashamed to show these pics because they are clearly not what one
would expect when ending a treatment of about 5 years. You have to know
I am really biting down as much as I can in these pics !

My plan is now to see that 4th ortho within some weeks. And listen to what
his opinion is. Then I'll decide what I will do next.

Hi Clo, you have been through so much. I am new to this forum, but not new to braces. I have had my top ones on since November 2005, and bottoms since June 2006. I thought I had been through alot, but I really don't know if I could have tolerated as much as you have as well as you seem to have. You are a trooper!! I feel like a big crybaby cuz I HATE my braces. I wish them off! When will it end? I don't know and when people ask me I tell them probably never. I had a really bad deep bite in front and pretty bad open bite on the left side of my mouth, my right side seemed ok. My original estimate was 2 1/2 to 3 years, but here it is 3 1/2 years and still have a little bit of the deep bite in front and the open bit on the left side I can stick my tongue through. I think I need to post my story too, but I am sure it is not as interesting as yours. I wish you all the luck in the world. I sure hope you can finally get your bite fixed!

I am curious to what is going on with the new ortho. Do you have any news for us?