Metal Mouth Message Board

And there is also still quite some levelling to do.... (although it has been much worse before). I hope my ortho can fix this/ make all my lower teeth the same height and hopefully intrude them all a bit, because they are very long now I think.

I think you will be fine without surgery. I know you are really struggling with the decision!

Thank you so much for your reply, Sunshineray. Do you really think I can get an acceptable result without surgery?
It is indeed a struggle for me. Should I go for perfection (surgery) or just be happy with a nice improvement, although it will never be perfect? Willl I regret having not surgery afterwards or will I be very happy with the great improvement the braces alone are bringing me? Time will learn I think.....

Totally think you'll get a great result without surgery...they are looking pretty great now! And such an improvement - your teeth look much more level!

Thanks for your encouragement, Starfish. I really hope you are right. My main concern is my crossbite, but I hope my ortho can also fix that... Your results are really amazing, that gives me good hope!

Hello!

Today I had an appointment with my ortho to talk about my progress and he thinks surgery for my crossbite or any other surgery is not necessary anymore, or at least it is not worth the risk of complications ed. However, my upper jaw will always remain narrow, there is nothing more he can do about this. And he also cannot widen my smile more with braces, because it has already widenened a lot.

My original sentence was 9 months in braces. I have been in braces for 9 months now and I will be in braces for another 6-9 months. So I am going over my orginal estimate, but I am totally fine with this.

I hope he is right that I will get an acceptable result without surgery and then I should have peace with this (that I will never get a perfect smile, just a 'good' smile. ). Or should I go for a second opinion? What do you think?

Do you think my smile is acceptable? How obvious is my narrow upper jaw? How obvious is the cant in my upper jaw? And how obvious is my midline shift? But maybe I should relax about the latter, because I still have months to go!

But I should not only complain and worry, I must add that I am very happy with the huge progress I have made in these first 9 months!

Anna

I had an appointment with the surgeon today and he said I don't need surgery! He thinks my jaw problems/malloclusion are too small to talke the risk of surgery and he is confident that my ortho can give me a good bite with braces only. He said I am lucky, that the braces probably did a much better job than my ortho initially expected.

My upper jaw is a bit narrow, but not so narrow that he thinks it is not worth doing SARPE. And my ortho has almost corrected my crossbite, which is good.

I so much hope this all will give me the peace I am longing for. That I am not longer so self conscious about my teeth. When both my ortho and the surgeon say that I will be fine, then it must be true!

What progress from your first photo! How exciting!
I have open bite, too, and see that my brackets are configured very much like yours.
When I began, I could put a pencil between my uppers and lowers. Now, after almost five months, I can just barely get the tip of my tongue in between uppers and lowers. Orthodontist told me I needed surgery for "perfection", as you put it. I'm going for improvement, not perfection. At 52, I decided I was just too awesome not to have straighter teeth.
I don't expect to reach perfection of any kind on this side of heaven.
I hope you can be pleased with your progress and enjoy your new smile. It really is beautiful!

Thanks for your very kind reply, Nana. I am happy that you are making such great progress too! That is great that your open bite is much smaller now! Maybe you can post some progress pictures? (but only if you want of course).

That is beautifully said that you don't expect perfection on this side of heaven. And it is true, nothing in this life is perfect and there is even some beauty in imperfection I think. It makes life so much easier if you have that attitude and I hope I can just let go my strive for perfection and self consciousness about my teeth....and enjoy all the progress I have made!

I want to wish you all a very happy 2014!!!!
And thank you all very much for your support in the past year, that meant so much for me!

Midline issues are always so noticable to the person who has the problem but are never noticable to anyone else. I didn't realize Tom Cruise had such a major midline issue until I was in braces myself. It is possible that your ortho can do a little IPR to fix the midline but you should decide if it is something you can live with, just in case he can't fix it without throwing off your bite. With so many complicated issues, it could always be tempting fate to try to fix something like that.

Thanks for your reply, Whiteswan. It is true that midline problems are not really noticable to others. When I ask others they think my midline is just fine, and even my ortho and surgeon don't think my midline is not really off! (while it defnitely is...).
I hope my ortho can fix my midline a bit and I will ask him about it, but given all my issues, I think I must be happy with a compromise. If he can give me a good bite without surgery then I think I must be very happy and nog bother too much about my midline which is not perfect.

I had an adjustment today and I got a class II elastic on my left side to correct my midline, a powerchain on my top arch and my ortho made many bends in my lower wire.
He stresses again that I don't need surgery anymore. My top jaw may be narrow but my molar relationship is good now. I definitely hope everything will turn out well. The estimate is that I will be in braces for another 9 months.

Anna, my dear, your mouth is looking absolutely beautiful! A big yay for elastics and powerchains! That's serious progress, girl! And a gigantic YAY for no surgery!

Amazing progress, love!!

Thank you very much for your most loving comments, Ellabella. You are so lovely and that means so much for me in this emotional journey. And so I also feel with you about everything you wrote in your post (fiancee debraced with a perfect bite), , but we will both get there I am sure! I honestly think your teeth look very beautiful already and it can only get better in the coming year!