Braces and a touch decision

[kamom]

I would ask the ortho how many times he has had to put braces on a second time. There is an ortho in our area that puts braces on kids when they are in middle school and then most of them end up having to have them a second time in HS. I don't understand why parents keep going back.

There is a reason the older guy has been in business so long! Maybe the office looks the way it does because he chooses good care over a fancy office. Sometimes "old school" is better because it works!!!

 

[ceecee]

Honestly I don't know what I would do, my kiddos are probably going to have to have braces in the next year or so but we haven't reached that point yet. Luckily their dentist is also an ortho so I don't have to worry about finding a new dentist.

Most orthodontists don't do general dentistry. Make sure you go to an Orthodontist not a general dentist who does ortho and many do. It's a weekend course over the period of months not 2 yrs extra that an Orthodontist has. People get confused over the speciality issues (oral surgeons, periodontists, etc).

 

[NYEmomma]

Wow, pulling 4 teeth just to make your remaining teeth straight... that just seems CRAZY to me! But from the other responses, seems like it isn't too out of the norm so I must just be out of touch, lol.

FWIW, my mom had a palate expander when she got braces. Which was right before I got married so she was approx 40. So I don't think there's an age limit for the palate expander to be useful.

Good luck with your decision... I wouldn't know which way to go!

 

[starstruck93]

so my husband convinced me to switch dental plans the start of this year because we would only have to pay $500 for dd's braces, i figured it was too good to be true, and in a way it was, I only have 3 people in my area to choose from, here are the details, the first office I went to everyone was super nice, I liked the doc, but it was so old and run down and no room to hardly move(packed like sardines I felt) that guy wanted to do headgear at night which I thought a little old school, he's been practicing ortho for over 30 years, and when looking online has got about 5 bad reviews and 1 good review, the second guy although much nicer office etc. wanted to pull up to possibly 4 perm teeth, which my gut told me just didn't seem right, office an staff were nice and their reviews were soso, my third choice had a lot more bad reviews online so I'm not even wasting my time, and to top it all off I drive 35 minutes away to a place that was listed on my insurance site but they tell me oh we don't take that insurance anymore and that they had been asking for awhile for them to take them off their site, I was so pissed I called my insurance right there to file a complaint! Way to use up some gas Well went ahead and did the consult and he says he just wants to do regular braces nothing else special.
I did one other consult out of my insurance plan and they wanted to do one of those things you put in the roof of your mouth and turn a key, can't remember the name. So 4 completely different opinions! WHEW! But all these estimates were about $4,500-$6,000(the first 2 guys I mentioned I'd actually only be paying the $500 copay though).......so I dunno if I should just do the headgear guy for $500 or just wait another year switch insurance(we are able to choose from a few every year, it is actually the same company just different benefits, the other one we can switch to is at the same cost(which is actually free for us) and pays up to $1000 for braces, which means we'll still be having to pay around $4000) ............I just can't quit thinking about it, is it worth it to take my chance at the old run down office that I didn't feel real comfortable in and wondering about the headgear but loved the staff and doctor or wait until next year and spend a lot more money? Unfortunately I've asked so many and everyone else seems to be on the same boat, they really don't know what they'd do.......the pros and cons are really kind of even I guess you should say.......if it wasn't such a big price difference I think the decision would be easier.....
so anyone want to help me think this out some more.....I've really overthinked I think really

Yes.... I totally understand your frustration... none of those people sound that great! I think I would wait another year and switch insurances. That's a huge chunk to pay instead of $500! I had the "roof in the mouth key thingy"back in 1992 when I was in high school... I do not know the name of it either but it worked. That thing was actually an alternative to a surgery; they wanted to expand my pallet to make room for my teeth....my orthodontist decided to try it and it worked. I had a really bad crowding problem with my teeth. When I was 11 they pulled 9 of my teeth in one day! I remember that it drove me crazy for the first week or so because food would always get stuck in it and I would slurp by spit at night because it would pool in the roof of mouth under the thing and make me feel like I was drowning! I do remember how quickly it made room for my teeth though.... in 2 weeks a half dollar could fit between my 2 front teeth! I think it was a pallet expander... does that ring a bell? Good luck and you're a good momma for doing all of this research. It's important that you like this place because you'll spend alot of time there! Keep us posted! Thanks, April

 

[MommaSnowwhite]

My DD10 is going to have headgear when after she gets a couple more molars. I don't think they are too old school - our ortho is a woman under 40 and has a very busy practice.

 

[Reddy]

I honestly didn't think the crowding looked that bad in my dh's mouth.....but then again I'm no dentist I like to go on my guy instinct a lot, not sure if that is a good thing

You also have to think about the wisedom teeth coming in
I was going to have have braces but the guy said pull these 4 teeth & my parents wouldn't do it for me -- did it for my little sister since someone explain why when she was young enough.
My teeth did get better after I got my wisedom teeth pull/cut out but it still makes me mad that I didn't get them & really needed them (I'm also told that it was because I'm the middle child so everything is wrong for me)

 

[starry_solo]

Here's my orthodontics story:

I got braces in at 12 years old. Went to Loma Linda University School of Dentistry and had it put in by the student who was already a dentist and going through the program to be an orthodontist (so everything was checked and double checked by the teacher).

I had two options (I had a slight underbite - that is, my lower teeth went slightly over my upper teeth when I smiled). The orthodontist gave us two options: (1) have surgery on my jaw to have it cracked/broken so when it healed, the underbite would be gone; (2) try the headgear [really a facemask] at night. I had most of my adult teeth in, fortunately, and there was no third option to pull teeth. I chose option #2 (well, my parents did) and wore the face mask for 6-9 months, I think.

After 3 years of braces (they wanted to get the teeth lined up just right, where when you smile, the line where your front teeth match up to the line above your lip and matches to the line where your bottom teeth are) - I said, enough! It was barely a millimeter in difference and it wasn't like I was going to be a model

Over the course of 2 years, my parents were able to make payments for the braces. Sis had hers done too, at the same time, so there were two years of payments to make.

Teeth look fine now Except, now the dentist wants to pull out the wisdom teeth (and I don't think I had them when I had the braces). Um, thanks, but no thanks!

 

[clanmcculloch]

Our ortho is fairly young (I'd say she's maybe in her 40s). She was recommended by somebody who's opinion I highly value. Our dentist at the time who also does orthodontal (something that ticks me off and one of the meany reasons we chose to leave the practice) wanted to put in a pallet expander for DD13. A couple local orthos were recommended to me by people who I tend to have very opposing views about medical and dental professonals. These orthodontist seem to use pallet expanders on almost everybody.

Our orthodontist told me that she rarely uses pallet expanders. She will in rare cases where the upper jaw just doesn't fit properly with the bottom jaw or the crowding is extreme but she prefers less invasive methods when the issue isn't extreme. DD13 used braces with headgear for her crowding. She only needed her headgear at home, never at school or out in public and never if she had friends over. She then transitioned to elastics. The friend of our who recommended our ortho did actually have a pallet expander for her daughter so I know it's not a flat out refusal to use the device. She just doesn't have one size fits all treatment which is what the other orthodontists in our area seem to have.

Her teeth are now beautiful and her bite is perfect. Her teeth all fit perfectly and suit her smile wonderfully.

I don't know that headgear is really old school. I'm very happy with our decision to go with the orthodontist that we did. We're using the same orthodontist for our younger DD now though her situation actually involves gaps between teeth meaning extra space so this isn't a decision we have to make for her.

 

[ceecee]

You also have to think about the wisedom teeth coming in
I was going to have have braces but the guy said pull these 4 teeth & my parents wouldn't do it for me -- did it for my little sister since someone explain why when she was young enough.
My teeth did get better after I got my wisedom teeth pull/cut out but it still makes me mad that I didn't get them & really needed them (I'm also told that it was because I'm the middle child so everything is wrong for me)

Maybe they were in a better financial place when the time came for your younger sister. You're never too old to get braces, go now and see what they say.

 

[runwad]

Here's my story. DD needed an expander at age 9 it was covered 100% with our crappy dental insurance at Sears Dental. The place was a dump I felt very uncomfortable taking her there. My dentist tried to reassure me, it's just an expander you can't mess up an expander she'll be alright. No she wasn't. The ortho had big fat fingers and he hurt dd every time he did something in her mouth. They made the mold wrong so the expander didn't fit but that didn't stop him from shoving it in and hurting DD. I felt so bad she was crying I was crying he made some smart comment to me, I forget what something like, I guess you're not a nurse. No ****** you're hurting my kid. Anyway I should've made him stop and taken her out but I didn't. He got it on, but once she was done with her expansion we never went back. I found a new ortho that friends had used and went there and paid for her braces out of pocket. I will never be cheap when it comes to my kids care again and I will always listen to my gut.

 

[clh2]

I would ask the ortho how many times he has had to put braces on a second time. There is an ortho in our area that puts braces on kids when they are in middle school and then most of them end up having to have them a second time in HS. I don't understand why parents keep going back.

My DD was one of "those" kids who had braces 2 times. And...we knew from the very beginning that DD would need two rounds of treatment. Yes, her teeth were really that bad. Ended up with 2 different rounds, the first was about 15 months, the second about 4 years later for about 1.5 years.

The first round was for "major corrections" - the pallate expander, and generally getting the teeth to the correct place. The second round was for more minor corrections. DD's teeth were literally coming in on top of each other.

DD was originally "predicted to need" head gear for round two, but it was decided that when she had round two that it wasn't going to be needed.

Her teeth look beautiful now!!!

This ortho was highly recommended by DD's pediatric dentist. And now that the ped dentist is no longer in our area, the ortho has recommended DD's current dentist. We did not "shop" orthodontists. We were very comfortable with the one that was recommended to us.

 

[Carina]

My Daughter is currently downstairs asleep, in headgear

I would agree that wearing it all the time is 'oldschool' but as our (not old) ortho says "headgear is still around because it WORKS"

It does something very different than a pallet expander, so I'm not sure that each consultation your DD got was an exact list of every single thing they were going to do to her. I know I was given the 'jist' of things then, but for the most part we find out whats next as we finish one thing up and are ready for the next.

My DD had an appliance (twin block) that thrust her bottom jaw forward and created bone growth in her bottom jaw - it was removable and also had a built in pallet expander, that was all done before her braces were put on.
Now she has top braces and headgear. In a few more months she will get bottom braces
She has less wrong with her bottom teeth, so the bottom braces go on later, but will come off at the same time as her top braces.

I REALLY would not judge an orthodontist based on the decor of his office. In fact I think less fancy decor may mean less mark-up on his fees.

________________

My other 2 kids also need a bunch of ortho work, but they will be getting very different things done, as their needs are different

For example, my son will be getting a herbst appliance to encourage jaw growth, not the thing his sister had. - Same orthodontist.