Whether to do braces or not

[klacey1]

I was one whose parents never paid for their braces (though they did for my brother...) and I really, really wish they did when I was in middle/early high school. One of my top front teeth completely stuck out and overlapped the tooth next to it and my bottom teeth were crowded.
As such, when I was 24, I paid $5,000 for Six Month Smile braces. These were almost entirely clear and I STILL felt silly being an adult in braces. They were on for about eight months and never for a second during did I regret the choice I made-- eight months of being embarrassed wearing braces was totally worth having great teeth now. (Full disclosure-- my teeth are straight but my bite is still off. The Six Month Smile doesn't correct the bite. However, I could not afford nor did I want to go 2+ years in silver braces for a perfect bite.) I love the way my teeth/smile looks now! Totally worth it!

 

[Ceila]

These days, it seems like every single child needs braces. Hummmm

Not really. I have one that does and one that does not. I know plenty of families like this.

 

[aprilgail2]

We had our two oldest in braces (now 22 and 20) spending around $10K total between the two.

For our oldest, the results were great. For our younger one, the results were not so great (with same doctor!). The younger one had his bottom teeth go right back to being VERY crooked only about a month after the braces were removed.

Did he not wear his retainer? My daughter had her braces off over 3 years ago and wears her retainers every night to keep her teeth the way she wants them to stay!

Dd had braces and we love the results. Her ortho was careful to leave some room in her mouth for her wisdom teeth. I have seen some who did not and more work had to be done later.

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We are having wisdom teeth issues right now- my daughters mouth is so small that they had to pull two adult teeth on top to even have room to bring her overbite in. Well now one wisdom tooth decided it was going to try to shove its way down into her mouth where it will not fit- they just did a whole panoramic x-ray and the other three wisdom teeth are sideways pushing into her back molars so now we are going to be removing all 4 of those- ahhh well its only money......

 

[jodifla]

My eldest has Aspergers, and when he was little having anyone messing around with his mouth caused serious terror, so we switched him to a big pediatric dental practice in a wealthy neighborhood because they had special facilities and experience with disabled kids. His younger sister now goes there, too.

When DS was about 7, the appt. secretary asked when we were going to be scheduling his first orthodontist visit. We asked to see the diagnosis that showed a problem, and she said there wasn't one on record; that it was just standard at that practice for all kids to start prepping for orthodontia at age 7. When we next saw the dentist, we asked what exactly was wrong with DS' teeth that would need that kind of correction, and he looked surprised. "Oh, nothing's WRONG with his teeth; but they won't look their absolute best until the orthodontia is done." Um, no ... we are not spending that kind of money and losing that much time from work and school for ortho appts. if there is no real reason for it. (He subsequently told us that we are the first and only insured parents using that practice who declined to put a child in braces. Quelle horreur!)

FWIW, DH has perfect teeth; any time he sees a new dentist he gets asked how long he wore braces. He didn't; he just has naturally straight teeth, and actually, DS' teeth are not that much different.. Mine are crowded and a little out of line, but I've never felt their appearance was a problem. Americans are WAY too obsessed with cosmetic dental issues.

Yes, I feel the same way. Something may come up that changes our mind about braces, but for now, we are holding off.

 

[lovin'fl]

My 3 kids had braces and here's what I regret. We started around age 7-8 with phase 1...and ended around age 15-16. Years of going to the ortho and sometimes they'd be on different schedules so I'd go 1 week with a kid and 2 weeks later with another kid...and my ortho was a relative so we drove an hour to his office (but we got a big break on the cost). I wish we would have waited and just did one phase.

Also, my DS was not super interested and kept breaking things. They gave him some barbarian looking spring contraption like this:

It ate up the inside of his cheek...it was awful and he broke it a time or 2. He wasn't very compliant and now, at 18, his teeth have shifted a tad and he hates it. I should have waited until he was older and would 'want' the treatment (now he cares how his teeth look).

Or I could have skipped it. I had braces and my DH didn't. My teeth have shifted (I learned through my kids' treatments that you need to wear retainers for life to keep things straight...no thanks). DH's teeth are only a tad worse than mine and he doesn't care and nor do his employers. He has never had issue with job interviews and whatnot.

 

[RainbowBrite]

I regret getting braces. I had no idea that braces can result in Apical root resorption - basically my roots are shorter and I was told two week ago at my last dentist visit that I will probably loose my top two front teeth. When my wisdom teeth came in my bottom teeth shifted and they are now crooked and overlap but I'm too afraid to get braces again, or Invisalign because it will do the same thing.

Also, the enamel came off some of my bottom teeth when the braces were removed.

 

[MommyBryn]

I regret getting braces when I was younger. I had them for a whopping 5 years (probably could have been about 4 had I been more committed to wearing my elastics) from 8th through 12th grade. Prior to that, at a younger age, I had an expander that I don't feel did much. But anyway, within about 3 years after my braces came off, my front teeth started overcrowding- an issue I did NOT have prior to the braces. It only got worse, leading me to hate my teeth and so I went back and got Invisalign in April (I am now 29 years old) and was finished with my treatment by November. LOVE the improvement, and SO glad I opted for Invisalign, as even with the attachments it was so much better than brackets. However, I have at least 6 friends from high school who had braces during those years who are having to get their teeth fixed again (or again AND again!). My sister is on her FOURTH round of orthodontic treatment (she is doing Invisalign this time as well, she is 22 now). It does make me wonder if there is a benefit to waiting for some people.

 

[MommyBryn]

Also, the enamel came off some of my bottom teeth when the braces were removed.

I have two teeth that this happened to from my brackets years ago, too.

 

[Pigeon]

We decided against braces and are very glad. Dd had a single tooth that was coming in at a weird angle.

Dh took her to the first ortho. He wanted to put her in a full set of braces for two years, for $8K. Dh tends not to ask many questions about this kind of thing.

I took her to the second ortho. Again with the two years, $8K. Other than the one tooth, her x-rays overlapped the theoretical "perfect" teeth except for the tiniest hint of an overbite. I asked if there was a Plan B. Well, yes, there was, but he wasn't going to offer it. He could have the wonky tooth exposed, and put a chain on it, with a much more minimal appliance to pull it into place. He thought it might take a year.

We opted for Plan B. It cost under $2K, and was done in less than six months. I am so glad we didn't get suckered into the braces.

The office assistant turned out to be a sister of an old friend of mine. She privately told me we had done the right thing, and that far too many people don't ask questions.

 

[MomofKatie]

We opted not to get braces for DD and have no regrets at all. Neither of us had braces (I didn't need them, DH should have gotten them and regrets that he didn't).

Our family dentist wavered on the "go for a consult or not" thing from age 8-12 for DD. We finally took her at age 12. The Orthodontist checked her out and asked us exactly why were we there? He saw no bite or other problems. He said if we wanted to put her in braces, it would be 100% cosmetic and only really address a small gap between her front teeth. The price tag for this was going to be more than $3k and 14 months' time.

We were okay with spending the money, but only if DD wanted to subject herself to braces for a very minor "flaw" that we weren't upset about. She told us she liked her smile the way it was, gap included. We left the orthodontist's office and never talked about it again.

Our dentist asked once, about 2 years after our consult, why we didn't put her in braces. We told him we were fine with her teeth the way they were, and he has never asked again. I would assume if he saw any kind of bite issue or problem, he would have told us we should look into it further.