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braces, surgery, & wisdom teeth

S

socialhazard

Junior member
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Messages
6
Hey all! I'm not really new here, I posted a few weeks ago when I was terrified of the dentist.. and with the support I found here on this site, I was more confident & better prepared to face my very first dental procedure.

I'm facing another one now, and I'm not quite as scared.. but I do need a few opinions. It's more so about orthodontics, I'm not sure if that's covered here.. but I have a space in my two front teeth that I've had since childhood, and my parents could never afford any kind of coverage for me or my brothers & sisters. So now that I'm married & we have the resources to take care of things like this, I looked into getting braces, and what my orthodontist told me was a little unsettling.. I have a crossbite, which I never knew (I always noticed my smile was 'off', but I didn't know why or what it was called), and that my jaw is shifted to the right side of my face quite a bit. To correct this, and my teeth, I would need braces for about a year, and then surgery to correct my jaw.

That part shocked me! But, that's only one of my treatment options. Braces & Surgery are Option 1. Option 2, however, is less severe.. but it won't fix my crossbite. With my jaw being so shifted to one side, one of my front bottom teeth fits nearly perfectly in the space between my top teeth. (I know, what a lovely mental image ;)) My orthodontist discussed extracting that bottom tooth, so I would have an even space in my top & bottom teeth (matching gaps, yay!), and then using braces to close both the spaces up. He said nobody would be able to tell that I ever had a tooth pulled, I was just have a perfect, straight, beautiful smile.

So, obviously, I'm at a loss. I don't know if anyone has gone through anything like this, but I'm desperately wanting some opinions. Would the surgery be better, because it fixes everything all at once, or extracting a bottom tooth & braces? I'm almost thinking surgery, because my orthodontist said that 10 years down the road, if I decide I want surgery then because my crossbite is bothering me, it would totally throw my teeth out of balance and I'd probably have to go through braces all over again. It's not bothering me now, but I'm concerned about later on in life.

Also, I need to have my wisdom teeth extracted, and in addition to that, my gums between my two front teeth are thicker than most, and they would need to snip a little right under my upper lip. I hate the thought of that, but if it needs to be done, then I'll have it done. My orthodontist said that if I opt for surgery, they could fix my jaw, extract my wisdom teeth, and snip that little bit of skin/gum all while I'm unconscious. So, I could get that all knocked out while *I'm* knocked out. ;D

I guess it sounds like my mind is already made up for surgery, and it kind of is.. but I definitely wanted some opinions before I settle on one option or another. So, if anyone has any ideas, opinions, or remarks.. I'm all ears!

Thanks! :)
 
I think it depends on what your expectations are. The less than ideal non-surgery option might be perfectly fine and functional, but really one can't say without seeing your teeth and thinking about what the outcome will be. Surgery can be quite a big decision to take, but sometimes to correct a problem that is the best choice to make a dramatic improvement.

You could get a second opinion from another orthodontist, but if you trust your current one, you could pursue it further with him unless you already have a good idea of what the two outcomes will be.
 
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