Orthodontist changed unexpectedly, now treatment different!

[chookwoose]

My 12 year old daughter has had a brace for about a year now, her last check-up was cancelled and changed to a few weeks later. Well we went yesterday and discovered the orthodontist she had been seeing had left unexpectedly:confused: and the new one has totally changed the treatment!
The brace had been due to come off next summer, she had a tooth out due to overcrowding, and we had been advised that once the teeth were straightened there would be a bit of overjet(?) which was fine. The new orthodontist now wants two more teeth out, daughter to start wearing elastics now and he wants to pull the top teeth back and the gaps where teeth to come out will close up, so now looking at another 18 months at least. This all came as a shock as the treatment had been going absolutely fine and no mention of elastics and more teeth out:confused:
Does anyone have any experience of this happening where the treatment changes so suddenly? We really dont know what to do and daughter quite upset. Thanks and sorry for long waffle!

[InDebted2U]

My daughter had six teeth out (under a general) this year, to make room for her adult teeth. At the age of 14, she still had two baby teeth left! And it turned out that under one of them there was no adult tooth to come through. Before we made the decision to go ahead with the extractions (it was my daughter's decision), we had to weigh up the likelihood that if she didn't have them out now then she would almost certainly have probelms as an adult, especially if her wisdom teeth decided to come through.

I guess what's happened in your case is that the new orthodontist feels that her mouth will still be overcrowded without removing the two extra teeth, and is trying to give her the best smile possible. Although this means her treatment will probably be longer now, she is still young, and if it were me, I would be inclined to go ahead. However, if you are concerned at this unexpected change in treatment then I would ask to fully discuss it with the new orthodontist first, to help you make a decision. I never had a brace, and have the overcrowded higgledy-piggledy teeth to prove it. :(

[coldstreamalways]

Hi chookwise, unfortunately, most healthcare professionals have different ideas about how the same thing should be achieved. This means that aside from a few "principles", you will rarely find two orthodontists who agree on a treatment plan.

If you are concerned about it, you should ask the orthodontist to explain the new treatment plan, why elastics weren't mentioned, why the need for more extractions etc. They should be fine in explaining the differences but remember (I always say) we have the same destination (ie straight teeth) but wee all choose different routes to get there-so don't automatically think that one of them is not doing their job properly (I'm not suggesting that is what you were thinking) because their chosen treatment differs.

[Keeping Motivated]

Hi I don't have any experience of this but have you looked at the site www.archwired.com (http://www.archwired.com) and maybe post on their forum as its really good.

Good luck

[beedeedee]

When we lived in Scotland and our son was about 15, out of the blue he was referred to an orthodontist by our then dentist. We were told that he had to have certain teeth out immediately and there were teeth lurking under the gums in the lower front which would require an operation within a very short time frame. We all came out reeling..........
We unexpectedly got moved back to England before anything could be done and duly turned up at a local dentist to re-register etc, fully expecting him to refer our son once again to an orthodontist, straightaway. He looked at us as though we were mad - said there was absolutely nothing wrong - nor would there be in respect of needing any operations or removal of any teeth and he was right - there never has been! Our son is now 32 - has a marvellous set of gnashers all nice and straight and even. Can only assume that our dentist was trying to drum up business for his mate the orthodontist.......

[chookwoose]

Thanks for all you replies.

After some thought, we are going ahead with the two teeth out and elastics and brace to move the teeth.