Braces

Toothsmith

Oh, and I do do fillings on patients that eat too much sugar, but again, I wouldn't do anything advanced on anybody until the processes causing the disease are understood and controlled.

I also do fillings on smokers. But most of the time with them, I'm making dentures. Their choice, not mine! But they generally get lovely straight dentures!

Terrylw1

Hi Toothsmith,

Can I pick your brain please?

The tooth directly behind my left canine has bent inwards slightly. This has happened over time (years) and I think started due to an injury.

I haven't seen a dentist for about 4 years (I know, give me a verbal slap - I always went at least every 6 months from when I was a child) as my dentist left his practice and moved too far away for me to attend. The remaining dentist couldn't take his customers on and to be honest I've kept putting it off due to work commitments - sure you've heard it many times. Not too many within a distance I can travel to be honest so I gave up looking at the time due to the fact I travelled a lot with work.

I'm slightly worried by how it's bent in. It's not much of an angle but you can see that it is on an angle compared to the rest.

I did have a brace (removable) in my teens. The rest of my teeth are shaped fine.

Do you think I need to get to a dentist to have this treated in someway or is it no big deal. (I realise getting regular check ups is a priority)

Thanks in advance

positivelymummy

thanks so much for your post peartree, loads of info in there, and re the smoking etc, well i live on an island with only 1 orthodontist, my dentist told me she doesn;t work on anyone who smokes, therefore he simply cannot refer me til i've stopped etc, he said if he did, she would just send me home until i'd stopped! yeah i was very p*ssed off, i felt like it was discrimination, my money is just the same as others, i am paying for this etc, i had smoked for about 20 years! but anyway, now i;ve stopped i suppose i dont feel as strongly as i did, cos i did it, stopped and kept off them, and my mouth is better (and the rest of me) but i so understand what you're saying! anyway, your post is very helpful to me, thanks for sharing, no doubt i will be back with questions!

positivelymummy

update***

well i am really quite gutted, went to the dentist (old filling had fallen out) and once again i asked him if he would now refer me to the orthodontist cos my teeth are clean. healthy, no gum probs etc and i haven't smoked for almost 2 years and he said "no, we'll wait a while to check if your oral hygene can be tip top!" jeez i could understand it if i was like the guy from the pogues or something, i feel really confused, i first starting asking to be refered about 4 years ago, i quit smoking, i've never had a bad tooth or needed a filling since i was about 10 so it shows i clearly brush my teeth, everytime i see my dentist he asks me if i floss? can he not bloody tell? he is reknown for his odd behaviour, i was just left speechless, he says i'm to go back and see him and the hygenist on 13th may 2008!!!! and he'll see then, but he's not guarenteeing he'llrefer me then either (but i'm already guessing he'll fob me off with another excuse) dentists are scare and being on an island there is no other choice, the only other dentist that may be available has a waiting list of over 2 years. so i guess i just have to wait yet again????? i am quite tempted to post a pic of my teeth to prove how clean they are! at this rate i'll be needing false teeth before i get braces. anyway rant over, dont suppose there is anything i can do, jeez if the orthodontist thought my teeth weren't fit to have braces let her decide, but i know they are, thats the maddening thing.

Toothsmith

Posting a picture won't really help, as it's not how clean the visible surfaces are that counts. It's what's going on down in the bit just below gum level, and in all the little gaps and spaces in between the molars.

I am not defending your dentist here - I think he needs to make a much better effort with a patient who is obviously very keen on the appearence of her teeth. He needs to work with you towards your goal.

He needs to explain just where you are missing, give you a better understanding of what you can do to turn things round, and set some sort of clear standard so that you know where you are now, and exactly what he is expecting before he will refer you.

He can't just refer you and let the orthodontist decide, as if you obviously (to him) haven't got good enough oral hygine then he will get a very curt letter back from the orthodontist thanking him not to waste her time.

Smoking causes damage to your gums that doesn't 'go away' by not smoking anymore. It will probably leave you with a bit of gum pocketing around your molars, and these pockets are much harder to keep clean than tight healthy gum. If you add bracework into the mix, then it's even harder to keep clean, and there is a chance that the orthodontic work will need to be abandoned - which if you've had some teeth out at the start, will leave you in a much worse situation than had you not had anything done.

The dentist must be 100% sure that the treatment will do you no harm before he initiates it.

So - I would go back to the dentist and try and explain that you really really want this done, but you're not sure what he is expecting of you.

Could he give you some idea of what's being missed, and what he's looking for before he will do it.

positivelymummy

i hear what you are saying toothsmith and thanks for your reply, the thing thats confusing me the most is that he isn;t saying my oral hygene is bad his words are 'want to keep them tip top', he's not told me that they've been damaged, or that gums are weak or flossing isn't up to scratch or brushing etc, if he did i would understand. i am too scared to go back and speak to him, i just know it wont get me anywhere, i'll just wait til may and see what he says then. i haven't smoked for almost 2 years and i'm sure if there was a lot of damage the hygenist or dentist would have mentioned that to me, as they're usually really keen to point out things that are wrong, but i've had no negative feedback. i did smoke for a long long time, so prob is damge? all i can do is keep my gnashers clean and healthy and see what happens in may, just really keen to get the ball rolling.

alba37

I'd love to get my 4 top front teeth straightened, but can't afford it... so just have to live with them! Nevermind, I had looked into braces in the past, and here you can do a self referral. Is that not an option PM?

Hope everything goes well for those of you getting braces, you lucky things!!

black-saturn

I had a brace for 3 years from the age of 13 to 16ish. It was really painful at first. I remember tightening it up in the morning before school and then sitting in school assembly being in absolute agony. It was also difficult to eat at first. But I'm glad I had it done now as my teeth are really straight. I had buck teeth and I had 2 teeth out on either side to make room for them.

Peartree

I'm so sorry you are in this situation - it is a big decision to go ahead with such treatment and it must be very frustrating to be blocked in this way.

Why not just telephone the orthodontist's practice to find out for youself? You could just ask if they are prepared to see a 'self-referred' patient for an assessment? They can only say no. In any case, they will do a whole set of examinations, including Xrays, moulds, etc, to see if you are a suitable patient and would not take you on if there was an issue. If they do go ahead, most of your first appointment will be spent getting instruction on hygiene (putting the braces on takes a surprisingly short time!). And the orthodontist is checking up on it at every appointment. The orthodontist is going to be in a better position to know if you are a good candidate for treatment than a general practice dentist.

You never know, it might be nothing to do with you! If he is renowned for being odd it might just be that he has fallen out with the orthodontist and doesn't refer anyone!

andyrules

positivelymummy wrote: »

in fact the only down side is that i wont be able to play the sax (i presume...it would be pretty sore i think?)

DD could play sax, flute and oboe with a top brace but struggled with flute when bottom one went on. Still managed, but wasn't happy with sound.

HTH