Bad orthodontic treatment Help Needed!!

rygarr

Hi all,
I am depressed writing this post.
After 4 years of treatment i got my braces off last week and im very upset and disappointed with the results.

The person treating me removed 2 upper teeth that has resulted in my upper arch being pushed back and narrowed, my lower jaw is forced into an uncomfortable position in order to close my mouth fully and my face now has a sunken look. I dont believe that these teeth ever needed to come out.

Now i dont know what to do, i dont even know if its too late to correct what has been done.:(

If anyone can advise by pm a good orthodontist i can trust in dublin (preferebly north) i would be very grateful.

Dianthus

Very sorry to hear about your trouble, it must be really disappointing after such a long course of treatment.
However, I'm very confused.
I had braces myself for a number of years, and the majority of changes in appearance/position would have occurred in the first year or two.
In particular for the last 6 months of wearing braces, it seemed like hardly any changes occurred, as the orthodontist was keeping the teeth "stable" (ie: waiting for the jawbone to remodel itself around the teeth in their new positions) in their permanent position before removing the braces.
Everything should feel as comfortable now, if not more so, as it did when the braces were on, a week ago. In saying that, 4 years of braces is a long time, maybe wearing braces was more comfortable than now, not wearing them.
Has anyone else- family! always honest:D:D- commented negatively about your teeth now that the braces are off?

rygarr

Dianthus wrote: »

Very sorry to hear about your trouble, it must be really disappointing after such a long course of treatment.
However, I'm very confused.
I had braces myself for a number of years, and the majority of changes in appearance/position would have occurred in the first year or two.
In particular for the last 6 months of wearing braces, it seemed like hardly any changes occurred, as the orthodontist was keeping the teeth "stable" (ie: waiting for the jawbone to remodel itself around the teeth in their new positions) in their permanent position before removing the braces.
Everything should feel as comfortable now, if not more so, as it did when the braces were on, a week ago. In saying that, 4 years of braces is a long time, maybe wearing braces was more comfortable than now, not wearing them.
Has anyone else- family! always honest:D:D- commented negatively about your teeth now that the braces are off?

I started to notice a problem a month or two after the teeth were removed,( before the extractions everything was looking great) this was maybe 5 months into treatment. I raised my concerns and he agreed that he would pull the back teeth forward to close the gaps instead, he spent 2.5 years trying to do this but they merely tilted forward slightly, the end result was that he moved the front teeth back anyway as he had a powerchain on my teeth for the entire 4 years.
It might seem odd as to why i let it continue, but every time i raised a concern ( which was almost every visit) he would fob me off and tell me it was improving and the back teeth were coming forward. At the end of the day why did he pull my teeth when it was such an ordeal to close the gaps left behind?!! They werent that crowded in the first place

Dianthus

There's definitely been a serious lack of communication if 2 teeth were extracted and you have no idea why, & you've been told that the back teeth were being moved forward but it feels/looks like the front teeth have been moved backwards instead.
Were you given a written treatment plan outlining treatment needed, time, cost ect, at the outset?
It's clear you've lost all faith in your current orthodontist, and need to see someone for a second opinion as to if/what treatment will be required to address the issues you've outlined.
www.orthodontics.ie, or one of the Dublin-based dentists may be able to PM you with a recommendation.
Best of luck, remember that there's always a solution to every problem.

lexa

Hi Rygarr

Nightmare situation to be in. Had a similar experience myself and was absolutely gutted at the end of my treatment which was also fairly protracted which added to the disappointment.

I had raised my concerns multiple times with both the ortho and my general dentist who referred me but the ortho didn’t give a ****e about my concerns and so was left having to accept the treatment as there was nothing more I could do.

Unfortunately as you’ve completed treatment and the braces are off, if your orthodontist doesn’t accept responsibility then you don’t really have any comeback.

You will have a hard time trying to get a second opinion too as Irish dentists are reluctant to comment on other dentists work. At the very least you would need to obtain your initial records, study models etc from your ortho and then you might find an orthodontist willing to give you a second opinion on the treatment you received.

Perhaps the dentists who post here may be able to PM you someone who would be willing to give you a second opinion as I’d say there are only a handful of orthodontists in Ireland who will give you an honest opinion on the treatment you’ve received. Most won’t want to get involved. Otherwise try the UK.

I think with ortho you only get one shot at doing things right. It’s very hard to undo treatment, especially when extractions have been done.

If it turns out that the extractions weren’t necessary, it might be possible to recreate the space and replace the teeth extracted with implants but this would involve full ortho treatment again and the cost of implants so will be at least 10k and I doubt your ortho is gonna accept responsibility and foot the bill, but worth investigating I guess if you can afford it.

Best of luck with it anyway, hope you find some answers to your concerns

rygarr

Thanks to both of you for the replies.

Ive been to two other orthodontists, one didnt want to get involved at all and the other didnt want to comment until i got the braces off.

At this stage i dont know who to trust, all i want is someone competetent who will be honest with me. I have always looked after my teeth and at the age of 31 still havent had even a filling. I wish every day that i had stopped him taking out those teeth. Feeling very hopeless about the situation at the moment.
Im even thinking of going to see a maxillofacial surgeon, maybe they take things like jaw position more seriously?

day dreamer

Hi Rygarr

Sorry to hear that you are not happy about the outcome of your treatment.

I am sure you understand that it is not possible to say what treatment was appropriate without seeing and comparing where you started and finished. There are usually a few different treatment options with orthodontic treatment and these may or may not have been explained to you at the start.

It may be hard for you but I would think the best thing to do is go back to the orthodontist and explain how unhappy you are, I am sure they would not want a patient to be unhappy after treatment and try to come to some arrangement with you. A surgeon is not going to be able to do much I would think.

Best wishes

rygarr

Believe me i have told them over and over again how unhappy i am. It was the owner of the practice who fitted my retainer the other day and he point blank refused to acknowledge that there was any issue.

lexa

Your orthodontist’s superb approach to patient care sounds familiar!

I think you need to get an objective second opinion so that you can find out if extractions were the only way to treat your case. It may be that in your circumstances, extractions were the only option. If it turns out treatment wasn’t ideal, then you can investigate your options.

A second opinion is the only way you’ll get closure on this. Best of luck with finding an orthodontist to give one.

rygarr

Thanks for all the messages so far, if anyone else has a recommendation drop me a pm. Id like to try and gather as many names as i can and go with the two most popular.