Orthodontia...
Last week, I had my appointment to follow up at the orthodontist's.
We went over my treatment plan and everything.
I saw the model of my projected outcome with the one tooth removed. And Becki (the woman who goes over treatment and all of that) told me some things that made me feel very okay about it.
They can't shave off enough from the sides of my teeth without making them so thin they'd be painful and sensitive and very prone to decay. Pulling a tooth further back would leave them with too much room and I'd have a gap. I have what they called "cuffing" of my gums around my front bottom teeth, which is pulling them tight and could lead to gum tissue loss, which would mean a tissue graft later. I DO NOT want that.
She said I'm welcome to go get a second opinion, but that Dr Graham could not, in good conscience, do my braces without pulling that tooth.
Yes, it will look a little different, but it will fix my alignment issues, stop my teeth from wearing away at one another, possibly fix my problems with bruxism and TMJ.
I don't remember all the details of the benefits of removing the tooth, and the risks of leaving one there, but I feel that the benefits do outweigh the risk of leaving it in/
I left there feeling better about it than I'd felt before fully understanding the reasons for having one pulled. I think Becki really helped explain it a lot better.
And, as Scott pointed out, my teeth will be a lot more symmetrical than they are now. I won't have the midline on the bottom any more, but my teeth with be straight and look better than they do now.
Now that I've gotten the okay from my endodontist to go ahead with things, I can get the ball rolling at Dr Graham's office.
They plan on having braces on just my upper teeth first for a few months, and then a little while later, I'll have the bottom tooth pulled and braces put on my bottom teeth that same day.
I wish I didn't have to have my tooth pulled, but more than that, I wish for a healthy mouth. A better aligned bite, less jaw pain, less bruxism.
And that's what this will get me.
So I'm going to do it. I have an image of my projected outcome on my phone, the model they made from the molds of my mouth. I might upload that later. I look at it often, and the more I do, the more okay I am with how it looks.
Your bottom teeth aren't that visible when you talk or smile, so I won't have to worry about other people seeing it and saying, "God, that looks weird..." or anything like that. They're more likely to notice my new radiant smile anyway, right?
We went over my treatment plan and everything.
I saw the model of my projected outcome with the one tooth removed. And Becki (the woman who goes over treatment and all of that) told me some things that made me feel very okay about it.
They can't shave off enough from the sides of my teeth without making them so thin they'd be painful and sensitive and very prone to decay. Pulling a tooth further back would leave them with too much room and I'd have a gap. I have what they called "cuffing" of my gums around my front bottom teeth, which is pulling them tight and could lead to gum tissue loss, which would mean a tissue graft later. I DO NOT want that.
She said I'm welcome to go get a second opinion, but that Dr Graham could not, in good conscience, do my braces without pulling that tooth.
Yes, it will look a little different, but it will fix my alignment issues, stop my teeth from wearing away at one another, possibly fix my problems with bruxism and TMJ.
I don't remember all the details of the benefits of removing the tooth, and the risks of leaving one there, but I feel that the benefits do outweigh the risk of leaving it in/
I left there feeling better about it than I'd felt before fully understanding the reasons for having one pulled. I think Becki really helped explain it a lot better.
And, as Scott pointed out, my teeth will be a lot more symmetrical than they are now. I won't have the midline on the bottom any more, but my teeth with be straight and look better than they do now.
Now that I've gotten the okay from my endodontist to go ahead with things, I can get the ball rolling at Dr Graham's office.
They plan on having braces on just my upper teeth first for a few months, and then a little while later, I'll have the bottom tooth pulled and braces put on my bottom teeth that same day.
I wish I didn't have to have my tooth pulled, but more than that, I wish for a healthy mouth. A better aligned bite, less jaw pain, less bruxism.
And that's what this will get me.
So I'm going to do it. I have an image of my projected outcome on my phone, the model they made from the molds of my mouth. I might upload that later. I look at it often, and the more I do, the more okay I am with how it looks.
Your bottom teeth aren't that visible when you talk or smile, so I won't have to worry about other people seeing it and saying, "God, that looks weird..." or anything like that. They're more likely to notice my new radiant smile anyway, right?