Damon braces, not clears

[ports]

I just got Damon braces on the 21st. But my dentist never gave me an option of the clears. I met with him in December, and after I agreed to do it, they slapped the gel in my mouth and started taking molds. And the day I got them installed, they were done in about 45 minutes too.

I feel like he rushed me through the whole thing (I'm 25, and an engineer.) I really don't like being pushed through this.

Once the Damon metal brackets are installed, is it possible to switch to the clear brackets in the front? Any idea what's involved, or what it would cost?

[josie]

If you really want to do it, it is possible. However, it may set your treatment time back. The subject has come up before on here and that was the conclusion of it, then.

It's about weighing up how badly you want clear brackets versus how quickly you want your treatment over with.

I have metal Damon on my lowers and clear Innovation C on my uppers. I find the metal brackets are way more comfortable - my lips glide over them and they are in no way abrasive ever. I've never had to put any wax on my lowers. My uppers, though, catch and snag inside my lips and cheeks and have caused much more discomfort. For comfort reasons, I would prefer all metal.

[catgyrl]

I changed my upper metal Damons to the Radiance clears about 3 months into treatment, but there was an additional cost of $300 for the brackets and an extra $350 or so for the extra "chair time", as well as the extra work to remove the old brackets and re-bond the new ones. I managed to work out a deal with my ortho where he allowed me to pay my remaining balance all at once, which also included a 15% deduction, so my cost worked out pretty good. I have a rather wide smile, so instead of just the front 6 teeth, he rebonded 10 of my upper teeth, and just left the last teeth bracketed with the metal Damons. However, not all orthodontists charge extra for changing brackets, so ask yours and see what he says.

Did you discuss the types of brackets you would be getting prior to getting braced? I think a lot of us feel somewhat intimidated when we're getting this kind of thing done, and are either afraid to ask, or don't know WHAT questions to ask. With me, it was just general indecision as to which I preferred. I MUCH prefer my Radiance clear brackets. You can see pics of them in my blog (which I haven't updated in a while...)

Good luck with your decision, and keep us posted!
-Cathy

P.S. By the way, I find no difference in the irritation level of my metal vs. clear. They're both equally as irritating, at times! haha As far as "not noticing" them... there is never, ever a day when I don't notice that I have braces on.

[ports]

We never discussed the clear brackets.

Dunno.. so far I'm not very happy with my ortho. Just the lack of attention from him. In 2 visits I've been with him a total of 10 minutes. The rest of the time has been with his assistants. He showed me a model of the Damon braces on some dentures the first day, and it had the metal brackets. So I thought that's what I was getting. We never got into options, and I had no idea about the clears until after these got installed. I'll give them a call tomorrow and see about the clears.

I'm an engineer.. I work with a lot of people and give presentations. It'd just be nice to draw a little less attention to my braces. I wasn't a good candidate for Invisalign.

I haven't had to put any dental wax on these metal Damons so far.

[Sunny]

Ports your post is another example of how important it is to have consults with more than one ortho.

Irritation is usually related to the amount of space in your mouth and hydration levels. The smaller the bracket the more chance it will irritate and in general the ceramic brackets are smoother because of there style and design. Some people find the interior of their mouths irritate more easily than with others. The most important things to do to prevent irritation and possible mouth sores are keep well hydrated and to use wax generously.

ports talk to your ortho about the availability of ceramic brackets. Changing the front four or six brackets will have minimal affect on your treatment, but it possibly will cost you more, as Cathy has explained.

Good luck with your treatment!

[ports]

I had talked to a dentist/ortho about a year and half ago. And I decided to wait because I was in limbo about where my boss would be moving me next. It'd be a new town, across the state. Dr Kuo thought I'd be ok, but he was a little worried about my lateral incisors (they're turned and pulled up) with Invisalign, but it was going to cost $5000. And he thought he could do it.

I talked to another Invisalign dentist up here in Northern Illinois and he looked at my teeth and said absolutely not, and was outta there in about 15 seconds. That same office hires an ortho part time to do Damon. So he referred me to him, and the Damon metal is $3500 right now.

[ports]

Ok, now I'm mad.

The brackets in my mouth are "Lotus brackets" not Damon brackets. Even though I was clearly told that I was getting Damon braces, and shown a Damon model, with a DAMON logo on it.

It'll cost $600 to put in clear Lotus brackets on the top teeth. Lotus doesn't do bottom clears. (According to my ortho).

If I would like to switch to Damon clears on the top and bottom, it will cost significantly more than $600.

[josie]

Did you tell him how you feel?

To be fair, I think some orthos just don't know that patients are that interested in the precise type of equipment in their mouth - my ortho mentioned only once in a passing statement what type of bracket I'd be getting, and I had to whoa him and ask him to repeat it so I could remember. He wasn't trying to hide anything, I think he thought I just wouldn't be interested as it wouldn't mean anything to me. However, yes, in today's culture of total transparency (pun intended), they probably should be making it all clear if not putting it in writing beforehand.

[ports]

Josie, Why sell a brand then? Why not just say it's a self ligating bracket? No I didn't express my disappointment to the ortho yet. I'm going to do that in person when I see them on the 18th. He's only at my dentist's office 1 day a month. In my opinion, he installed a cheaper bracket brand in my mouth and made a larger profit. Because of that, not all all of the options of the more expensive brand, which I was told I was getting, are available.

I'm a pilot plant engineer, and run a lab. If a supplier told us we were getting X brand of equipment, and they show up with Y brand... but the agreement was to deliver X brand. We tear it out and return it, at the suppliers cost.

It's a little different because it's my mouth, and every delay in this keeps me in braces that much longer. I doubt there is any functional difference between Lotus and Damon... but I would LOVED to get the tooth colored ceramic brackets.

I'm going to continue on with the Lotus and this ortho, until it's done. But next month, he and I are going to talk about how I want to be informed about my treatment and I am going to get things in writing from him.

[Sunny]

ports brackets don't move teeth ... it's the archwire that does that, so beware of an ortho selling a brand. This is about science not brands. It doesn't matter whether a bracket is SL or non-SL, metal or ceramic ... it won't move your teeth any differently. What may matter to you is how some brackets look and this is where the ceramic vs metal is important and where we work we offer six upper ceramic to all our patients for this reason.

It's of no advantage to your ortho for your treatment to take one day longer than it needs to ... so if the brackets do cost less, they will do the same job ... so don't be concerned about this stuff. Your ortho needs your treatment to be over as quickly as is possible, so that he can then replace you with a new patient. Of more importance was the lack information you were given and the possible incorrect information you were given.

What does your contract state?

Hopefully your ortho will change your upper 'social six' to ceramic for you and maybe not at any charge if your contract states a particular brand was to be used and this was changed without consulting you.

Good luck!

[IHIC]

If you feel you were charged for more expensive brackets but have received cheaper ones, I would say to deffo take this up with your Ortho when he's in the office next. Being overcharged and misinformed isn't good in my opinion, especially when you're paying out all this money to them.

Talking of selling brands... The first Ortho I saw was one who liked to sell a brand. When I went for my consult, the first braces he got me to look at were 'Speed braces' (self ligating, metal and smaller than traditional metal brackets). He was going on saying how they would move my teeth faster (I know, just trying to sell me the brackets) and they would make my treatment more comfortable. I just wasn't interested in all that hype and I just wanted traditional metal braces, I had my mind set on this before the consult. Also, I just knew the Speed braces would cost alot more so that's another reason I wasn't interested. He was going on and on about the Speed braces, so I had to just mention the traditional braces and that's what I wanted, he didn't look too pleased but moved on to showing me the traditional brackets anyway. When talking about them he seemed like he just couldn't be bothered at that point and wanted me gone because he knew I wasn't going to go with the most expensive option. I just went along with it and asked how much for the traditional brackets, he paused then said "£3,500" (rather quietly) ... I was shocked so I had to ask him to repeat and he did.... I just thought to myself, '"£3,500 for just upper traditional metal brackets? damn!". Out of curiosity I then asked him how much the Speed braces would be (thinking they would cost something ridiculous compared to the fee he wanted for normal metal brackets) but he couldn't answer me, he just said "alot more expensive than those ones" (while pointing to the traditional brackets), as soon as he did this, I just had this horrible feeling he was quoting me £3,500 for traditional brackets (uppers only) when really that's what the Speed braces would have cost me and because he knew I wasn't interested in them, he wanted to get more money either way. I didn't go back. His waiting room was completely empty, no patient was seen before or after me and I could just tell he was only interested in profit and not me as a customer/patient, unlike the Ortho I am now with, I am paying £2770 for metall upper and lowers.

[ports]

ports brackets don't move teeth ... it's the archwire that does that, so beware of an ortho selling a brand. This is about science not brands. It doesn't matter whether a bracket is SL or non-SL, metal or ceramic ... it won't move your teeth any differently. What may matter to you is how some brackets look and this is where the ceramic vs metal is important and where we work we offer six upper ceramic to all our patients for this reason.

It's of no advantage to your ortho for your treatment to take one day longer than it needs to ... so if the brackets do cost less, they will do the same job ... so don't be concerned about this stuff. Your ortho needs your treatment to be over as quickly as is possible, so that he can then replace you with a new patient. Of more importance was the lack information you were given and the possible incorrect information you were given.

What does your contract state?

Hopefully your ortho will change your upper 'social six' to ceramic for you and maybe not at any charge if your contract states a particular brand was to be used and this was changed without consulting you.

Good luck!

You bring up an interesting point. A contract. I don't have one. I've gotta check the receipt that I signed to see what it said for the payment plan. What the line item was labelled.

He verbally told me that it would take about 2 years to do the alignment/braces and that was it. He didn't go over a treatment plan or anything with me, and I didn't see any paperwork from the lab that made the trays with the brackets either. Like i said, I was rushed through it all.

And they want $600 to change the top to clears.