Bicuspid Extractions Get a Bad Rap?

[maxhammer]

While doing my research, I read a lot of negativity around bicuspid extractions and want to share my experience so far.

Just some background: I had one ortho tell me he wanted to extract, another said he'd like to start conservative w/o extractions and then reassess, and my general dentist (who is not an ortho, obviously, but he is an amazing dentist whose opinion I trust) said he thought extractions would be best in my case because expanding my arch would make my face look weird.

So, on Friday I had the extractions. The reason for this was threefold:

1. Just using my own eyes, I could see the crowding and there was no way my canine was going to turn unless I gave it space. Also, I have a slight overjet with full lips, so I could "afford" some reduction. Basically, I felt I had room for error.
2. The dentist who said he'd go no extractions didn't seem confident in it; he almost seemed to be appeasing me and also appeared to be a conservative person by nature.
3. Two of the teeth that were extracted had large cracks in them (literally half the tooth was missing; it looks as if the canine above mashed it and broke it at some point). One of them had periodontal disease setting in, and I was told I'd need a graft within ten years. The other had an old filling on it that would likely be a crown.

So, I factored all those things and what made the most sense to me was extracting (first 4 biscuspids, as they were the ones in bad shape). I then went ceramic on the bottom and linguals on top due to my age (I am a 35 year old male as of today, happy birthday to me).

I've read a ton about this subject...the dished in face look, etc. It made me paranoid. I haven't notice anything like that yet. I'm on day 3 of recovery, so maybe I'm too swollen to see anything like that? If there is any change it's that my upper lip is a bit more flat/less overbit, but I'm not sure if that's in my head or not. It's that subtle, and frankly it looks better. I just hope it stays in this range and doesn't move in too much more.

So, for other people with cases similar to mine, realize it's not all bad. If things turn for the worse (knocks on wood) I'll come back here and update. I still have a lot of fear; each morning when I wake and look in the mirror I am afraid I'll see some drastic dishing-in...but, the internet can make a person paranoid. It's why I wanted to offer a positive (so far) experience. Nobody ever talks about those...

The hardest part has been getting these sockets to clot, keeping everything clean, eating, and sleeping. That part has been a nightmare, actually.