Does he really need 4 teeth pulled?

[jennyk]

My 12 year old son saw the ortho for first time this week. He says my son needs 2 top and 2 bottom pre-mollars pulled then fixed top and bottom braces. I was reading about damon braces that they don't need to pull the teeth and that the result is better with a wider arch - help! I really want to do the best thing for him, but pulling 4 perfectly good teeth if it's not necessary ..... I have to make a decision really soon as he's booked in to get the teeth pulled in 2 weeks - thanks for any help.

[Sunny]

If you're concerned about what this ortho has said, consult with another one or two and hear what they recommend for treatment.

Damon brackets spend a huge sum of money on marketing, but it's been proven by many in the orthodontic field, that these brackets can not do anything that any other brand of bracket can do. So please don't be affected by this advertising, instead what's important here, is to find out if your son does need to have his four premolars extracted.

Extracting teeth is not as common as it once was in orthodontics, and this is mostly due to the improvements that have been made with archwires. These archwires do help round the arch, which can mean that more space is created for the existing teeth. But ... in some cases, the patients teeth do not fit their mouth and the only way to correct this is to have some teeth extracted.

Please make some more appointments to have your son's options checked.

Good luck!

[jennyk]

Thanks so much for your advice - i'm looking for another ortho to get a 2nd opinion ....

[Denise]

I had to have two teeth pulled, a top wisdom tooth (pulled the one on the left), and had an upper right bicuspid pulled. They did this because my teeth were not lining up with the proper teeth on the bottom. By pulling the wisdom tooth and the bicuspid they now have room to move the rest of the teeth to line up properly against the correct ones on the bottom. So this might be why they want to pull four teeth, though four sounds pretty serious. Definitely get a second or even third consultation!! (Also, don't go through the trauma of having a dentist shove needles into his mouth and yank the teeth out - go to an oral surgeon! He'll be drugged out of his mind all day but there is significant less chance of something going wrong - my oral surgeon corrects MANY tooth-pullings gone wrong from dentists offices).

[jennyk]

Feel like i'm going round in circles - 2 say pull the teeth, 2 say leave the teeth! All are very convincing - my choices are no extractions, pallete expanders, twin blocks then braces or 2 top and 2 bottom pre-molars out and fixed braces top and bottom. Ortho recommending expanders and twin block says without correcting possition of jaw there will be problems later with clicking and pain. None of the others mentioned this - i'm still really stuck!

[Sunny]

Wow ... that is confusing Jenny!

Unless you're feeling like you've met the ortho you want to treat your son, I recommend you have more consults, as you need to be confident with the ortho and the treatment plan. It would be great to find someone who is happy to leave the teeth where they are, but only if you truly believe that person!

Finding the right orthodontist can be a time consuming process, but the time spent now should mean a happier patient and outcome.

Good luck!

[Zoso]

I'd also suggest asking the non-extractions folks why they think extraction is a bad idea, and the extraction proponents why they do not think the expander and twin-block approach is more appropriate.