Lazy orthodontist?

[Silvana7rojas]

Hi everybody, I'm 18 years old and have had my braces for a year now. I got them because I had what you call a "snaggle tooth" which was my left canine
tooth that kind of protruted above where it was supposed to be due my narrow arch.The rest of my top teeth were all straight except that my midline was off towards the left. my bottom teeth where just a little crooked but my orthodontist EXTRACTED 4 teeth (2 at top and bottom). My problem is that my arch was small to begin with and now it's becoming narrower since they're trying to close the GAPS. Plus I've noticed my lips are thinning out and I'm afraid my teeth will "Dish in" and give me an awkward PROFILE, plus my smile is much narrower no matter how big I try to smile. I hate it. Couldnt she just have used a pallattal EXPANDER. Did she go for the extractions because it's easier for her and it might take less time (since my teeth move fast) ?

[Sunny]

Some cases require extractions due to the amount of space and hopefully your ortho calculated this space and extracted accordingly.

Using an expander at your age will not make your arches any wider, as the bones are fused. What it might do is move the teeth out, but this has to be done carefully to make sure the teeth aren't moved too far.

Also your arches will not have become any narrower, as due to bones being fused, they can't change.

With less teeth in your mouth, you may have a feeling that things look less, but hopefully this is something you'll adjust to when your treatment is over.

Talk to your ortho about how you're feeling and hopefully he can explain why this approach was the one necessary.

Good luck!

[MCOMarkhamOrthodontist]

Sounds like you should have asked a lot of questions before going ahead with treatment by the tone of this post. To be honest, extraction treatment is generally more difficult than non-extraction.

As Sunny mentioned, there are many reasons for requiring extraction, including crowding, anterior posterior discrepancies, midline shifts, etc. Please speak to your orthodontist if you have any doubts.

[Silvana7rojas]

Some cases require extractions due to the amount of space and hopefully your ortho calculated this space and extracted accordingly.

Using an expander at your age will not make your arches any wider, as the bones are fused. What it might do is move the teeth out, but this has to be done carefully to make sure the teeth aren't moved too far.

Also your arches will not have become any narrower, as due to bones being fused, they can't change.

With less teeth in your mouth, you may have a feeling that things look less, but hopefully this is something you'll adjust to when your treatment is over.

Talk to your ortho about how you're feeling and hopefully he can explain why this approach was the one necessary.

Good luck!

thank you so much. That makes me feel more at ease I just got my braces tightened yesterday and the gaps are closing quickly. I hurts alot! Im just hope this is all worth it.

[Silvana7rojas]

thanks so much. I will talk to my orthodontist about this. I hope you are right.