Any professionals or someone with experience to give me some objective advice?

[asimov]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and am seeking some objective advice from someone in the know.

I have some crowding in my lower teeth and have finally decided, at 35, to do something about it. Better late than never I suppose.

Now here is the dilemma. I've seen 2 different orthos to determine the best course of treatment. However, i've received 2 opposing views on how to get this done.

First, a picture to illustrate the problem.



I clearly have a crowding problem with too many lower incisors and something needs to be extracted.

ortho 1 suggested that as the canine was so far away from its natural position, the best option would be to extract the canine and align the incisors. Treatment would take 6 months.

Ortho 2 thought this was a terrible idea and insisted the canine was too important to lose (considering it's position at present, i hardly use it in any practical sense). His suggestion was to remove an incisor and then bring the canine back to its natural position, over a period of 2 years.

Before I go to a 3rd ortho, i started searching online and found this forum.

Is there anyone with experience who can give me an opinion on which of these 2 suggestions seems better?

Many thanks

[Coffeeguy]

When one of the front teeth needs to be removed, I like the look of a second canine and three incisors for symmetry, when everything is aligned properly and the midlines are even on top and bottom. Definitely seek a third opinion. What you might want to do is ask one or all of them for something called a diagnostic set-up. This is where they take a mold of your mouth and then the teeth are cut off the mold and replaced in alignment to the doctor's specs so you can see what the finished product will look like. Getting two opposing views is not unusual. Good luck!

[NarcoAngel]

I had that same problem. Most dentists would not pull my canine 111213-191457.jpg because it is an important tooth. However one said that because it was so out of position already and not in a functional spot, he would pull it. I ultimately decided to keep the tooth and get braces. however, yours are on the lower teeth, and I have seen some amazing work where they pull an incisor (the patient only had 3), and it looked great.

[chellie]

Oopppsss! I had a crowded case as well. I visited three ortho and none of them suggest to remove my canine. Try to find one more ortho and lets see what will be the third opinion.