Anyone with Orthodontics experience ?

[anne_h]

Hi everyone,

Our son is 8 and was recently referred by his dentist to an orthodontist. It's my first such experience.

The end diagnosis is an underbite, moderate crowding of upper teeth and crossbite on one side.

The recommendations are a fixed expander for upper jaw now (estimate of $2500) and braces later at age 12 (estimate of $7000).

As with all professionals, I know opinions are somewhat subjective. Some specialists might be conservative, some aggressive and some just seeking a new customer.

I'm a low intervention type of person. I need help to know how seriously to take this. What happens if we don't do what is recommended?

Would it be normal to seek a second opinion?

Thanks!

Anne

 

[tyty333]

I cant really help you much but I am on my second child with braces so I have a little experience.

When my oldest son was in 1st grade his dentist said he needed a retainer to help push a tooth over so the one
Beside it could come in correctly. I had never heard of a 1st grader having a retainer so we got 2 more second
Opinions. One dentist suggest the same thing and another suggest something that was more indepth (and costlier) .
We ended up going with the retainer and the tooth had enough room to come in straight.

It sounds like your son needs the expander to allow more room for his teeth. If he doesn't get it will he have to have teeth pulled
Or will the adult teeth coming in just be so messed up due to lack of room? I would definitly get another opinion. Ask around
For an orthodontist that people like and trust. Ask your current orthodontist for a copy of his xrays. Good luck. I hope you
get some second opinions that help to make your decision a little clearer.

 

[luvsdmb]

I had a pallet stretcher and braces in junior high, to this day, it is still one of the things I am most grateful to my parents for doing for me. You could get a second opinion just to make sure and to put your mind at ease.
But now being 38 and working with people that are older getting braces as adults, I'm just glad it's over with and I was lucky to have it done before high school started, (not that it would have mattered)

p.s. warn your son to be very careful with pizza with a pallet stretcher, trust me.

 

[TooPatient]

For anything like that, I'd be getting a 2nd opinion. They may be absolutely correct in suggesting it or they may be suggesting stuff that will have little impact on later needs.

Most orthodontists do a free consultation. I'd ask friends for recommendations rather than asking the same dentist for another referral (with the idea that they would be likely to suggest another orthodontist with the same sort of training as the first).

 

[asscherisme]

Hi everyone,

Our son is 8 and was recently referred by his dentist to an orthodontist. It's my first such experience.

The end diagnosis is an underbite, moderate crowding of upper teeth and crossbite on one side.

The recommendations are a fixed expander for upper jaw now (estimate of $2500) and braces later at age 12 (estimate of $7000).

As with all professionals, I know opinions are somewhat subjective. Some specialists might be conservative, some aggressive and some just seeking a new customer.

I'm a low intervention type of person. I need help to know how seriously to take this. What happens if we don't do what is recommended?

Would it be normal to seek a second opinion?

Thanks!

Anne

I am very grateful my parents had an orthodontist fix my teeth.

I have had 2 kids go through orthodontic work (and their teeth look amazing now) and a third currently with an expander and braces and herbst and my 4th will also need treatment when she gets a bit older.

I actually went to 2 different orthos before I picked one for my oldest son. Some are more aggressive than others and some start earlier than others. I didn't like the first and was glad I sought a second opinion. After my oldest son was done, although his teeth look good I was not happy with that ortho practice and ended up taking my daughter somewhere else. With my second child I was much more comfortable off the bat with the ortho (highly recommended by a friend whose kids went to her) and ended up signing my daughter up for treatment without a second opinion. She had such a great experience and results my third child went right to the same person.

In my area orthos give free first time consults. And its standard to also offer payments divided into 18 or 24 months with no interest. Really helps make paying less painful. With my 3rd I was able to pay upfront and got a discount.

If you have any doubts, seek a second even a third opinion. It most likely won't cost you anything. They want your business and they will try to sell you. I like you am Leary about over aggressive medical professionals and sometimes its hard to sort out if they are recommending whats best for your child or best for their own pockets.

My 2 teenagers love their straight teeth and are thankful I got their teeth fixed (not to say they didn't complain during the process! It does hurt for sure)

So far of my 3 kids that have had treatment (one still under treatment), 2 needed expanders, one did not. One needed a headgear, and 2 herbst (it aligns the jaw and corrects overbite. I think it might be used for underbite too. Eliminates the need for headgear).

I didn't my kids until they were 9 or 10 or their first consult. And the 3 that have had treatment so far started around age 11 or 12 depending on the child.

Its amazing how the teeth affect appearance and gave my teenagers so much more confidence. As an adult I am very thankful for my straight teeth too.
In my kids cases, it was not just cosmetic, they had bite issues and misalignments that would have caused issues as they got older.

 

[boerumbiddy]

I want to add my name to the list of those who are grateful the parents were able to buy her a "thousand-dollar smile," though even in the 50's-60's it cost a lot more than that. I would have had an ugly overbite and would be chewing on the sides of my teeth without the braces I had for several years, and my sister would have been in even worse shape. And when I got them off in high school, my flute playing immediately became much easier!
I have a good work friend with such crowded teeth that you can't help staring, and he is in his 60's, like me. I always wonder if his parents didn't love him, because they weren't poor. Sure, get a second opinion from someone with good references himself/herself. Braces, like much else in medicine, have gotten more sophisticated and less painful over the decades.

 

[hippi_pixi]

Hi everyone,

Our son is 8 and was recently referred by his dentist to an orthodontist. It's my first such experience.

The end diagnosis is an underbite, moderate crowding of upper teeth and crossbite on one side.

The recommendations are a fixed expander for upper jaw now (estimate of $2500) and braces later at age 12 (estimate of $7000).

As with all professionals, I know opinions are somewhat subjective. Some specialists might be conservative, some aggressive and some just seeking a new customer.

I'm a low intervention type of person. I need help to know how seriously to take this. What happens if we don't do what is recommended?

Would it be normal to seek a second opinion?

Thanks!

Anne

excuse my essay

I'm not an orthodontist but I am a dentist. I would start with it's impossible to diagnose online. your dentist and orthodontist have suggested what they have after careful analysis of the teeth, jaws, face shape, aesthetics, xrays etc. but i agree with this orthodontist in theory. Most kids don't get braces until all their baby teeth are lost ~11 to 13 yrs old. Unless they have a skeletal problem that needs correcting earlier. It sounds like your son has a narrow maxilla. his top jaw is narrow, causing the crowding and posterior crossbite. this is a skeletal problem. sometimes caused by thumbsucking. an 'underbite' which is a laymans term, actually known as class 2 malocclusion can be skeletal or dental. which means he has an 'underbite' because the teeth are poorly positioned or because the jaws are poorly positioned.

The maxilla can only be widened skeletally at a young age. the older the pt gets the harder and more traumatic it gets as the maxilla stops growing and the growth plate fuses. And then it becomes impossible. after puberty it is only possible surgically with major jaw surgery, not fun. at this point a crossbite gets very difficult to treat although the crowding can still be treated by extracting teeth (probably not your cup of tea either)

So yes i would definitely take it seriously. time is of the essence! If you are worried see another orthodontist for a second opinion (although you will have to pay for another exam) or go back and see you general dentist to suss out how they feel about the diagnosis and treatment plan based on their examination. if they referred your son to an ortho at a young age i suspect its because they thought early treatment might be required. but maybe you have seen an aggressive ortho and you can be recommended to a more conservative one.

My own personal comments- most practitioners start braces once all the adult teeth have come through. other like to start braces at a young age which i distinctly dislike. maxilla skeletal expansion is an exception as it must be done in accordance with skeletal growth not dental age. none of this should be done on a child with poor oral hygiene. all orthodontic appliance require teeth to be kept clean otherwise the patient can experience higher rates of decay. there is no point spending money, time and effort fixing orthodontic problems if the teeth end up being extracted due to decay because the child wasn't able to keep their teeth clean.

and also - opinions can be subjective but the problem is not and the treatment you choose will have consequences. meaning (assuming the diagnosis is correct) if you hunt around you will eventually find someone who suggests a conservative treatment plan but it doesn't mean you will get the same results with a conservative treatment plan. for example as a general dentist i sometimes tell people that a tooth has a poor prognosis and needs extraction. if they disagree because they really want to keep the tooth they may eventually find a dentist that tells them that same tooth has a great prognosis if they have this or that treatment done. they might call me up afterwards saying i was wrong and they found a dentist that 'could' do the work needed to keep the tooth. i am not wrong, the prognosis is the same, the tooth will likely need extraction regardless. I was not willing to be paid to do work i believed would fail. what they found was a dentist who was willing to do what the patient wanted, the tooth is still the same

Hope that helps!

 

[asscherisme]

I want to add my name to the list of those who are grateful the parents were able to buy her a "thousand-dollar smile," though even in the 50's-60's it cost a lot more than that. I would have had an ugly overbite and would be chewing on the sides of my teeth without the braces I had for several years, and my sister would have been in even worse shape. And when I got them off in high school, my flute playing immediately became much easier!
I have a good work friend with such crowded teeth that you can't help staring, and he is in his 60's, like me. I always wonder if his parents didn't love him, because they weren't poor. Sure, get a second opinion from someone with good references himself/herself. Braces, like much else in medicine, have gotten more sophisticated and less painful over the decades.

I wish it was a $1,000 smile! I have spent 18K so far for 3 kids and one more to go! No insurance for dental, all out of pocket. I think its worth it though.

Price varies WIDELY based on geographic regions. I have a friend in NYC who paid $11K for one child's ortho treatment. Where I live its around 6K average per child. I'm sure In other more rural areas its lower.

 

[AprilBaby]

That is a very conservative tx plan. Fixing the cross bite now will save you trouble down the road. I wish all parents with crossbites would do it early, some kids can avoid braces later by early intervention!

 

[soocool]

I think hippi_pixi gave you some great advice. My DD was monitored very closely by her pediatric dentist since age 2. His office has an orthodontist who comes in 1 day a week and when she was around 5 years old began being monitored by the orthodontist. This practice was great since I never had to pay the orthodontist a penny until she actually got braces and she continues to be monitored twice a year for retainer checks (I still do not pay for this) and she is over 21. Luckily she did never needed an expander, but 2 of my nephews did. She did, however, had to get baby teeth selectively pulled to make room for her adult teeth. She got braces in 7th grade and her baby molars were probably the first teeth that fell out on their own. She wore braces for around 2-1/2 to 3 years and never needed any adult teeth removed (she did have to get one tooth shaved ever so slightly).

The orthodontist also monitored her closely as to when she should have her wisdom teeth removed (she had them removed last summer) which if neglected could have shifted the teeth since she has limited space in her mouth.

So what I am trying to tell you is that if you build a relationship with the orthodontist, ask if he/she will continue to monitor after braces come off, retainer checks for how long, and monitor when wisdom teeth should be removed. You want an orthodontist who doesn't say goodbye after the braces come off.

 

[anne_h]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences.

Thanks especially to hipi_pixi for sharing your professional opinion.

Your input helped me realize I should take this seriously. We're going to see his dentist this weekend for unrelated reasons so will ask for his opinion on the ortho's suggestions.

Anne

 

[texaskj]

I started going when I was nine and didn't stop until I moved away after college. My dad's company paid for all of it. I had a slight overbite and horribly crooked teeth because my jaws just couldn't hold 'em all. All four first premolars were pulled when I was 12 and they pulled all the back teeth forward to try and make room for the wisdom teeth. I wore full braces for two years with some rubber bands for maybe about 8 months. I had about four retainers after that. Both my regular dentist and orthodontist decided there wasn't room for my wisdom teeth, so I had those cut out about two weeks after I turned 16. I've only got room for 24 teeth.

 

[anne_h]

Quick update that we decided to proceed. Our son just had his upper expander put in. So far, so good. Estimate is he'll need to wear it for 6 months.

After I read the answers in this thread, did more research and spoke to his dentist, we decided to take the recommendations seriously. We felt that we have a window of a few years now to make an impact to his smile that will benefit him the rest of his life. We *can* do it, so felt we should. And we agreed on a way to fund whatever our insurance plans don't cover (we'll have to pay about 50% ourselves).

Also, our 4 year old twins had their first check up and guess what... one also has a cross-bite and may need similar interventions at some point. Yeah... so we're saving up for more than one now! lol

Anne

 

[texaskj]

Glad to hear that anne. It's not always a vanity thing. Having a bad bite can mess things up later on in life.

 

[Resonance.Of.Life]

I highly recommend an Orthodontist who has a Prostadonist in their practice or are one themselves. I went to an Orthodontist, and yes, my teeth are straight, but they didnt take into account how my bite changed due to the shifting of teeth and now I have severe TMJ issues and am going through a lot of dental issues to get my bite back to where it should be and alleviate some of my jaw pain.

 

[SandyinAnaheim]

Anne, it's good that you're taking care of this now for your kids - they will thank you down the road. I currently have braces and I'm almost 50 - but my teeth were moving and crowding terribly, as they tend to do. Your kids are lucky that palate expanders exist now. When I was a kid all they did was pull teeth, which is what happened to me. When my mom didn't go through with the braces - I was left with two unsightly gaps that I've lived with the majority of my life. Like texaskj, my chompers were too big for my narrow upper jaw.

I interviewed five orthodontists before I picked one. We're talking about a lot of money! I wanted a panel of orthodontists to interview so I could make an informed decision.