Do DC really need teeth removed for braces?

Please dont make your decision based on comments from people who know nothing about orthodontics. There are so many factors which dictate whether extractions are necessary or not. It's complex and varies from mouth to mouth. Long term stability is key. It's fairly easy to straighten teeth but often, without making space with extractions, the results will be transient and relapse is so common in older adults. If you can afford it, try and have a private consultation with an orthodontist ( not a general dentist who does ortho ) You can go in armed with questions and hopefully this will lead you to a decision that you are comfortable prior taking up your NHS treatment.

Exactly this. My eldest’s mouth guard for sport was practically triangular when he started treatment. A year later with aligners and elastics alone and it’s properly round and he’s got that wide ‘American’ smile!

Get a second opinion from an orthodontist. Privately.

My DD had a misaligned jaw and overbite. She had two braces. The first one reshaped her jaw so that she didn't need any teeth removed and the second one straightened the teeth. It's not always necessary to have extractions but it probably depends on what needs doing. I'd get a second opinion.

I have no idea where that gif came from and can’t seem to remove it.

My oldest got braces last year and they removed four teeth one each side top and bottom.

One of those teeth was very much so needing to come out braces or not I believe as it was basically in the roof of his mouth making a tooth triangle would have been impossible to keep clean properly.

His treatment hasn’t finished yet so we shall see. He also had an overbite.

My kid has been given the option, with the orthodontist cautioning that while they can only completely correct the overbite with extraction, the overbite might return anyway. My kid is going to look so amazing with straight teeth that we don't really see the point in extraction too. The overbite causes no issues.

I was surprised to be offered, as my own experience with tooth extraction is the hospital dentists treat it as last resort and disagree in principle with removing healthy teeth.

My son’s girlfriend had a bit of an overbite and had braces, it pulled the teeth in but a year later they were back in their old position. Have the teeth removed

I’d go for the middle ground and get a second opinion from an NHS dentist. One dentist I went to as a kid wanted to take 4 healthy teeth out. Got a second opinion and was told I didn’t need any out and had train tracks fitted with brilliant results. So before going down the Invisalign route (which is good but not quite as good as train tracks and usually takes longer than they quote) and spending private money, it might be worth having someone else take a look

Invisalign is great - BUT - dependant on militant wear, and very good oral hygiene. Flossing well every time after eating / reinsertion.
I had 4 teeth removed, train tracks as a teen, then Invisalign as an adult as my wisdom teeth came in early 20s and pushed my teeth back. God knows what my mouth would have looked like without the teeth removal.
I’ve since had 2 fillings, which I attribute to the Invisalign braces. I do not regret having them, but they are much more involved on a ‘hygiene’ level than fixed braces. I found it hard as an adult, would not have done it as a teen.

I think you have to wear retainers for life no matter what? All adults I know still wear them and son, nieces and friends’ kids were all told they’ll always have to wear them

Is it worth speaking candidly to your orthodontist? They're NHS and not motivated by sales and proft so shouldn't be perversely motivated to recommend their course of treatment over Invisalign if its genuinely more appropriate.

Likewise, they can explain why they are proposing tooth removal and why it's necessary so you feel comfortable that you have the right info to make a decision.

It might be that they feel invitation might straighten but nit correct something else.

In the flip side, it might just be cheaper to extract teeth. But as they aren't motivated by sales, you'd think that they'd be candid and advise you take the best route if you have an honest discussion.

They should be happy to talk you through.

If teeth need to move they need a space to move into. With invisalign they often achieve this by filing off enamel between teeth to create a tiny gap.
As a side note I wouldn't recommend invisalign for a teen. whilst it is appealing as it looks better,it is an absolute ball ache for an on the go teen. They have to be removed every time they eat and drink. If not stored in water when removed, the saliva dries on to them and they absolutely stink. Progress can also be slow if they get in the habit of removing and thus not wearing for 22 hours a day.
Fixed braces have the benefit of once on, can forget about them. And they are surprisingly common to have so teenagers tend to be less self conscious these days.

It depends on why the teeth need crowding but our private orthodontist said yes - the reason I was given was that whilst tooth sizes have not changed, jawbones have been gradually getting smaller. Most crowding or over bite formation is due to there not being enough room below/above the jaw bone. If you look at the evolution of humans, you can see that the trend for a gradually decreasing size of jaw has always existed. As life style, eating habits, inter-racial/ethnic mixing occurs this has continued.

What you would expect, in evolutionary terms, is that we would perhaps evolve to only have 28 teeth, but I suspect that our DNA/biology is equipped this way because in recent past times we did not have dental equipment, toothpaste and hygienists but would have had an expectation of some level of tooth decay and natural shedding of teeth during our lifetime. 32 teeth would then decrease to 28 or 24 through this process. This is not happening now, so the evolutionary design/premise for this is being undermined.

So, yes, as I understand it - and as awful as it is for your DC to go through - those extra teeth do need to come out to enable straightening them, and the straightening, remember, is not about cosmetics, but to ensure they can more easily be kept clean and prevent decay.

Entirely depends on their teeth. Most people don’t have teeth removed for simple straightening, only if there is an issue like crowding, decay, random extra teeth etc.

My sibling and I didn’t have any teeth removed for braces. Instead they hooked some of my teeth up to elastics and moved them around my mouth.

Depends. Both my DD and my SS had 4 teeth removed before braces because the problem was overcrowding. Not sure how you get over that once you have adult teeth, without tooth removal. It was no big deal.

I was advised to have this done as a teen and refused as I don’t want healthy teeth removed. As an adult I disliked how my teeth looked and recently had Invisalign. It worked really well and I’m very happy with the results (although it took about 8 months longer than they originally thought it would). So I think if Invisalign is an option I’d go with that but be prepared to have ongoing maintenance ie night retainer and wires behind the teeth to hold them in place.

I’ve never had braces, but had 12 teeth removed by the time I was 18, due to overcrowding. I don’t have any gaps.
I’m not sure what the problem is with removing teeth- presumably a dentist wouldn’t remove any front or visible teeth and they must know whether gaps are likely or how to avoid that.

I just had 4 teeth removed and no brace. The teeth settled into the spaces of their own accord.

Both DDs had adult teeth removed before braces, as did I. My parents both had at least some false teeth, let's hope we'll all avoid that! Our mouths are too small for a full set of gnashers in our family, but at least my generation and below were able to have nice straight teeth without having them all/several on top removed.

I had two teeth out top and two bottom, I believe I was 12 at the time. I had a temporary brace which I took out at night.

My teeth look great now.

DD has the same, her private orthodontist gave us two options, one without and one with extraction. V similar price.
We ended up going the no-extraction route because like you I was reluctant to remove adult teeth, but her dentist was saying that she was part of the few cases (v small jaw, v thin face) where the extraction could also have been a good option.
I’m attaching (or trying to) the description of the options.

When I had braces I had four teeth removed, DS had a brace fitted a couple of years ago and they didn’t remove any teeth as they wanted to make space for them first using the brace before straightening them.