To insist my dentist to put my front teeth back as they were?

[ControlGeek]

When I had my braces fitted 13 weeks ago, my top two front teeth were the only straight ones in my head. One of them has now been twisted to such an angle that the dentist has recommended I pay to have the angled bottom built back up because it looks like I have lost a big chip out of it. I haven't, it was perfectly horizontal, now it's like the leaning tower of teetha. I also have a gap between my two front teeth, which I never used to have, and I feel more self conscious about how they look now than I did before I had the braces. I'm also in screaming agony.

So, AIBU, or should I trust that in the long run he knows what he is doing?

The brace on your front right tooth is fitted higher and slightly angled to the others in the first picture so no wonder it has pulled it down. Looking at the second picture, the brace is then straight as the tooth has been repositioned.

When I had a brace many years ago they did this on purpose as I had smacked myself in the face with an ironing board and chipped the bottom of my front tooth! The brace pulled my tooth down and then the chipped bit was filed straight. They definitely need to sort this and good job you have pictures. Good luck

Okay, no... the tooth wasn't perfectly horizontal, it just looked that way because it was so badly aligned in your mouth. The rest of the teeth aren't going to align well if you want certain front teeth crooked. :) Gaps in the teeth are normal because they leave room for manipulation of the other teeth, before they're closed at a later stage.

Study models are the plaster models of your teeth made from the impressions taken before treatment started.

mn is absolutely the most amazing place. I'm actually feeling confident now about talking to him about this.

Willdo - that makes so much sense, thanks for going into the explanation. The arch is definitely more even, and he's currently working on pulling the back teeth (technical term!) forward to fill the gaps from the teeth I had to have removed before he could fit the brace.

Tattie - ouch!! Glad they were able to sort that out for you. Ironing boards should be left well alone

Honestly I'd go to another dentist. It looks from the photos like he has cocked up and is now trying to cover his arse and screw more money out of you. Sorry.

So many experts, it's a wonder everyone isn't a "fucking bastard dentist" on here

I have a general rule not to reply on threads where our entire profession is insulted but OP, for your tooth to be angled so that the original flat edge is in that position, the root would have to be a long long way from its ideal position so I'm not convinced that the whole tooth is angled, just that moving the teeth has uncovered this problem of uneven wear.

Can you remember what your front teeth looked like when you were ten? Possibly not and the tooth is now this shape from tooth wear caused by your original malocclusion which has been with you for mumbles years.

By all means get a second opinion but with my dento legal advisors hat on, you can't sue the dentist for this as they haven't caused you any harm... I would defend this claim!

First thing to do is get all of the information you need. X days will be able to tell you if this is an odd angle or if it's just how your tooth is.

HTH

A fucking bastard.

I'm not a dentist, but have had braces and reasonably dodgy enamel...

It just looks to me like your 'problem' tooth has been turned round to straighten it up. Was it pointing inwards a bit before?

I also think the gap in your front teeth should be fixable if you have another year to go, I used to be able to fit a pound coin between mine and now they touch.

I wouldn't say it takes an impact to lose a bit of tooth, I lost a substantial chunk of my front left incisor eating a poppadom. Initially it looked like a tooth that had lost a little cube out of it, but then it wore down to a smooth but slanty surface.
If yours has been a bit off for years, the wear has probably made it the shape it is now. Which you didn't see til it was turned round.

The bracket on your top front right tooth appears to have been incorrectly attached to your tooth to begin with, which is why the whole tooth has rotated. This is a serious error by the dentist. You can see in the first picture that the bracket is at an angle, and in the second picture, the bracket has straightened and the tooth has twisted because of this. When the braces were first put on, the wire was crooked because the brackets were not aligned on the teeth. Naturally, the way braces work, the wire is pulled tight and the brackets move and take the teeth with them . . . which is why your tooth has rotated. Make sure you don't let any dentist file your teeth or try to make stupid arguments suggesting you didn't notice a giant chip in your tooth - this can be fixed by repositioning the bracket, but you may need to go to a different dentist to get that done properly. In any case, you absolutely should not be paying more, as this is malpractice - but entirely fixable at this point, so don't panic. I must admit, I am not a dentist, but I had braces for years in the US (where people have straight teeth!) and now have straight teeth - and looking at the pictures, I think the problem is pretty obvious!

Also, you should not be in "screaming agony". If you're in that much pain, they're taking things much too quickly and either tightening the wire too quickly, or using too thick a wire. You should go back to them and tell them how much pain you're in. It should probably be a bit sore on the day you have them tightened, but absolutely should never be "agony".

To generalise dentists as 'fucking bastards' is unreasonable. As with any profession there are good and bad eggs.

See how it turns out after your treatment has ended. If you don't like the outcome, put it in writing and then if that doesn't work, contact the GDC.

Wow, bunfight much? I haven't actually called anyone a 'fucking bastard' thank you very much Mrsmorton and bebe. I'm sorry if you feel your entire profession is being insulted because one person has asked for opinions on whether or not she should say something to her orthodontist about something that is really bothering her and is causing her a great deal of lost confidence.

Cathackney, screaming agony seriously is the best way I can describe the pain. The only teeth I can bite with are the very back ones that haven't yet been attached to the braces yet. Eating is... interesting! It's not just after the tightenings, either, it's constant between the appointments too. I am midway between appointments today and couldn't brush two of the teeth properly this morning because the pressure of the toothbrush was too much to bear.

I've had a really good look at that tooth this morning and it is most definitely not just a case of straightening up something that was previously out of alignment. Yes, the right edge of the tooth was originally rotated forwards because there was a tooth behind pushing it in that direction. Now though, even ignoring the angle of the bottom of it, if you draw a line from the middle of the bottom of the tooth to the middle of the top and continue it up, it comes out just short of the inside corner of my eye. Trust me when I say that is not a vertical line!

I'm feeling sick at the thought of getting the bracket repositioned. I actually cried when he put the last elastic on that tooth.

Sorry, no expert (unless forking out $$$$ for DS's orthodontics makes me one) but this is cosmetic treatment you are having. You are fully entitled to expect that all appearances will be the same or improved. If there was any likelihood at all that your teeth would become more unsightly as a result of treatment then the onus was on the orthodontist to tell you so.

It seems to me you are simply getting bad treatment, and that you urgently need to seek a second opinion. I say 'urgently' because what the orthodontist has done may be remediable if you act quickly.

Best of luck!

I wouldn't wait until the end of your treatment to find out whether it all miraculously comes good, as some have suggested.

It's an issue that the orthodontist can't seem to express himself well enough or understand your concerns to have a sensible conversation.

The constant pain isn't right either.

I think you need to go back to him - can you schedule an emergency appointment with him rather than waiting another few weeks? And go armed with lots of questions, and not leave the room until you've got answers and he's done something about the pain.

And then second opinion etc if not resolved.

OP, you didn't call dentists that, another poster did.

It's not really on.

When I had braces my front two teeth were also straight . since having them my teeth are far worse. One of my front teeth now protrudes so it is out of line and I hate it.

I only really had them because my bottom set were abit wonky .. and still are !

The dentist/orthodontist should easily be able to tell from an x-ray whether the corner tooth is chipped/worn or just at a jaunty angle, surely? Did you have an x-ray before the treatment started? Did the tooth look complete? (I have no idea if this is standard, it's been a while since I had my brace!)

(No dentist bashing here - mine is my DP and I think it's a marvellous profession).

Also (again, not an expert) if you look at how vertical the sides of your teeth are, rather than how horizontal the bottom of your teeth are, they do seem much straighter.

I do feel as through the dentist really should've had a discussion with your about your aims and expectations of the treatment and the results it would realistically achieve.

I had wear on my front incisor when my teeth were crooked, so when I had my teeth straightened the tooth had an angled end that was then corrected by grinding it down a bit. I had bunny incisors though, yours look smaller so you may not have enough to grind down.

My teeth were at the most painful at the beginning of the treatment when they were straightening up. Closing the gaps after they were straight was much less painful.

What you are experiencing seems quite similar to my treatment, and I am very happy with the end result - lovely straight white teeth. I have no regrets at all, it was worth the money and the pain to enjoy smiling and not hide when people get their cameras out!

However, if you seriously have doubts about the competency of your orthodontist, get a second opinion.

OP I can't comment on the dentistry but wanted to applaud you for 'the leaning tower of teetha' -that made my day.

I've discussed your pics with a colleague who is doing an ortho MSc, and she's backed up what I thought that the upper right central incisor was worn before and now it is straight it looks worse. Please check your consent forms and make sure it's not in there that there might be further cosmetic work needed after the treatment.

The gap should be closed some point during treatment.

Try to ignore the scaremongerers on this thread, going to the GDC is a last resort.

I know you didn't start the label but we're not all fucking bastards and you need to give him a chance to address your concerns before seeking a second opinion.

I'm always cautious if a patient has been unhappy elsewhere, and would need the full background before taking on a treatment plan that had been started.

HTH

Thanks everyone. The thing is, looking at the sides of the tooth, it really isn't vertical - it is angled inwards at the bottom and outwards at the top. Sorry, that's a really rubbish explanation and I realise the picture above doesn't show this very well thanks to that lovely long flappy bit of gum that I have (more technical terms!)

The brief I gave my orthodontist was "I am getting married in Autumn 2015 and I want a nice smile". His response was "No problem, that should be doable - even if we're only 90% of the way there we can take them off for the wedding and finish it off afterwards". No hint that further work might be required. He did also say at the 45 minute appointment before the braces were first fitted, when I was photographed and x-rayed from every angle imaginable, that a couple of days' discomfort was normal, nothing that paracetamol wouldn't fix. Of course, some teenagers complained that the pain was unbearable, but teenagers complain about everything, don't they? I was a bit at this, which is why I've not mentioned much about the pain to him.

Just to also add - I am extremely dentist-phobic, but have the utmost respect for the profession with the exception of the sadistic swine who drilled into a nerve when I was six or seven, then bellowed at me when I screamed and flinched involuntarily with the pain and haven't even said anywhere that I intend to go for a second opinion, change orthodontists or lodge formal complaints - my OP was about whether I should insist that my front tooth is not right, or if I should trust that it would all come right in the end. Truly, I am an utter opposite-of-assertive wuss and need the two weeks before the next appointment just to work out what I am going to say, which will probably involve me apologising profusely to him for being unhappy!

Code - I'm glad I could make you smile with my leaning tower of teetha

Mewling - thank you so much for posting. Most people tend to only do these things once in our lives, so it's hard to know what's normal and what isn't. Knowing someone else had this much pain is actually a comfort (in a really weird way!). I'm so pleased you're happy with your end result. I hope I have the strength to carry on to the end of my treatment.

I have an ordinary dentist checkup appt before my next braces one, I might ask to see her last x-rays of my teeth to see what position the root was in and how wonky the bottom looked compared to the actual vertical line of the tooth.

Wow, sorry, that turned out to be war and peace!

This possibly shows what I mean better. Please excuse me spamming awful pictures of my teeth!

It looks to me like there's some more rotation to be done there, bringing the mesial (front) corner down and pushing the distal (back) corner up.

All that's really needed is a bit of dialogue to clarify things. You're a long way off completion yet OP and you've got to admit things are looking pretty good?

But the front corner was down, and the back corner was up (assuming you and I are calling the same things front and back), until the brace twisted it into the position it's currently in...

Yes, I'll definitely be trying to start a conversation with him about this, and other than that things were looking really good. Truth is the braces are so painful I'd been seriously considering getting them taken off and leaving things as they are, then realised what had happened to this one tooth and thought no way can I leave it like that, it looks worse than when I started!

They are sore though. You are moving rigid teeth through bone. It's going to be painful, unfortunately it's a fact of medical procedures!

The faster it's done, the more painful it is. Do you think that's had something to do with it?