AIBU to want dd to have traintrack braces but no teeth removed?

[Italiangreyhound]

AIBU to want dd to have traintrack braces but no teeth removed?

The orthodontist says my dd (11) needs train track braces to straighten her teeth.

The waiting list is about 18 months.

Since about 8 days old dd has sucked her thumb and nothing I have ever been able to do has helped her to stop (despite her saying she wants to stop!). So we have 18 months for her to stop so she can get her teeth straightened.

When she finally does stop thumb sucking and gets to the top of the list the orthodontist says she will need train track braces to straighten her teeth and in order to do this the orthodontist will take out two teeth.

I did not really think anything of it until a friend told me that they don't need to take out teeth nowadays with traintrack braces.

Can anyone tell me how it has worked for them or their child, please?

DD is terrified of having teeth removed and if it is not necessary I would rather avoid it.

I'm surprised our orthodontist didn't talk to us about the option not to remove teeth, especially as the NHS website seems to suggest it is not very common tp remove teeth now- " But, as a result of recent advances in orthodontic treatment, removing teeth has become much less common."

My dd has only had one baby tooth removed and that virtually fell out as it was stuck at an odd angle - think 'Nanny McFee'!

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Orthodontics/Pages/Howitisperformed.aspx

"Removing teeth

In some cases, it may be necessary to remove a tooth to correct the position and appearance of nearby teeth. But, as a result of recent advances in orthodontic treatment, removing teeth has become much less common.

However, if baby teeth have been extracted, there is a greater likelihood that adult teeth will need to be extracted as part of orthodontic treatment."

Thanks.

I've never had braces, but just wanted to say that most people probably have too many teeth anyway. I naturally only have 23 - 1 of which is a milk tooth that didn't have an adult tooth to replace it - and don't have any problems. We don't need so many now but evolution hasn't caught up with modern eating habits.

My sister had 30 teeth and spent £000s having braces as an adult, having to have canines removed (and then other teeth shaped to look like canines). Definitely worth getting it sorted as a teenager if you can.

(Dreads to think what will happen to thumb-sucking 5 year old in future!)

I had 4 teeth out to make room for train tracks when I was a kid- same reason (I sucked my thumb until I was 9!)

I had general anaesthetic but it was gas rather than the injection, I'm not sure if they do that anymore? From what I remember the process was much better than when I had wisdom teeth out a few years ago.

One thing I would mention is that I stopped wearing my retainer (you have to wear it afterwards at night for a year) earlier than recommended and really wish I hadn't. My teeth are still better than they were before braces but they aren't properly straight anymore. I know your DD is nowhere near that stage yet but if you can encourage her to stick with it the results will be much better!

Id trust the dentist over the friend, they're the expert. Discuss with them what the options are, but trust that they know what they're talking about.

how old is your daughter? as she matures (goes though a couple growth spurts) her mouth may change.
you really need to review the xrays with your orthodontist and discuss it at the time.
DS1 needed both train tracks and his 4 wisdom teeth removed.
DD only needed her wisdom teeth removed
DS2 had both a cross bite and underbite, had expanders at the age of 8 and eventually train tracks (as you call them) he had NO wisdom teeth but did have one impacted tooth removed (the one next to the eye tooth).

Massive YES to wearing the retainer for bloody ages. I stopped after 6 months, and two weeks after that I couldn't get it on anymore. Teeth look shit now. It's the most important bit. Just letting it all settle down.

Thanks OhYouBadBadKitten Please can I ask why you did not want teeth removed?

Solasum Aloe - direct from the plant, where do you get it from?

Sorry StatisticallyChallenged that sounds awful. I had four wisdom teeth out in the chair under local and went home on the train, it was awful once the anaesthetic started to wear off I stayed crying. I was about 21, had a suitcase with me and no one even asked me if I was OK (it was almost 30 years ago!).

Sockqueen re I think your orthodontist probably knows more about the options than your friend, but it can't hurt to ask if there is the option to avoid extractions and how that might affect the results of braces. I am sure you are right. Unfortunately my friend said this in front of dd who now wants me to 'investigate'. I said I would 'investigate' when she stops sucking her thumb! But I stated early!

abbsismyhero that sounds awful, so sorry.

landrover I already told her accidentally! We read a book about being at the dentist and it said something like "The demist gives Bobby an injection. It doesn't hurt." And I said yeah right! - re By the way, the thumb sucking may be nothing to do with it, our mouths sometimes are just too small x yes that is true and the orthodontist said we do not know if the thumb sucking caused it but to be honest she does suck her thumb A LOT!

Thank you, HamaTime, Thebookswereherfriends, MrsTerryPratchett, choirmumoftwo, and Maryz.

Berthatydfil re I would suggest you speak to your dc's orthodontist to establish the exact issue and accordingly the best treatment option. If st that point you aren't happy you can explore alternatives. great advice (although they can be a bit hard to get hold of!) Will try.

Great news Sparklingbrook.

Iliketoparrty re My advice is go with the Ortho's recommendations. I know, I normally do go with the medics but my friend has put a doubt in my head. And I guess I don't really understand it all, how it works. Not that I will be doing the procedure, of course!

Thanks one and all, off to bed now.

wow JarethTheGoblinKing thanks for this Massive YES to wearing the retainer for bloody ages. I stopped after 6 months, and two weeks after that I couldn't get it on anymore. Teeth look shit now. It's the most important bit. Just letting it all settle down.

Jareth, Girlfriend et all, thanks so much.

Lucy why so we have so many teeth?

out my dd is 11.

Thanks so much, off to bed.

Apparently I had 24 adult teeth because my molars that appeared at 7/8years of age didn't push out the baby molars. My dd is 7 and I've only now discovered that her baby molars will be replaced by adult molars. She had to have a filling in her baby molar recently, the dentist is hoping her adult molar will push the decaying baby molar out, so no need for it to be removed under anesthetic

I'm in the USA where orthodontics are the norm (everyone has braces!) and I've never heard of anyone I know having teeth out for braces. My dd has train tracks top and bottom - her two front incisors were very slightly overlapping and it's not something that would be corrected in the USA. She needed the bottom braces to ensure that her bite was correct at the end of treatment. Maybe things are different in the UK. I had a single wire brace on my top teeth when I was a teenager (thumb sucker too) and they removed one tooth only so now the mid line of my teeth is about half a tooth off. No-one notices but I do...

My father was my dentist until he retired. He was an exceptional dentist and highly regarded. I saw an orthodontist that informed him that I needed 4 teeth removing, (all 4s, premolars) as my mouth was crowded. He did it and I then got 'train tracks' or fixed appliances as they're called. Now my teeth are darn near perfect.

In essence what I'm saying is, if you trust your practitioner as a good professional, then trust their opinion, they don't go through 5 years of tough education for nothing 😉

Could be worse. ..I had 4 teeth taken out as a pre teen as the dentist said mine didn't require braces but would move into the gaps. No! My teeth are gappy and have continued to move as an adult. I no longer smile, not even on my wedding photos. My sister had the train tracks and none removed 5 years later and her teeth belong on an American sitcom. I can understand why you are nervous about removing teeth.

No advice really about removing teeth or not, but my sister used to suck her fingers and nothing was stopping her until the orthodontist made a removable retainer type brace with a piece of wiggly metal facing down that made it impossible for her to fit them in her mouth. Just in case yours may be able to give you something like that to help her stop.

My dd is currently six months into braces. So far she has had an expander to widen her top jaw and a crossbow and springs to bring her bottom jaw forward. Now she just has the standard braces (traintracks) for the next year or so to hold everything in place. No suggestion of removing any teeth. I don't know how the extractions work, but both the expander and the crossbow/springs have been at times very painful.

ds was due to have standard braces to correct misalignment on the left side of his jaw, I thought as a result of 12 years of thumb sucking, but the ortho said that it was unlikely that the misalignment was due to the thumb sucking. Again no suggestion of teeth removal. ds watched dd go through a lot of pain and has decided he'll stick with slightly crooked teeth. He is 16, so his choice really. We told him that if he has them done now he doesn't have to pay for them (dh and I have dental plans through work, but it's still $3K or so) but if he changes his mind later he'll have to fork out.

ds's decision meant we spent quite a lot of time going through options with the orthodontist. They should explain to you exactly why they are suggesting braces/removal, what it is to fix and how it will work. That way you can be confident of making the right decision.

I had 28 teeth, I now have 26 (2 removed from the top, at the back).

My teeth were crowded which is why they were/are crooked. Since having the top 2 removed (about a year or 2 ago) my teeth have naturally straightened up. While they're not perfect, I didn't realise how much they had self-straightened until I found a photo of myself at 18... I didn't realise they were THAT crooked!!

So yes, I would have them removed, I think it would be easier to maintain once the braces are off if you didn't have extra teeth crowding it all up.

Yes, you need to seek a second opinion.

But if, as is often the case, there may be more than one way of achieving a mouth of effective, straight teeth, then you might have to make decisions based on whether NHS funds both options (or difference in price if self-funding anyhow).

Yes your are. My mouth was too small to accommodate all my teeth. When I was 11, U had awful buck teeth. The orthodontist removed twelve of my teeth - six each side. I had braces and I also with head gear. Two years later my teeth were perfect. I had my wisdoms taken out because my mouth couldn't accommodate them. Now they're perfect and since then still to this day I get complimented on how perfect y straight they are. He pushed my teeth back so there are no gaps whatsoever. I'm so glad my parents did that for me as I looked awful before.

Teeth are removed if the child's mouth can't accommodate all of their teeth. To straighten out teeth takes more space than to leave all the teeth in but let them stay overlapped. It's just a question of space, I had four teeth removed as a child and had train tracks and now have lovely straight teeth that don't over lap and stick out. Both my kids had train tracks as well. But only one needed teeth out to make room for it.

I had 4 adult teeth out aged 11 before being put on the braces list. I never needed them as my teeth straightened themselves out and are perfectly straight now.
My brother otoh, his teeth are dreadful. They refused to take any out so put him on the brace list which took 4 years for him to get to the top of by which point he was 16 and he point blank refused the brace.
If it were my DD and she was overcrowded I'd let the dentist extract.

I had an overcrowding problem plus an overbite, and had to have teeth out followed by braces for straightening. Plus fillings galore. The process took about two years. I was a teaching model in the Dublin Dental Hospital thanks to the variety of issues I had. Basically, teeth were removed and the remaining teeth pushed into the spaces and fillings added as indicated. My mum used to take me for a lovely sticky meringue in Switzers on Grafton Street after my appointments . I have no recollection of any pain associated with it all, though I have since had a root canal and went through all the numbing that required, so I know it must have hurt a bit.

I know children in the US who had teeth removed due to overcrowding, with their dentist working closely with the orthodontist to coordinate treatment. I don't think there is a difference in approach in different countries.

I doubt there can ever be a policy about tooth removal -- each mouth is different and I would guess there are some configurations of teeth that would still require removal no matter how many advances there have been.

My dd had a tooth out before train tracks. I was apprehensive about the whole thing as I had no experience of braces, but it needed sorting as after an accident when she was little the problem was very clear.
A month after the extraction the braces were in. 361 days later the braces were out and - wow. The orthodontist's grand plan was spot on, including the extraction. She is just coming to the end of 24 hr a day retainer and will move down to 12 hrs overnight, she is 14 now and pleased as punch about it all.

My teenage son who has traces will have 2 teeth removed (he is being treated on the NHS). He has done all the research himself and is happy with that. I would have just left the teeth totally alone as they look fine to me.
He says at the last tightening he has started to notice a difference and movement of teeth and can even see now why the teeth come out.

He had also been warned of the braces hurting but so far they haven't.

I had extensive orthodontic work, including 'train track' braces and refused to have teeth removed. The orthodontist had proposed removing 4 teeth, and I was absolutely petrified - I'd never had any kind of dental work before then and hated the thought of losing 4 healthy teeth for what was about 1.5mm of space needed. As I was 13 (ish), my parents agreed to support my decision and the orthodontist found another way round it.

Instead of having the teeth out, I had to wear a head gear brace at home and overnight for about a year. The orthodontist thought I might be flaky about wearing it - but I wasn't at all. I could hide the cap amongst my hair so well that I even went out in it a few times.

So, I think YADNBU.

this thread is terrifying me. im due to have 6 teeth out including wisdom. ive never even had a filling or any dental work today is it really painful?