Thursday 4 December 2008

Brace face

I have two upper teeth (third from the back on both sides) that have grown in kinda towards the back.

They have been getting squeezed over the years so my dentist suggested I see a dental surgeon to have them removed.

My consultation was this afternoon.

The surgeon flew in to see me 63 minutes late! And then spent 30 seconds quickly telling me what I should do so he could go to his next patient.

All I heard was braces and breaking my lower jaw.

Huh?

I made him slow down and explain what he was talking about.

He suggested I get braces for 1.5 years to straighten my teeth. Apparently my front ones point a bit back rather than slightly out.

And when you close your mouth, your upper and lower teeth should touch ... my front teeth go right now over my lower ones. It's been my normal for 46 years so I didn't know it was wrong.

After the braces come off, he then said I would my lower jaw broken to have it pulled out so the teeth would have more room.

Or he could pull the two teeth as my dentist had suggested.

Plan B sounds okay to me.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Teena, I highly suggest not pulling teeth. Get a second opinion. Or third. Pulling teeth can put your bite into imbalance and cause joint problems. Your mandible (lower jaw) should be able to be brought forward quite a bit without surgery but through orthodontics instead.

Laura Brown said...

I had a tooth pulled it's no big deal. Still have a space where it was. They wanted to put in a fake tooth and versions of that but I didn't want to spend more money on teeth. It's not a front tooth and most people never notice it. I don't miss it. I remember how much pain I had when it was broken, before it was removed.

Anonymous said...

Geez Tee,....that sucks....large! I'd take a dozen more of my knee surgeries before I'd want to undergo that, but then I have a very specific dental surgery phobia,...so I'm not one from which you should try to base any sound decisions. But what I do know is that Percacet (spelling?) is AWWWEEESOME....but stay away from the morphine,...it sneaks up on ya! ;)

Isabel said...

When I had braces, they had to pull some teeth. No biggie. But the jaw thing?? Could head or neck gear fix that. I remember I had to wear. Ugh.

Teena in Toronto said...

Head or neck gear!? Not a good look. Ha!

Sarah said...

I know someone whose teeth shifted when a tooth was pulled. She never complained about it.
I would go for plan B!

Anonymous said...

my front teeth go over my lower ones too, it's only natural... and I have never ever heard that both sets should touch, that would be weird. I'd say leave it the way it is, natural is better :)
There will be time for teeth puling when it comes to it health-wise, I wouldn't do it unless it truly looked teeeerrrible.

Anonymous said...

all sounds a bit gruesome to me! i would go with the pulling of teeth too ;)