POSTED UNDER Damon Braces Reviews
Not Sure if the Damon System is Superior - New York, NY
UPDATED FROM sophierose
11 months post
A Before Picture
sophieroseDecember 18, 2013
$6,800
Here is a picture of my teeth before braces. They were not very crooked but could use a little straightening. I would not have bothered getting for braces normally but am preparing for orthognathic surgery. Braces had to be applied to perfect the tooth alignment before moving the jaws.
ORIGINAL POST
Braces straighten teeth, regardless of the system....
sophieroseDecember 17, 2013
Braces straighten teeth, regardless of the system. However, I am not sure Damon works better or faster. In fact, they may be just about equal as far as time for all the difficulty they come with. I was quoted as needing "at least a year" in traditional braces. However, I chose Damon because the estimate was 6-8 months. I have now had Damon braces on for a year and am not quite done, so the time is about even with what was projected for traditional braces. It is difficult to get stubborn teeth to turn, and the brackets pop off very often. I have heard from others that Damon aligns the teeth quickly but is more difficult to tweak the details into place. This has been my experience.
Replies (2)
December 18, 2013
Thank you so much for reviewing your Damons! You might be the first non-positive review we have, and it's nice to be able to get a more balanced picture by having both positive and negative reviews.
It's hard to compare via estimates--it's quite possible your "at least a year" in regular braces could have dragged on well past that amount of time as well--one will never know. But I've never heard of the brackets popping off before. That's good information! What was the result when the brackets popped off? Did it hurt you? Like, was it dramatic? Did you have to go in for an emergency visit?
Have you been taking pictures of your progress as you go along?
Also, can you tell us a little bit about what your starting conditions were, and why, for example, you didn't choose Invisalign.
Thanks again!
December 18, 2013
I'm so sorry, I did not see your further questions. Damon was chosen because they advertise having less treatment time and with less frequent appointments, two things I have not found to be true. Invisalign was not an option because I am preparing for jaw surgery and need fixed appliance orthodontics for recovery. Also, I do not think I would have chosen Invisalign if I could have. Invisalign has limits. My sister is currently in Invisalign and is unhappy with the subtlety of the results as well as the responsibility of the retainers (taking them in and out to eat). She wishes she would have gone with traditional braces and been done with it. Are you shopping around for braces?
December 18, 2013
You're welcome. When brackets pop off, there is no danger in it hurting at all. It simply means the glue was not strong enough to sustain the pressure of the wire's pushing and pulling of the teeth, so the bracket breaks off the tooth and needs reapplied. I do not go in for emergency visits because I go in every two weeks anyway.
While you're right that we will never know how long traditional braces would have been on, I can say that I have has traditional braces before and did not experience this level of difficulty in getting teeth to move in the directions we want them to. I will try to post a picture of my teeth before to show that they were not very crooked. The extra time with braces is due to the fact that something seems to break every month, usually within 24 hours of a new wire being applied, and every problem adds time to the treatment length.
December 18, 2013
Wow, how very frustrating. Thanks for posting the picture. You have a class III? So are you scheduled for surgery or are you on hold while this stuff gets sorted?
December 18, 2013
Yep, a Class III (good eye!). We will schedule surgery once the teeth are officially ready. It is in San Jose, Costa Rica so it is better to be 100% sure of the date considering plane tickets will be involved.
June 24, 2014
That sounds like the problem is your orthodontist honestly. I only have to go once a month (6 weeks) to change my wire, and you had braces before and say this is different. Of course it is because you have adult teeth now and your jaw is longer growing and pliable like it is for children and young adults. I suspect that is why they are doing surgery for you. Although it is strange because if you had braces before and didn't wear a retainer your bite should be fine and you should only need braces to correct crookedness. Surgery is usually for adults with a bad bite that braces can not fix, but if you had them on as a child this should have been done already.
June 25, 2014
I guess this just goes to show that every case is different from the next. Since we have the same orthodontist, you know how great she actually is. In my case, I wanted to have surgery ASAP. The doctor really helped me out by seeing me more frequently until the surgeon agreed I was ready. I have always had a bite that could only be truly corrected with surgery. Braces in childhood compensated for the bite by extracting teeth and trying to make the upper teeth fit over the lower teeth. It did not stay that way for long. Orthognathic surgery is a last resort for doctors, patients, and insurance companies, and I was not an extreme case with health issues as a result of the bite so the option wasn't presented to me at the time. As an adult, I wanted my teeth to fit properly once and for all and just paid for it myself.
Replies (2)