15-17 with Braces - Carmel, CA

I got my braces off, and quickly was displeased. One of my front teeth is slightly behind the rest, which I can overlook, however, my bite is seriously JACKED up. I can't bite down comfortably, or at all for a matter of fact because only my front 4 teeth touch. And the front 4 teeth that touched they are almost on top of eachother! My bite has almost no depth, you are supposed to have a bit of an overbite and I don't have it. So basically my only teeth that touch are the front four and they are pretty close to on top of eachother. It is uncomfortable. For some reason my bite is comfortable wearing my retainer (clear plastic) but once it is off my bare teeth alone are uncomfortable. And I have worn my retainer 24/7!!! I take it off probably 30mins total for the whole day and that is to eat.

Here's the story: apparently when I started I had a crossbite and slight underbite I believe. They said I might need jaw surgery but they said they can probably succeed without. They put an expander on to open my jaw a little and apparently one of the dental assistants commented that it was not on long enough because my top teeth are more narrow than the bottom, which I agree. After about a year and a half of treatment my teeth were still not perfect. But they kept trying to take my braces off! I told them of all the tiny gaps I have, my bite is off, and my back teeth do not touch at all! They tried to fix and every two weeks id come in with something else for them to fix and this went on for months (8 months of seeing them every 2 weeks telling them something was wrong). So you can imagine the frustration they must be feeling. I AM NOT in expert in teeth. But I know how they should look and relatively feel but I think it is up to the DOCTOR to be more in control because I am not an expert and don't know everything. I thought they looked good and my bite at the time felt okay so I said to get them off, he didn't even take a final look at my teeth and took them off, he doesn't even check your bite he just asks how it feels. So needless to say I scheduled a consultation to see him on Monday for a little talk, I'm hoping he won't charge for my retainers and put braces of for free or for a discount. I am not happy. My teeth are pretty straight minus one tooth but the bite is HORRIBLE and that is the one part that is more important because I was told if your bite isn't good your teeth will move. I wish Invisalign was a good option for fixing bite but I heard it is not. Basically I am just hoping for the best on Monday that they won't refuse to put the braces back on and won't make me fork over more money or I'm going to another doctor for this. And I forgot to mention. The earliest they could give me my retainer was after 8 hours so I feel like my teeth didn't move at all but somehow my bite changed in that time and you can see in the pictures that it's true! Also I insisted on clear retainers because they are an EXACT mold of your teeth. I had metal retainers before (after my first time with braces this is my second time!) and my teeth moved!!! I feel like clear is a better option for perfectionists like me.

Just a little update, I went to my orthodontist and talked to him about my bite. He recommended that we switch to a metal retainer on the top and permanent retainer on the bottom to allow the teeth to come down so I can bite. He said I wouldn't be able to get the metal retainer for 2 whole weeks... What if I didn't have a retainer? I would be gone without a retainer for 2 whole weeks! Thank goodness though I have one. I can only imagine the frustrations I would feel just getting my braces off and not being able to get a retainer for 2 weeks. He was pretty understanding though and said if the whole retainer plan didn't work he would put me back on braces. One of the ladies took a look at my teeth and said my top teeth are more narrow than my bottom she said the new retainer could correct this. I hope so.

So I got a permanent retainer on the bottom and used my clear retainer on top and it helped my bite, they suggested the metal on top to make my bite even more comfortable. All it has done is shift my teeth to make them not as straight. Im now back to wearing the plastic retainer (it still fits) in hope that my teeth will move back to being straight! I have slight discomfort on the retainer but nothing bad.