Consultation w/ Dr. K

Today I had my consultation with Dr. K and he said that I have a pretty severe overbite. He went over everything with me...all the pictures, models and x-rays. As you can see in the pictures above you don't see my bottom teeth at all when I bite down...except for the sides. I never thought my bite was that bad but when they pull everything back and away...WOW...it's very exposing. :)

Dr. K gave me a couple of options. He said that for me to get the best possible results that I would need to have lower jaw advancement surgery. The surgery would move my lower jaw forward to correct the sever overbite. The treatment would also include upper pallet expander & lower lingual expander. If I decided not to go the surgery route he said that he could get my teeth 50% better than they are right now.

When I had braces in my early twenties this is what I was told as well. At the time I had no insurance and knew there was no way I could afford to do it on my own. Now I have insurance but I'm just not so sure that they would cover this operation.

I really would prefer to do the surgery! Dr. K referred me to an Oral Surgeon but this particular surgeon doesn't take my insurance. I spent the better part of the afternoon trying to find someone who would accept my insurance. I called my insurance company and they had only one doctor in the Tucson area who would accept my insurance so I called. The receptionist said..."oh, yes we accept your insurance, but the doctors here don't do that type of surgery.

I had my husband find out whether our insurance would cover it or not and they will not. Hmmm...now what options do I have???

Yucko....this was very difficult for me to post...who wants to look at the inside of someone elses mouth???? Yuck! Anywhoo...this is what my mouth looks like today...see all of those crowns and old fillings? I've put a lot of money into my mouth, you'd think it would look better than this, eh? I could make the excuse that I have very soft teeth...which I do...REALLY?!? I guess I should be quite thankful though...I have all of my teeth, well at least the ones that they didn't pull to put my braces on and to make room with removal of my wisdom teeth. There are no secrets here...you can tell me how many fillings I have old and new.

I called my dentist to find out if I should have the two upper crowns replaced before or after my braces and he said after...right now they are the ones that show when I smile and they're old and need to be replaced. I'll just have to wait it out a few more years I guess.

Here's one of the first pictures that I'll be able to come back to two years down the road and see what a difference going back into braces made. I can see from the picture as Dr. K told me that my lower teeth are all falling inward and my front two teeth really protrude forward although not too terribly bad.

This smile isn't one of the worst smiles I've seen and many of my friends are wondering why on earth I would even think about going back into braces again, they say... "you have such a nice smile". I've thought seriously about that myself. I like my smile too, I just don't like my overbite and the fact that my lips don't go naturally together. The headaches may have something to do with it as well and the clicking in my jaw but most importantly of all, my smile would be ten times...NO....100 times better than it is now!! My smile is very pointy now and I'd like to see it rounded out and that is where the pallet expander will come in on both the top and bottom.