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.

Adult Case for Braces

Yes...I admit it...I was one of those "thumb suckers" throughout the early years of my life. I remember my parents trying everyting in all creation to get me to stop sucking my thumb. Pepper, Vicks, tieing a mitten onto my hand...you name it...they tried it, but much to no avail.

I had always wanted to have my teeth straightened when I was younger because of the nasty names kids would instinctivly call me because of my protruding teeth. As I got to be a teen I was resigned to knowing that if I wanted it done I would have to pay for it on my own. I remember having quite a bit of jaw problems back in my teenage years. My jaw would only open so far and then it would lock. I didn't get much sympathy at the time but now I know it was due to my misaligned bite and the stress it was under.

I was about 23 years old and a bit naive when I saw a commercial on tv for braces for only $999, what a deal I thought! This was back in the early 80's and maybe that 's what they cost back then but I think probably NOT!

This seemed like a great opportunity for me so I went with it and made my first appointment. I had always wanted them and knew this was my one way of making them affordable. I was living on my own and working and made my first appointment with the orthdontic practice. Upon the consultation with the orthodontist, he told me that they cold certainly get my teeth straight but that I would need surgery to bring my lower jaw forward and my upper jaw back. It sounded good for me, althought I wasn't quite concerned about doing the surgery when it was all over with. I was in braces for about two years and had them taken off when I knew I'd be moving out of state. I probably had a few more months to go before they were ready to come off and so they did as I had asked. I was delighted with the results and the rest is history...

NOT...here I am 25 years later and having problems with my jaw and not happy with how my teeth have moved over those 25 years. Did I mention that I should have been wearing my retainer over all of these 25 years??? Well, I lost it and never had it replace, so here we are back to square one.

I feel like I have a hook tooth that protrudes further than the north sea...LOL...ok, so I'm exaggerating a bit, but it bothers me enough to want to do something about it. Here I am 25 years later and asking myself, "do you really want to do this all over again"?? You're getting old, is it really worth it?? Ok...if you're good at mathmatics you've already deciphered my age to be around 46, although if you were to ask me I'd tell you a firm "29". :)

This past week I set up an appointment with my son's orthodontist. My 15 year old son is just about out of braces...if he would continue wearing his rubberbands, he would have been out six months ago...as parents, we know how that goes. He's been in them twice as well, once when he was about 7 and then again when he turned 12...so much for getting a jump start on preventative orthodonitics. I just pray that his mouth isn't full of white marks all over his teeth because that was another challenge...BRUSHING!!!!!!!!

Ok...I've just climbed off my soapbox and I'll continue more after my consultation.