orthodontist work -> cosmetic work

From: Rich (nomore_at_spam.no)
Date: 01/23/05 

Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2005 13:54:46 -0700

I'm looking for a serious reply, I've got some major questions and need
unbiased answers.
You know it's tough to find an unbiased answer when you go into a dentist
telling him you're thinking about having $18k worth of work done in the next
2 weeks. That's why I'm posting here. Refresher: I've been posting here for
2 years. I'm the one with semi-crooked, gray colored, misshaped, decayed
teeth. Got all the decays fixed last September. Set me back $6k with
multiple fillings in all my teeth (guessing 30+ composite fillings). Next
step was to straighten #8, #9 (both rotated outwards slightly) and #23
(crowded inwards). Got metal braces in October and the fact is that I still
need to get veneers and crowns (for all the RCT jobs done on #4, #8, etc.)
when the ortho work is completed plus these braces are driving me nuts.

So I went to two different "cosmetic" dentists to see about getting the
braces off and reshaping the teeth since they needed a lot of work anyway.
One dentist wanted tooooo much money and the other seems ok but at the end
of each sentence he adds in a "my only concern is that of the teeth moving
back later, however it shouldn't be a problem if we use a retainer". He's
building up to cover his ass if/when something goes wrong. On the other hand
($) he's 90% sure we won't have a problem. Nothing would please me more than
to get these braces off and get these teeth looking better now but I don't
want to have crooked porcelain teeth 6 months later. I don't know if this is
really going to be a problem. Has any dentist here ever removed braces early
to do cosmetic work like this? Did they come back with crooked porcelain
teeth?

The dentist is telling me that the temporary plastic teeth will have a wire
behind them which will hold them in position for 6 to 8 months, then when I
get the porcelain installed I will have to wear a retainer for awhile.
Comments please.

And what is the life expectancy of a mouth full of porcelain? Suppose that
the dentist does a really good job and everything goes fine, will I need to
have this stuff replaced after 20 years? He offers a 7-year guarantee and
he's been in town at least that long. I'm 30 years old and this is a
concern..

THANKS for any feedback.

Rich

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