First off, I know that the majority of people on a.cc have nothing to do with professional dentistry and that talking to a read dentist would be the best option. Well, I already have and am not %100 satisfied.

<dilemma>
Earlier today a retainer that was fixed to the back of lower teeth was pulled out by some soft sticky candy. The retainer was installed after I had my braces removed and has been sitting there quietly minding it's own business since I was 16 (about 5 years ago). When it was installed the orthodontist told that when I was 25 we would need to make an appointment to have it removed.

Obviously the fact that it came out early is somewhat of a problem I think; especially considering that I have absolutely no insurance/benefits for at least 8 months. I called the Orthodontist office and they recommended I pay $250.00CAD to have the adhevise (which is still cemented to the back of my teeth) removed and then reapplied with a new wire. They also recommended that I leave the new wire on for life instead of removing it at age 25 like the original plan. According to them it will cost nothing to remove the adhesive.

Something seemed odd to me, especially considering I had braces on both my upper and lower teeth, and there was no retainer installed for my upper teeth and they haven't shifted a bit(;D).

I called my regular dentist who told me that she does not know very much about the possibility or speed of the lower teeth shifting back to where they were and that I should do what the orthodontist says.

My parents have already payed thousands of dollars for the braces to make look nice and neat (eliminate the gaps, crowding and overbite etc) and I would hate to flush the money they spent on my teeth away simply because I didn't want to cough up $250.

Clearly I do not want to pay for something that I do not need. So I don't get it reinstalled and my teeth move a fraction of a millimeter over my life then it wouldn't have been worth my money. However If the teeth move so much that some are forced behind others etc then I'd feel pretty terrible.
</dilemma>

I'm wondering if anyone here has any insights on this subject perhaps based off their own experience with braces and or retainers?

I live in Kentucky. Do you really want dental advice from me?

What kind of sticky candy was this? I'd like to have mine removed like that.

Have you had your wisdom teeth removed? My lower ones grew parallel with my gums straight toward the front teeth, so they ended up messing up my lower teeth anyway, regardless of the permanent retainer.

So yeah, as long as you don't let your wisdom teeth do that, my unprofessional advice is that you should be fine.

Yup. Mine were removed a couple years ago for that reason. Also, 2 molars were removed before I got the braces to free up some space. That must have been at least 8 or 9 years ago.

edit:
What kind of sticky candy was this? I'd like to have mine removed like that.

I don't think I ever did get the name of the candy. I would advise against that method though. I was used to having the wire but now that it's gone the location where it was ripped from feels all rough and jaggy. It feels like my tongue might get cut if it moves over it the wrong way.

I think retainers are a scam. I didn't even wear my removable retainer because that was disgusting.

According to the orthodontist I did have an upper retainer that I was supposed to wear 16 hours a day. I vaguely remember it breaking within the first month or so and my parents refusing to pay the $95 to replace it. Like I said, the upper teeth seem fine.

I had braces for the longest time when I was a kid, had them removed and got a retainer, that thing was horrible and I stopped wearing it after a couple of months. Well my upper teeth are fine, but my lower teeth shifted some, so it's almost as if I never had braces on the lower teeth. I never had my wisdom teeth removed however until much later so that has a lot to do with it.

I should have gotten braces when I was a kid. My adolescent teeth barely fit, once my adult front teeth came in, everything was pushed out of whack, and then later when my wisdom teeth started growing in it pushed my two front teeth to a 90 degree angle of each other, and my bottom front teeth are all startingot really overlap had my wisdoms out a year or two ago and still I don't have room for the teeth I have.

Since my rear molars are in bad shape, I intend to ask about them just removing them. maybe my teeth will eventually settle back into place with time. (they are really crowded, so they will move back at least a little)

Since I posted this I was able to contact the oral surgeon who removed my wisdom teeth to ask his opinion. He also happens to be my Godfather
<insert music>;D

Anyways, I told him what happened and he said it would be fine. When I told him that the orthodontist told me that they would shift dramatically within 8 months he still thought it should be fine. Apparently what used to happen was kids would get braces and wear the retainers until they got their wisdom teeth removed, after which there would be nothing to really cause the teeth to shift so they would have the retainers removed. He doesn't know why they would recommend I pay to put a new one in. I think he said it "must be a different approach to treatment".

Either way, he told me I would be fine to have the adhesive removed and forgetting about it. If worst comes to worst and I notice them shifting I can always pay the $250 to have the retainer reinstalled. That shouldn't happen though.

So, now I feel much more comfortable with my decision. I have an appointment tomorrow morning to get the cement junk removed. Yay!

I really need to make a Dentist appointment. My teeth have been killing me for a while. Without pain relevers, it gets so bad I very nearly crumple up in agony

I've been very lucky in regards to cavities up till I started on my bipolar meds, after that things got pretty bad, and now I've finally got one thats really bad (by pain, not by how much tooth is missing, the molar thats bugging me is mostly in tact, yet the one on the other side is HALF gone disgusting isn't it ).

I have an aunt in Antlers, OK who is a dentist--or more appropriately, the dentist--in the town. Actually, I believe it was the whole county. According to her, in that town, the standard gift to a someone on their eighteenth birthday is to have their teeth removed and replaced with veneers.

By that standard, even Tomasu's teeth are alright.

I sympathize with everyone in this thread.

I got my permanent retainer in after my wisdom teeth, and it's been a pain in the ass. It's impossible to floss under, but the dentist demands it and obliterates my gums to accomplish this every time I go in -- and fails. So that's pleasant.

I had my braces for a long time, and they wanted me to have them for even longer, but the deal was I would wear them until I started college. I don't know why, but I find something utterly demoralizing about still having braces in college. So my teeth still aren't perfect.

Also, the device they used to correct my jaw tried too hard, I think, because my jaw pops out of place sometimes and it's hard to open it to yawn even. And that's some time after getting it out; when I first got it in, I couldn't talk for a good week and needless to say I was in pain a lot. Even until not long ago, I had pits in my mouth where the little screws stuck out and ground into my cheeks.

And about a week ago, my orthodontist killed himself.

So that's the history of my mouth.

Bonus story: When I was a tiny, I didn't brush my teeth at all, really. I thought my parents were lying to me because they had lied to me about Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and I could never get a single straight answer about God, so I was pretty sure they were lying to me about that too.

I don't trust dentists and I think toothpaste is made to be bad for your teeth in order to bring more work to dentists so they can feed off your wallet.

What you really need to clean your teeth is toothpicks and lots of high quality saliva.

I don't have much quality advice about crooked teeth though. I've been rather lucky in that area, my wisdom teeth is a little tight in the back but not causing serious trouble. So I haven't needed any advanced dental care.

... That makes perfect sense!!! I'd believe it but too many people I know brush multiple times a day and never suffer any cavities. I brush once a day, occasionally I will have a small cavity beginning to form, but my teeth never actually cause me pain. Usually I'm in and out at the dentist office though.

Yeah, I think most people suffer that. I know I sure did. I've noticed that my jaw 'seizes up' when I open it too wide after having the braces removed. Like for instance when I try to eat a really huge Burger or sandwich and I open my mouth as wide as it can go I'll get this intense burning pain in my lower jaw and my mouth just kind of freezes there. It's incredbly painful and I usually just go "AHHHHHHHHRRRR!". My friends or anyone near generally tends to slowly back away and after a few minutes the pain goes away and I can slowly close my jaw. It's painful to open/close it for awhile after though.

I had a large overbite, which is why I went to the orthodontist. If I recall correctly, it was around 10mm. So I had two top molars removed and wore the modern day torture device: headgear.

It's amazing that it actually works. It's just constant pressure on the upper jaw applied to the rear molars. I ended up wearing the stupid thing 24/7 because it was easier to just get used to it always on than to take it on and off. That, and I only had to wear it for around one year instead of three. The orthodontist said I shattered all of the distance / time records of his previous patients. So there's my accomplishment in life.

But can you still eat a tremendously large and tall sandwich or burger???

edit:
My guess is yes?

I have no problems.

Lucky. I am so envious of your tall sandwich eating abilities!

I expected my orthodontist's suicide to at least garner a but I guess you're all 1) not surprised 2) not that concerned, considering our general attitude toward our respective tooth-care professionals...

I remember hearing that the dental profession has the highest suicide rate. So, I guess I am not too surprised. And yeah, I am a bit jaded after this fiasco with my retainer.

I was supposed to wear braces back then, due to an enormous overbite. They told me if I don't wear it, all sorts of bad things would happen: My teeth would rot, I wouldn't be able to chew properly, which would screw up my digestive system and with that pretty much my entire metabolism, and eventually, all sorts of diseases would come and greet me.
But by that time, I was already progressing quite well on the trombone, and for that reason refused any of permanent braces, so the orthodontist shrugged and tried her best with a removable thingy. The removable thing, though, screwed up my entire embouchure so badly that after about a year of fruitless treatment (my overbite didn't change zip, but my molars didn't fit anymore, somthing the orthodontist classified as "normal"), I decided to drop the whole thing and just have an overbite.
My teeth are still fine, except for the mark the removeable brace left on one of them, and I haven't developed any kind of disgusting digestive disorders yet.
My unprofessional assessment is that if more than 80% of all children are diagnosed as having dental abnomalities, then something is wrong with the diagnostics. We humans are not a perfect design, but we're not THAT horrible either.

80%? Been reading English journals again?

Rough guess based on what I recall from my personal experience of that time.

When I first went to my orthodontist's place, I thought I had wandered into a beauty salon by mistake. He has about a dozen beautiful assistants, all women between the ages of 20 and 30. The secretary's desk had a wavy, sculpted look, as did the circular waiting area. There were bunches of helium balloons with glitter on them tied here and there.

The actual dentistry takes place in a single open area, where dentist chairs radiate outwards from a central pillar. The orthodontist rarely sullies himself with anything as crass as reaching into someone's mouth, he just makes small talk, looks at your teeth, and rattles off instructions to the nearest assistant. She tightens the braces for about 15 minutes, then its all over. They've just made 200 dollars, see you again next month.

I have a hard time imagining this guy committing suicide.

You've been to my orthodontist's office?

The lobby sounds very similar minus the helium balloons.

Also, he has an X-Box and a PS3 set up in the waiting room, along with 2 iMacs for surfing. A fancy espresso/capucino/frothy-coffee machine also dominates a central pillar. On the same Pillar is a touch screen where you sign in for your appointment. There was a platter of fresh homemade cookies sitting beside the espresso machine. The walls seem to have been removed since the last time I was there 6 years ago and aside from the pillar there isn't a boundary between the lobby and the dentistry area.

The dentistry area itself is interesting. There does not seem to be a design pattern, the dozen or so stations seem to scattered randomly over a large area. A flat screen monitor was at each station with the patients records displayed.

The actual process of having the adhesive removed was pretty quick. The used some kind of high rpm circular file tool to just grind it away until my teeth felt smooth.

After a bit of a chat with the orthodontist (he seemed very metrosexual) who came over to update the records and inspect the work I was finally free of the money grubbing hands of orthodontists.

I grabbed a cookie on the way out. It was very tasty. I arrived at 10:45 (15 minutes early for the 11:00am appointment) and was out by 11:02am. The procedure cost me $0.00CAD.

How do you surf on an iMac?

Aren't you worried about eSharks?

Ours has a gamecube and a PS2, and a bunch of flat screens in the lobby, which consists of a wavy arrangement of comfy chairs, with two circular aquariums/pillars with exotic-looking fish in them. There is also a glass case filled with all sorts of goodies you can get with wooden nickels that they give you for being a good little boy or girl. (I always saved up for the Best Buy gift cards)

The dentistry area is a bunch of identical pods in a fan shape all facing outward towards the giant curved glass wall. Every pod has an LCD monitor, wireless keyboard and wireless mouse.

The assistants are all women, and all are hot, except one who they seem to keep in the back. Strange.

~~~

I just got back from my dentist's, actually. (I had to get a filling) When I told him what I was going to school for, he said I should make a series of games that let people know what a job is going to be like before they get into that field... I think he's not happy, either.

Crooked teeth are not considered abnormal in England 592854

I should have mentioned, I have a cross bite. One of the reasons I should have went to the Orthodontist when I was younger. But meh.

{"name":"105.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/1\/5\/159e0db8d9fd0faac4cd743c4ee33f9e.jpg","w":829,"h":310,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/1\/5\/159e0db8d9fd0faac4cd743c4ee33f9e"}

{"name":"106.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/d\/3\/d3e5f272169e4a073032f172957a0970.jpg","w":829,"h":310,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/d\/3\/d3e5f272169e4a073032f172957a0970"}

I've never seen that comic before. I'll have to check that out. It seems funny.