I am looking for information from anyone who has had to have screws implanted into their bone for the purpose of moving teeth. Or if your child had this done, then I want to hear ONLY from you. Please, if you don't know anything about this, do not comment about getting a second opinion or leaving a negative opinion of your own. I am looking for information, not insults or negative comments.
I've had braces twice. Once when I was very young and I had beautiful results. Unfortunately, when I was 16, I decided on my own that I no longer needed to wear my retainers, so I stopped wearing them. My othrodontist at the time wanted my wisdom teeth to come out but once they began poking through my gums, I decided on my own that I wanted to keep them. Poor decisions on my own doing caused my beautiful teeth to move forward which made it necessary to get braces again, when I was in my 20's and yes, the wisdom teeth did have to come out. My results the second time around were less than fabulous, primarily because I felt my orthodontist at the time didn't really understand that I wanted my teeth pulled back in more than they had been moved, and he told me that they were moved in as far as they could go. I got my braces off wth a lot of disappointment.
Fast forward, I am a full grown adult now, still wearing her retainers from the second round of braces and still feeling disappointed with the results. So, I went to the orthodontist that we are using for my daughter and she told me that I have two options. Option 1 is Invisalign. It's expensive. The down payment alone is $2,400 PLUS $210 monthly payments for the duration of treatment. Option 2 is the invasive one that I am seeking information about. They would insert screws in my bone to be used as an anchor to help move my teeth back. I did not ask about the price because it's the pain I am most concerned about. I went to youtube and saw some videos about it. I was hoping to hear from anyone who has firsthand experience with this procedure.
I have seen my orthodontist at least 4 times for different consults regarding all my options. She strongly feels that something is causing my teeth to move forward. I think I recall somebody asking is this was for cosmetic reasons/trying to get what I had before. Well, yes, my teeth have moved forward, though they are straight because I still wear retainers nightly, my teeth have shifted forward so that I now have a jet overbite. This forward movement has been ongoing since I got my braces off in 1999 so there is a noticeable difference which makes me feel uncomfortable.
My orthodontist did say that the implanted screws may NOT work. She indicated that there will be pain, often times to the point where the patient has to get them removed. She indicated that they can and often do come out by themselves and it's necessary to get them re-inserted. This just sounds like a nightmare to me.
So, she recommended Invisalign. She feels that my "problem" can be corrected in as little as a year and a half IF I commit to wearing them at least 22 hours a day. That surely is a commitment!
She is reluctant to start any treatment with me until I have my mouth evaluated for any kind of issue that may be causing my teeth to move forward. This has been a roadblock because the speech pathologists I have contacted do not handle adults. I saw one lady who was willing to see me as a free consult, though she only handles children, she did not see anything obvious. I am stuck, basically. I want to correct my teeth (get them pushed back in where they belong) but I don't want to spend thousands of dollars and waste my time only to have this happen again in 10 years. She believes this will happen again and I've already had braces twice...
My daughter had to have that done. First day uncomfortable. After that all was well. Slow process.
We actually had a consult with the oral surgeon about this yesterday. My oldest daughter has 2 baby molars that need to be removed and they are going to insert the screws to close the space once the teeth are out. She's having the surgery at the end of this month.
Her orthodontist said that once the teeth are out and the screws are in place (very tiny screws, btw), the gap will be closed in a year. They don't want to move the teeth too fast, but they want the control since her bite is nearly perfect.
The oral surgeon assured our daughter that after she heals from surgery, there won't be any pain from the screws. And he said that once they are in place, they can fall out. Putting a new on back in isn't painful.
Good luck!
My son had a sever over bite (think buck teeth) and a misshaped soft palate. His orthodontist moved his teeth - and realigned his jaws - with appliances only. He had brackets on his molars with studs on them, the studs attached to springs, that literally reseated his jaws. Pulled the over bite all the way in to be even with his bottom teeth. Over the past two years the jaws have resettled into a more natural position, the over bite is gone, and his teeth have physically been moved into different places. His soft palate was also corrected with an expander that sat between his upper teeth and "pushed" the palate into a rounder position. Literally lifting his droopy eye, since his palate structure didn't offer the proper support to that side of his face.
Again, all without implants of any kind. Overall cost will be 6K - not cheap, and we still have a couple more years to go to complete the work. But much less invasive than the other options offered to us.
Talk to your Ortho again. I am worry about any kind of invasive procedures because of the higher risks.
since anything involving bone can result in arthritis, I'm curious if arthritis occurs later in life & if it impacts the patient with any pain. I would ask about long-term side effects. Typically with any alteration osteo-wise, you open a can of worms when it comes to arthritis. & yes, arthritis can affect more than joints. Good Luck!
& I'm curious: is this just for cosmetics &/or to regain what you had before....or are you having occlusion issues?
EDIT: price-wise, not surprised. Our son's pretty basic tx was over $5000 + almost $2000 for the surgery for his 3rd molars + $1000 for removal of 4 other teeth. :)
