Teeth that are shifting

I've come across many forums where people complain about shifting of teeth after braces have been removed. Either they forgot to wear their retainer or the bonded retainer wire on the back of their teeth fell off. It surprises me that almost no-one asks why this happens. Are we just supposed to accept that this is how things work? I remember questioning this before I did my major research. I used to say to myself, "What's up with this, an unstable result? What have I let them do to my mouth?" I at least wish they would've explained things before treatment. Some people still don't get this information and it's upsetting to me. In my opinion having to wear a retainer for the rest of your life involves a big risk. Let's say I go on a trip where I travel for more than 24 hours and my sleep is irregular for a week or so due to jetlag. Or if I get a kid and forget to wear the retainer for  a couple of nights because of the chaos that occurs. Or if the bonded retainer falls off while you're on a trip (I had this happen recently).

Before I did my research I asked a dentist about shifting of teeth after the wire fell off and she told me the whole thing is one big experiment. Orthodontists ask themselves if the number of years you wear the retainer is related to whether they will shift or not. After reading a lot about the topic I found a whole bunch of American websites that stated that if you don't solve the jaw problems (that almost always seem to be the culprit to begin with) the amount of time that you wear the retainer will be of no importance and that life-long retention is the safest. I would rather solve the underlying problems! Such techniques exist too, and they have been available for decades. But instead they choose to aggravate the problem. Seeing it from that perspective, I don't blame the teeth for wanting to return to their original position! ;)
 

I found a blog written by a person who lost her retainer and her teeth started shifting right away. She went back to the orthodontist to consult them and they said they made a mistake by not removing teeth because of crowding. Like that was the reason for the shifting. Where did that statement come from, was it just a wild guess? From what I've heard risk of shifting increases if you have teeth pulled. This is because the dental arches are made smaller leading to decreased tongue space among other things.
 

How about at least providing the patient with some theories. Or are they trying to evade the fact that they ignored a big problem with the mouth that still remains?

Retainer forever? We'd prefer teeth that are not kept in place by a "bandaid"! 

Adult braces and pulling teeth

I get extremely upset when I think about the fact that the government paid for something that might have damaged more parts of my health than I can imagine. (For example, my weird blood pressure and heart palpitations could be related because that's what happens when you can't breathe properly at night.) This is probably going to cost me at least 15.000 dollars (possibly more) to fix. I want treatment immediately but I realize it's not possible. I must make up my mind first about what country I want to live in.

I have surfed around on some blogs written by people who wear braces. Most of them are teenagers and adults and a lot of them were adviced to have teeth pulled. It's sure is strange that extraction orthodontics is so big in Sweden when the side effects have been discussed in the USA since the 1980's. Anyway, I have commented on blogs written by people who didn't yet go through with the decision. When commenting I always try to be humble, saying stuff like, "it never hurts to be aware of the debate".

Maybe I should stop doing this though? It doesn't seem like I can get through to them. They trust their orthodontists completely. It is just very hard when you see pictures of very mild crowding and know that extractions were suggested even for those. I know all too well that my words might not matter to them. They so desperately want to believe that this simple offer of free orthodontics will solve the matter. I think it's wishful thinking that traditional braces with extractions will take care of everything and that there are no side effects whatsoever.

I can only speak for myself but I do due diligence before I have anything done. Google is my friend. When I had my orthodontics done there was no Internet to help me (well, it did exist but nobody was aware of it). One glance at Facefocused.com would have made me turn down treatment for sure.

Traditional braces - friend's glad she never wore them

I went to dinner at a friend's place last night and we started talking about how much her crooked teeth bothered her. I started talking about what I've read lately, that you shouldn't extract and/or retract teeth in orthodontics because it can damage the profile, the bite, the position of the tongue and the position of the jaw joint (TMJ) but that this is still done in many cases. She was shocked and said, "Are you SERIOUS?" I told her about Weston A. Price and how he found the reason for crooked teeth and that traditional orthodontics don't take care of the real problem and can make everything worse.

Then I told her that you will usually need bonded retainers on the back of the teeth for the rest of your life to keep them from shifting since the result is so unstable. "Are you SERIOUS?" she said again. She couldn't let the topic go. The more I told her the happier she was that she had never worn (traditional) braces.

Later we started talking about children and that they often wait until they are fully grown here in Sweden which is the wrong thing to do. She had relatives that had to wear braces and pull out an eye tooth (a canine tooth coming in in the roof of the mouth) and when I told her that kind of scenario can often be avoided if you guide the growth of the jaws at an early age she was really surprised that more people aren't aware of this.

We then started measuring each other's intercanine width and laughed like little girls. "Ok, let's measure yours, oh my, your upper jaw is too small!" "Are you supposed to have that big of a jaw, that's huge!" (The norm is 40 mm for both men and women.) We measured the distance between the nose and the front teeth (according to Dr. Hang and Orthotropics practitioners). Her distance was too big but mine was of course bigger. We laughed again. But then we got serious once more. We discussed how I'm going to reach out to people? I don't know if most people wouldn't care about their health to get straight teeth but that they might not disregard the fact that these retraction methods cause double chin, bigger nose, damaged profile and treatment relapse? I gave her some links for further research.

Imagine if this could have been avoided at an early stage. I'm sure this person would've been thrilled.

Types of orthodontic appliances

I have read more about orthodontics than is healthy for the brain. Slowly an opinion began to take shape, an opinion that is based on something I've felt all along: "Why only consider the teeth, that they need to be straight, if they don't fit the face, if the face loses its shape, if the profile is damaged?" And: "Why defy the body, nature itself, when it's the most brilliant machine that exists? Why torture people for years with uncomfortable and sometimes horrible appliances?"

These thoughts make me very upset, especially at this age because I've started thinking, "What if I get kids, how do I deal with these things? I can't make it go through just anything." But now I know everything worth knowing about new findings and that it doesn't have to be this way. You don't need to wear the worst appliances available for it to work. The less bulky ones usually work better because they take advantage of the body. It really makes a lot of sense! The body wants to change, to correct itself, but only if it's done in the right way. Furthermore, you don't have to choose between straight teeth and face/function because the good techniques improve the facial appearance and the mouth!

ALF or RPE - which would you prefer? Do you believe me when I tell you that the thin, discreet thing to the left solves more problems?

First and foremost, to not take the entire head and the shape of the jaws into account is often pointless. That's not the way to solve a problem. For years I have been telling myself, "Wow, people who used to wear braces sure have flat faces! And narrow smiles!" and now I realize that I wasn't the only one having these thoughts even though for the longest time I thought I was.

Though bothering too much about the cosmetic part isn't necessary because it comes as a bonus along with all the other advantages with functional orthodontics (functional appliances and braces for adults) and orthotropics (facial growth guidance for kids). TMJ problems, headaches, neck pain and sleep apnea are all serious things, (in my opinion far more serious than wearing out a tooth or two which are often the argument for orthodontic treatment). They are all things you want to avoid. The aesthetic part is related to them though since we humans tend to be able to judge from the appearance of a person if they are healthy or not. Someone who has their chin very close to their neck probably has breathing difficulties. To make the mouth smaller and pushing everything backwards doesn't solve any problems, it makes everything worse.

To guide the growth of the face isn't synonymous with torturing people. In most cases there is no retraction involved. The facial profile should be convex. It improves the airway (trust me, I know all too well what it's like not to be able to breathe properly). The whole purpose is to help the body become as it would have been had it grown correctly.

If I had to make a choice on my child's behalf between crooked teeth or moving everything backwards I would pick crooked teeth any day. As far as I'm concerned, health and a beautiful face are more important than straight teeth. Luckily there are methods where you don't have to choose. Sadly, they're not very commonly used.

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