Had another appointment yesterday. Essentially, I developed an open bite from the old retainer I have been wearing religiously at night ever since I had braces 10 years ago as a teenager - what happened was that the wisdom teeth that were not covered by it were free to overerupt, this leading me to develop a mild (visually speaking) anterior open bite.
In terms of aesthetics, there is not an issue and the rest of my teeth are still straight due to diligently wearing the old retainer at night. However, functionally I have been having some issues with speech and eating - with speech, my teeth tend to clack against each other and it almost feels like the back molar tooth is getting in the way of my speech. In terms of eating, certain food is really tricky to tear into and chew properly like salad leaves, spaghetti, mozzarella etc. It's these functional issues that are getting me down and making me quite anxious. It's not nice feeling like you're going to choke on certain food.
It took me 3 months to wait for the initial consultation, I went back to the same practice I was treated at as a teenager and saw both of the orthos there. This was 6 weeks ago. So they essentially identified this issue and said my bite had opened up a bit and I have those wisdom teeth making premature contact. So they proposed a few options, one of which was applying stuff, braces, to those wisdom teeth only along w elastics to get them in better alignment, since the rest of my teeth are already aligned well. This would amount to 4 months or so. I thought this would be quite reasonable. I did mention my anxiety around my bite issues too, which I'm not sure was the best idea now.
So I had my second appointment yesterday and honestly came away feeling rather despondent. I felt like this appointment was more rushed and they seemed way more insistent on talking about the 'perception' of the bite and how oh well if you go with this treatment, we can't guarantee that your perception of your bite will be better. And they talked about maybe incorporating diet modifications as a solution as I struggle to eat certain food and talking for a long time is aggravating because my teeth often clank. I have to admit, I was a bit demoralised at hearing this as I was so looking forward to finally sorting this issue out and not having to fear choking every time I eat dinner. They made me a new retainer and said I could try it for 6 months, at which time I return for another appointment, which would at least stop any worsening from occurring.
I'm very conflicted right now. In one sense, I appreciate that they weren't just out to take my money and conservative. On the other, I feel like they were a bit dismissive and talked a lot about the 'perception' of my bite which almost made me feel like it were in my head. Which is confusing to me as during my initial consult they did identify a legitimate issue, the open bite caused by the hypererupted wisdom teeth. I'm not really prepared to just live with this issue in perpetuity. I'm not sure if I came across very favourably either as I can be quite anxious and highly strung so perhaps they just got the idea that no matter what they did I wouldn't be satisfied.
I'm now wondering if I should seek out a 2nd opinion. Sorry for this huge long essay lol, it's just hard to find a lot of other similar cases online, although I have found some and it seems like it can definitely be addressed. Just feel at a loss and want to get this bite issue sorted asap. I wonder if anyone else here has had the same issue.
. Kinda cba at this point, but may as well keep going
I just mean, is it their solely their attitude that has bothered you, or is it the intervention they're suggesting too?
