“I’ve been to 3 orthodontic consults and have been given 3 different opinions. I’m so confused!”
In today’s blog, I’d like to tackle a concern by patients and parents regarding differing orthodontic treatment plans from different offices. Every orthodontist is trained differently depending on their residency program and the program director’s preference in teaching. In addition to different teaching styles, there are also thousands of different bracket systems (braces) and appliances available to move teeth. The one thing that is always constant is physics.
Each orthodontist must figure out which treatment philosophy and bracket system works best with their abilities, traditional physics and the tooth biology of their patient. However, all orthodontists should have the same finishing goals in mind (natural alignment of teeth with no spacing or crowding, a functioning bite with all teeth touching, upper and lower mid-lines in sync within about 1mm, roots of the teeth paralleled as much as possible with the ridges of the teeth at the same level).
Often, I describe orthodontics like making a pot of gumbo. There are many different ways to get a quality finish and none of them are wrong as long as the end result is the same and good.
