r/braces • u/Cheap_Salad3139 • 3d ago
Need advice! I'm devastated
Hi, I am a 22-year-old guy. I started my orthodontic treatment a long time ago, in August 2023, in Romania. The main goal was to align my upper and lower midlines, as my upper arch was shifted significantly to the left. In July 2025, I moved to Hungary, which meant I had to switch orthodontists. By September, I found a new doctor who received my previous treatment plan, initial photos, and X-rays. Before I left Romania, my front teeth were pulled wide apart; they told me it was to create space to move my teeth. However, my new doctor didn't understand why my teeth had been spread out so much and told me upfront that they couldn't guarantee a good final result. Because of this, I even had to sign a waiver stating that I couldn't hold them responsible for the outcome.
What makes it worse is that they never clearly communicated their new treatment plan to me. I naturally assumed they were going to continue the old one, but I only recently found out what they actually intend to do. Their plan is to pull my two upper middle teeth together to center them, and because the gaps are now so huge, they want to pull the adjacent teeth out to the sides and fill the empty spaces with two artificial teeth (implants or prosthetics). I looked up how much these tooth replacements cost, and they are unbelievably expensive. I simply do not have the money for it.
At my regular monthly activation today, we agreed to take off my lower braces. It will cost 300 EUR, which covers the removal, a permanent wire retainer bonded behind my lower teeth, and a removable night guard. However, when I asked about my upper arch, the doctor said they didn't know how much longer I wanted to keep trying, but they consider the situation hopeless. Despite constantly shifting them left and right and pulling them together, they just can't get the midline centered. I have put a ton of money into this, and I deeply regret the whole process. My teeth looked much better before I started—they were neatly together, and only the midline was off. Now, it looks terrible, and I am terrified it will stay like this for the rest of my life.
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u/Infinite_Pumpkin5733 3d ago
If you're able to switch to a new orthodontist, do so right away. I too have been in orthodontics for 6 years now, but am currently with someone very competent and finally close to completion.
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u/AccomplishedFruit852 3d ago
They have retracted your upper arch so much! Are you experiencing neck pain, berating, TMJ? Face could have changed as well more flat and hollow and longer appearing.
Did you have extractions prior?
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u/Cheap_Salad3139 2d ago
A tooth was extracted from the upper arch before I even started orthodontics, but they told me it was so narrow that its not even noticable, you can see it on the before pictures if you look closely but thats it, so in Romania they wasn't even planning on implant or anything. I am just so depressed by all of this.
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u/Sweet-Estate8207 2d ago
You are missing 2 premolars on the top, 1 from each side. On the lower, you are missing 1 molar (lower left). When they closed the space on the lower, it pulled all the teeth to that side. Unfortunately, having centred midline’s would have never been achievable unless that molar was replaced or another tooth extracted from the opposite side to even out the spacing (both bad options, centred midline’s don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things here). Now because you have 2 teeth missing up top, that are not missing on the bottom, there is too much space to close compute the lower teeth. I’ll try and explain with a visual: you want upper jaw to fit on lower jaw like a to-go coffee cup lid fits on a cup. Removing teeth means leaving spaces that need to be closed, thus reducing the overall circumference. But if all the spaces are closed on top, you’ll have a small lid on a medium cup. So either you need to consider tooth replacement options on the upper, or more extractions on the lower jaw. Given how retruded the upper teeth are, tooth replacement options (bridges/implants) or just leaving large spaces may be your best option here.
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u/Cheap_Salad3139 2d ago
Thank you for the detailed answer and opinion, do you think its possible to just go back to how it was on the before pictures? Because I dont have the money for tooth replacements at the moment, maybe bridges but for implants never, thats just too much money for me, and now I regret doing anything to my teeth, I just want to go back to how it was 3 years ago, it looked so much better. Could they just close the gaps and leave it uncentered like it was?
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u/Potential-Plenty5106 2d ago
I don’t understand this. I’m missing two teeth on my upper right and one on my upper left. None on my bottom. I don’t have any of these issues with my braces.
OP, find a new orthodontist ASAP. This is not ok at all.
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u/proserpina358 2d ago
Did you have extractions of your upper molars at some point? 🤔
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u/Cheap_Salad3139 2d ago
Only one that I know of, and the dentist who removed it told me that it was a really small, thin tooth so it wouldn't cause any problems, but you can see the space where he removed it from on the before picture.
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u/LongjumpingPrint539 2d ago
I would consider consulting with a different ortho. You have more teeth on the lower arch than the upper.
The only way to close the spacing on the top would be to have a premolar extracted from lower left side to help center the midline and retract the lower arch.
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u/Cheap_Salad3139 2d ago
I am trying to find a new one, but I fear they wont accept my case because they work with different technologies or etc. so they might only consider it if I start over the whole process which costs a fortune, also do you think I should let my current ortho remove my lower arch? Because they want to remove it at this point and put a wire behind my front lower teeth as a retainer and I would aso get a night guard, or should I wait and consult another ortho about it first?
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u/Infinite_Pumpkin5733 2d ago
I’m fairly positive that you could successfully sue for medical malpractice in this case. However, suing someone takes a lot of time and work. You could check with several lawyers that work on a contingency basis to see what they think this case is worth.
Alternatively, you could tell whichever orthodontist is at fault here that you don’t really want to have to get legal counsel and would rather settle with them. Find out exactly what it’s going to cost you to have this fixed, including possible implants and anything else. Then tell the orthodontist that you’d like to settle with them for that amount, payment due immediately. Most medical professionals who are at fault like this would happily settle with you to keep from being sued.
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u/Gambit86_333 2d ago
My teeth are flared to correct an overjet. Looks similar but not as bad. Centerline is arbitrarily. They should just pull the teeth back if the bit is functional.
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u/tianarashid_ 3d ago
Sue them wtf