Orthodontist in the Thames Valley?

[ILoveMondeo]

Afternoon all,

My son was recently referred to an orthodontist by his dentist, he has some fairly wonky teeth, as did I at his age.

The orthodontist has said his teeth are "beyond her skills" and asked that he be referred to hospital as he needs surgery to widen his jaw!

This all sounds a little excessive to straighten some teeth and I've never been keen on surgery for pure cosmetic reasons as there are always risks no matter how "routine".

So I'd like to get a second opinion, happy to pay for an assessment and probably ongoing treatment as it's important to my son and I want to avoid surgery.

Any suggestions of a good private clinic in the Thames Valley? (or a better course of action)

Thanks

Dave

[AJLintern]

Don't they usually remove teeth to make space to straighten the wonky ones? That's what they did with mine. I went to Mrs England in Abingdon - it was like going back to the 1950's. She was a very jolly school mistress type and always seemed to have x-ray developing fluid on her hands I guess it paid off in the end as I have relatively straight teeth now

[ILoveMondeo]

That's what I thought...

Whip a few out, make some space, straighten the left overs!

But then again I'm not an orthodontist!

[Driller]

The trouble is, it's not just teeth. It's not obvious if you haven't studied it but the skeletal relationship of the upper and lower jaws has a huge effect on the way the teeth go together.

You can have the lower jaw sticking out too much or the upper jaw underdeveloped, or both and the opposite of this with the top jaw sticking out too much or the lower jaw set too far back.

There is only so much you can correct by moving teeth and if this is not enough you have effectively reposition the jaw bone.

This is what she would have meant when she said it was beyond her capabilities as she just moves teeth not jaws.

[ILoveMondeo]

Thanks driller, makes sense.

Just seems a bit excessive for a cosmetic issue, I'll have to talk it through with the orthodontist in more detail, I wasnt there today.

[MacGee]

My ortho mate has told me in the past that the yanks favour non extraction but arch(jaw) expansion thus using same teeth but widening the circle...think Carl Lewis with that big wide smile. The Brits tended to extract and retain jaw width. My mate mixed the two. So that's prob the ideal but some jaws just need expanding by special braces or even surgery. So best to see specialist who will advise accordingly!