Alternatives to „torture instrument“ style and risky braces
Last update: 06.10.2011

INTRO: this overview cannot account for all special cases and exotic alternatives. For reasons of copyright I cannot show a complete horror cabinet here (who will lend his photographs for use as bad examples?), but www.madsen.de/pages/jugendliche.htm shows a pretty collection. Contradictions between his and my text are due to differing fields of interest.

It has to be emphasized that orthodontic „torture instruments“ and gentler alternatives are often tools of entirely different systems of orthodontics / jaw orthopedics, which have developped separately with no contact to each other. Often they are poorly compatible with each other. Even the age and sequence of treatment differ: rather a sequence of fast single-task steps there, rather a slow and earlier begun multi-tasking here. One can imagine which way is less painful and bears lower risks.
Braces that make both systems better compatible could be engineered (1 example in chapter Gentle braces A). However, this would require good knowledge of both fixed and removable treatment systems.

All following braces types except the headgears are fixed appliances of „non-compliance therapy“. In this concept, children are not even asked if they would be willing to wear a removable voluntarily. This forcible concept has its root in the frequent boycott of headgears and facial masks, and ignores completely that other jaw orthopedic systems (plate appliances, functionals) exist elsewhere in the world which do not require such extra-oral appliances! Nevertheless the non-compliance therapy is even exported to countries where such systems were well-established formerly.
Most orthodontists do not know the full possibilities of removable braces. It remains the task of parents with some diplomacy to point their orthodontists towards these.

LATE SEQUELAE ?
The technical facilities of remodeling dental arches and jaws to a great extent by means of fixed braces and / or headgears of any type may appear fascinating and profitable. But the greater this artificial remodeling is, and it is especially high after extraction of teeth, the higher is the danger of mismatch to the individual skull shape and circuits of jaw functions. In addition to the pain during treatment, which indicates damage of the roots (reversible or irreversible), the everyday little damages caused by the created mismatch are repaired by the young body, but no more when aging (compare with backbone or knee pain appearing). A cluster of 6 victims from 2 sources (France, Germany, same time) is in the appendix. Extractions for braces have gained ground in these countries and meanwhile are not medically justified in over 60% of these cases in Germany. In Great Britain, the situation seems even worse, see www.orthodontic-outrage.com !
The replacement of individual by „industrialized“ orthodontic treatment, which often neglects the benefit of utilizing growth, so that childrens´ and adults´ treatments can be performed in the same way, seems to have caused these mindless mutilations. Any further growth of 8- or 10-yr old children is trampled on when pulling them new, healthy teeth. They are psychically traumatized, and their dental arches then often distorted by „train tracks“ to unnatural-looking, tapering „mouse (or rabbit) jaws“, in addition to narrowing the space in the nose and for the tongue, and to the above-mentioned functional risks.
Even without accounting for late sequelae, our former European jaw-orthopedic care of children was more economic. Carefully designed functional, plate or lightweight removables guided and enhanced jaw growth and directed individual teeth to their positions. If some crowding remains, or for adult patients, some space can be gained by narrowing (slicing) the teeth.
Increased overjet and overbite, as the horizontal distance and the vertical overlap of upper and lower incisors are termed, are often caused by a too much backward position of the lower jaw. In children, this can be healed by activators and other appliances as shown in the Gentle braces B chapter, even in cases with long face (vertical facial growth), who are considered more difficult than those with broad faces.
But the medical mainstream is governed to bring profit to the business, not to the people.

OVERVIEW:
All following are fixed to metal bands which are cemented around the 6s (first molar teeth, appear with 6 years). Some are also fixed to other teeth. This increases the danger of caries at these huge, important teeth, where interstitial caries can appear 10 – 20 years later. Since caries danger increases with duration, it is especially high if the bands are already placed when the milk molars start changing and remain in the mouth for many years while the permanent dentition is straightened with a bracket appliance. By this stepwise build-up of fixed appliances, doctors also tie little patients to their practices.

1.a) lingual arch (lower jaw), palatinal arch = palatinal bow = palatal bar = TPA (upper jaw). Thick wires along inner side of teeth or palate, 1.b) Nance appliance with additional little, slightly speech-hindering plastic platelet. These upper appliances disturb when sucking sweets or pills. 2 victims´ reports in the appendix.
Purpose: to keep the molars in place while teeth before them change (children) or while gaps are closed with bracket appliances there. The palatinal arch also allows slight expansion or serves to maintain jaw width during use of headgears (2.) or after „rapid palatal expansion“ (4.) or to derotate the connected molars.
Alternatives: almost any kind of removable appliance! 2 kinds especially for derotation, see case examples chapter.

1.c) quad helix, quadhelix: has additional windings (helices) for purpose of expansion, which make it bigger and much more disturbing, see victims´ report below. CAUTION, this cheap part is applied quite often today, even to small children from 3 years on (see photo in milk dentition)!
Alternatives: simple removable expansion plates, or improved ones with 2 directions of force (Bertoni screw/ Y plate / „cases“> transversal and sagittal expansion). Expansion springs for more comfortable wear („Lightweight prototypes“ chapter, even prefabricated upper and lower spring wires can be provided with clasps for removal), Crozat, integral effect in Fränkel´s function regulators or in „chewing gum effect“ appliances (chapter Gentle braces B, „case examples“> Bimler, „Weitere Info“ in natural jaw orthopedics).

1.d) lip bumper (mainly for lower jaw): thick wire, often wavy or plastic-coated. Entirely fixed or to be inserted into fixed holders (like a headgear).
Purpose: mainly stimulation of frontal jaw growth when space is lacking for the front teeth (children), further like purpose 1.a).
Alternatives: apart from plate appliances with 2-directional screw or with several screws („cases“> transversal and sagittal expansion) and from special types of functionals (chapter Gentle braces B), „Lightweight prototypes“ chapter shows fully removable lip shield appliances, which offer further possibilities for adjustment.

2 extra-oral forces (2.a) headgear) were invented long time before screwed plate appliances, and before functional jaw orthopedics (mainly double-deckers = 1 piece for both jaws) was discovered! In contrast to working with growth by these, headgears often require additional braces to achieve a proper matching of upper and lower teeth. The roots and surrounding tissues of the molars to which headgears are connected are endangered by its large force, which is indicated by pain as in the victim´s report below. Headgears also disturb sleeping in side or belly position. Even a harmful sideward shift of the connected molar teeth already occurred, caused by sleeping on the side!
Purpose 1 (children): reduce the forward growth of the upper jaw.
More recently, headgears are also used coupled to double deckers, to „speed them up“. By this, patients are faster prepared for installation of subsequent „traintracks“ (bracket braces).
Alternatives: for overjet with the lower jaw lying back, almost any in chapter Gentle braces B is appropriate. For overjet without fault of the lower jaw, not only activators of „high“ shape can be used, but excessive growth of the upper jaw is reported to be normalized by Fränkel´s function regulators 1 or 2 (more: „Weitere Info“ subchapters) or by bite jumper plates e.g. of „Pro-Stab“ type, which moreover allow for time-saving simultaneous alignment of teeth and of jaws (more: chapter „case examples“).
Purpose 2 (teenagers and adults): distalize molars (= push them back) or with less daily wearing time, keep them in place as with 1.a)/b), find alternatives there.
Alternatives for distalization: plate appliance with screw segments at the rear (distal screws; Y plates or Z plates). Clasps at these segments grab the molars, and the screws push all back 0.1 mm by 0.1 mm – in the upper as well as in the lower jaw (compare with „cases“> Parallel shift). After instruction, the patient can crank the screws regularly himself. Additional clasps at the front teeth are recommended to keep these plates with short-ranged, but high forces well in place. Since normally not just the lastmost teeth are to be pushed back, but many adjacent teeth also, „cases“> „Adult treatment of horizontal overbite“ shows how a plate appliance can be used for this whole task, by successive modification of its numerous triangular clasps into active springs. „Cases“> „Crozat treatment of adult..“ shows an older-fashioned way of single-sided successive distalization and alignment.

2.b) Delaire mask (face mask) frame-like or, even more nasty but more widespread, with a vertical bar in front of the face (see photo). Rubber bands are stretched from there to a hook support in the upper jaw, which is often fixed, instead of a removable expander with likewise hooks. Frequently, expansion is done by the profitable violence of splitting the palatal suture (4.) before, after or parallel to the face mask treatment. The photo in milk dentition is a 5 year old victim´s. This brutally forced shaping of the young, growing jaws is often termed „orthopedic“, as if comparable with the gentle effect of those well-proven functional appliances which only re-direct the forces of the mouth muscles to re-establish proper jaw growth.
Purpose: pull the upper jaw forward. However, 3/4 of the counter force applies to the chin and sqeezes the jaw joint permanently in back direction. The jaw joint can take damage because it is particularly sensitive in this direction.

Alternatives: several well-proven exist, e.g. in „case examples“> „Early treatment of class III with lightweight appliances“ and „Progenie ... mit Bimler“. In chapter Gentle braces B, also the maxillator (half a Bimler, but simpler) and, in more conventional technique, bite back-shift plates. One is built from a commercial kit for screwable back shift 0.1mm by 0.1mm, the other is lighter, suitable in milk dentition and requires no special parts, but is equipped with lip shields and a downward frontal spring. Fränkel´s well-proven function regulator (FR) 3 is further described in „Weitere Info“ subchapter „Example of functional treatment“: its large shields transmit a similarly strong pull (!) to the upper jaw, but not via the teeth, and the counter force is spread in the whole mouth and not mainly onto the jaw joints. Results of FR treatment have been proven to be very long-term stable – if this still counts in modern orthodontics.

3.a) Herbst appliance. often fixed to all side teeth, from molars to cuspids, by means of metal bands or cemented plastic splints. Cleaning of these teeth is severely hampered. As with 2., additional braces are often required to achieve a proper matching of upper and lower teeth. Since the common type of this appliance is rigid to sideward chewing movements, proper chewing is no more possible. What means either living on mash and porridge or risking a gastritis by swallowing unchewed food or requiring 3-fold the time for meals. Also any (dental care) chewing gum gets caught in this appliance. See victims´ report below. Kinds with additional joints for sideward movements are even more bulky, as is also the jointless
3.b) Functional / Fixed Mandibular Advancer (FMA), which consists of a pair of big tenons outside the upper molars and ramp-shaped bearings for them outside the lower. Due to their width, this appliance is likely to dig painfully into the cheeks.
3.c) Jasper jumper, flex developper (smaller), Sabbagh spring. More flexible; nevertheless proper chewing, cleaning of teeth and mouth opening e.g. when yawning are hampered.
Purpose a) to c): bite jumping.
Alternatives a) to c): as under 2.a), almost anything of Gentle braces chapter B, in particular with „chewing gum effect“ (including „Weitere Info“ subchapter Dentosophy) to accelerate treatment of late or severe cases. If fixed braces are in place, rubber bands can be used, or „trainers for braces“, which would be better from the point of muscular adaptation.

4. fixed palatal expander (Hyrax, forced expansion, palatal splitting, rapid palatal expansion RPE): a vice-like appliance fixed unter the palate disrupts the palatal suture, which is of connective tissue in children and of bone in adults. It then makes use of a repair mechanism of our body, which generates fresh (bone) tissue between the adjacent faces of a rupture or fracture. After that, it is recommended to leave the appliance for further 3 to 5 months in place, for healing or stabilization. So, this method is not so rapid overall, see 2 victims´reports below!
This brutal method is nevertheless used for children with narrow upper jaw as young as 4 years. Since the palatal splitting screw is quite large in comparison to a milk dentition, some greedy orthodontists position it there in the plane of the teeth, so that speech is severely hampered and every bite of food gets caught in it. A version with plastic wings instead of metal bands facilitates the misuse of this violent technique on milk teeth, see photo of the 5-yr victim here. A risk study (in German) is a separate chapter here in the Risiken-und-Nebenwirkungen menu.
Purpose: expansion on schedule of upper jaw to great extent.
Alternatives: as under 1.c), but for longer time or with earlier treatment begin.

5. pendulum appliance, distal jet: fixed little plates with a pair of springs at the rear. „The patient (9 years) complained about speech hindrance, but the appliance worked properly“.
Purpose: pushing the lastmost teeth back, like purpose 2 of 2.a).
Alternatives: see there.

6. orthodontic implants (mini anchorage pin, micro screw, micro-implantat anchorage MIA) make world-wide congresses and bring profit to orthodontic manufacturers. Courses were announced e.g. with „comparison of products of 18 manufacturers“ (everyone wants to have a piece of the cake, as it seems), or claimed: „600 mini pins gave no serious trouble, but offer a quick and budget solution“ – obviously, when compared to the cost of full braces. Alternatives were omitted, once again, so that adults and children are threatened with this unneccessary risk of persistent bone inflammations, see victims´ reports below.
Purpose: combined with bracket braces, providing anchors for forces, or for teeth which should themselves be used as such anchors.
Alternatives: almost any kinds of removables, like active plates, Crozats, Invisalign® or other splints, circumvent anchoring problems by their rigid body. Examples are in chapter Gentle braces A et especially indicated under 1.a) + b) and 2.a), purpose 2.
When a covered bite is to be treated, or prolonged teeth are to be re-introduced into the bone again, e.g. before placing a bridge, functionals which utilize the force of biting down are especially well-suited, including pre-fabricated trainers for many cases.

7. Bite Turbos and other fixed occlusal stops which prevent biting down:
apart from crafted fixed or removable bite plates, which require impressions, pre-fabricated parts can be used in a surprise attack to block the patient´s ability to chew. These are often horizontal metal platelets which are glued to the inner faces of the incisors (see right part of the photo). By this, chewing is rendered impossible, worse than with a Herbst appliance (3.), which still permits forward-backward chewing movements. Here, only the incisors remain available to crush and mince food.
Another method to hamper chewing is to place temporary fillings which are much too high (see left part of the photo). In normal dentistry, this would be severe botch-up.
Purpose: while the alignment of crossbites or of teeth which lack occlusion may indeed be hampered by the bite, most occlusal barriers are add-ons in multibracket treatment of covered bite or gap closure.
Alternatives: the bite does either not hamper treatment with removable appliances, or they can be extended over the chewing surfaces to block it. When screwed segments at plate appliances are used to shift teeth laterally, e.g. for gap closure, the force is high, but is already exhausted after just 1/10 mm. In contrast, forces of fixed braces are of long range, but often so low that a firm matching of upper and lower teeth can block them.
Covered bite and lacking (lateral) occlusion can well be treated with functionals. The positioning of the patient´s jaw in these appliances often provokes a rapid change of jaw posture, so that a firm matching of occlusion is loosened. This is a nice effect, which is unfortunately not obvious, in contrast to the mode of action of brute-force methods.
In case where brackets are already in place, pre-fabricated „trainers for braces“, as already mentioned under 3., can be used to unlock occlusion. They are a special type which has grooves for the braces.

8. fixed spikes and tongue traps: spikes hurt and threaten even 8-yr children, see victims´ report below. Fixed tongue traps are often prefabricated parts which hinder speech and biting off. After their removal, the tongue nevertheless often relapses to its old, bad habits.
Purpose: Correction of wrong posture and function of the tongue in fixed braces technology. Correct tongue functions are fundamental for a healthy jaw development and to prevent relapse of corrected disorders that have been caused by such malfunctions.
Alternatives: Most functional appliances inherently normalize tongue posture and motion. But also single-jaw removables can be equipped with elements that attract the tongue. Moreover, (speech) training can overcome the malfunctions.

------------ APPENDIX --------------

Honestly, the following reports may be more horrible than average. But on the other hand, they are no rare exceptions. And nobody knows before how horrible the treatment will be, or does not plan before, how to get out of it if it will turn out like this. Find an emergency exit at the very end of this chapter.
Who is relying so much in good luck elsewhere, when health and well-being are concerned? In fact, how will suffering from such a torture affect the success in important examinations, e.g at school?

1.a) lingual arch, adult: big trouble, I´ve got an arch behind my lower teeth which is fixed at the molars. Yesterday at dinner, my tongue passed along there. At first, I felt nothing, but when cleaning my teeth, I found a little wound under my tongue!
I called at my orthodontist, if I could drop in, but they replied, in 4 weeks earliest...
I have eaten almost nothing today because it´s so painful...
palatal bar (TPA), child, age = ?: my daughter has got a TPA and can hardly eat anything now. Is this really necessary, or can I insist on removing it?

1.c) Quadhelix: makes the tongue sore, especially by eating! In each single downbiting during the processus of chewing, the mush comes out between the teeth at both sides, and it is the job of the tongue and the cheeks to push it back between the teeth. Now with a wire-skeleton-like quad helix installed under the palate, it scratches the working tongue almost permanently, and it retains considerable quantities of food! Chewing small things is nearly impossible, since they get caught completely in these wires! In France the quad helix is, apart from extractions, nowadays routinely used for gaining space. What is done by quad helices to 3-10 year old children, unless they are carefully fitted, elucidates from this
report of a quadhelix victim (20 year): “and now this wonder gadget quad helix!
I wonder who has invented this tool-out-of-hell. Traintracks would be a pleasure compared to this...
In the lower jaw, the crude appliance is not too nasty.... wires prick into the tongue from below, and the bands scratch sores into the cheeks, but the world knows greater evils!
But in the upper jaw!!! How have they thought this should go? To explain it... a metal bar surrounds the inner faces of the teeth, and behind the incisors is the first source of trouble: a winding of 1 cm diameter! Disturbs speech immensely and torments when biting off.
Yo, and now the most evil part: beginning 2 cm behind the incisors, a metal skeleton is under my palate that really drives me mad. It hampers my tongue to touch the palate. A big void is held open that is really hell... any food gets caught therein, but habitually, I want to get rid of it! When trying to insert my tongue there, it is neatly slashed by retained debris! Tasting and sucking and melting in the mouth is impossible and one has to fight with the reflex of pushing every bite of food into there!
The flux of spit is also immense, by the tongue being at this metal cage and not at the smooth palate! Sucking it away from there is not possible. After any meal or chocolate bar I need to use the oral spray.

- What am I doing at work? No oral spray there, my tongue gets slashed, and tidying there with a piece of wire is not working well! Residues remain everywhere – What will I do when eating elsewhere? I cannot adapt myself to having food sticking there.
- Couldn´t the metal be flat and in contact to the palate and allow my tongue to contact there also?
- Can someone provide me the address of the producer of this? I really would be keen on his explanations to this hell instrument.“
Comment: there are many producers, and they would say in this case that their product had not been adapted properly.

2.a) Two victims of headgears:
Case 1, adult: my first night with a headgear. It drives me mad. I could rather scratch the plaster from the walls with my bare fingers.
Where it is hooked in, it hurts like hell, mainly on the left side. It feels like tearing out my jaw. And it chafes in the corner of my mouth.
During daytime, it was bearable, but not at night... I am not a weakling, I thought...
I should wear it at least 16/24h until next date, preferably more... and I wanted to do this for faster progress of my treatment. But like this, I can´t stand it ...“
Case 2 and following, children: My daughter has got upper and lower train tracks since 2 days, and in addition a headgear. The pain by the train tracks was bearable, but the head gear has really knocked her out! After wearing it for 8 hrs, she has tremendous pain. She can´t reinsert it without tears flowing like rivers.
So she hates it from the very start. Last night she could not sleep with it until I gave her a painkiller at 23:30. This morning I found the headgear next to her in the bed ... it drives her mad, and makes me a nervous wreck.
Similar pain by a headgear was reported by a mother of a 9-yr girl: any little movement of the head transmitted a pain attack to the teeth where the headgear was hooked in. After 2 days, the pain on one side eased, but on the other side remained severe.
COMMENT: concerning the two large teeth which are tormented like this by a headgear, guess how many years this could reduce their lifetime! Easing pain despite of unreduced force may signify death of tissue around the roots. In this case, the bone will directly connect to the tooth, so that the shock protecting and shock absorbing function of the destroyed tissue will lack. Thus, an increased wear of the tooth is to be expected, similar to that which was observed on artificial teeth which were carried by implants.

3.a) Two victims of Herbst appliance:
Case 1: at the moment everything hurts and I feel like a hamster with these thing!! I´ve got some pain pills from my orthodontist, ...Everything hurts even if I simply try to open and shut my mouth! I cannot think about eating today, I just drank through a straw. [...] the first night was HORRIBLE!!! My cheeks are completely sore and aching...my teeth are aching....and meanwhile my jawbone is also aching!!! It is dreadful that I cannot sleep on my side, because then it is squeezed into my cheeks, and I don´t sleep well on the back! I´ve got 12 bands placed in total. I don´t dare open my mouth widely, this is too painful. Cleaning my teeth was hard this morning, takes an eternity and also hurts!! I hope I will survive this start.... but I find these rods somewhat nasty, and meanwhile I become aware of what you have meant with the blocking of sideward movements! It is completely disturbing.....(later annex) I never get accustomed to this, it bothers all the time!
Case 2: how pupils are suffering physically and also mentally, by the derision of their comrades: Herbst appliance? I had this (for 9 months). This is really nasty! They always called me Terminator then.
... always mockery, once when I had to give a talk in biology I nearly died .... they ran me down in all kinds, and I heard it all, it was really like hell ... and you look really ugly with this thing.
Some images of Herbst appliances online show coarse screws on the lower cuspids, which stand out by approx. 5mm. You literally feel how they would dig holes into the flesh of your cheeks. Nevertheless, they are boosted with an impertinence that fools young and old patients on certain websites as – esthetical,
- almost not hindering oral hygiene, and
- rapid accustomization.

4. Two victims of fixed expanders, 8 and 9 year:
Case 1: my 9-yr daughter has got this RPE appliance since before yesterday. She can hardly eat and drink since then. Chewing makes trouble and anything gets caught under the appliance. Swallowing is also difficult...
Cranking the screw is a struggle: she becomes cramped, can hardly open her mouth and complains about aching teeth afterwards.
This was found in a censored forum, where pain killers were recommended along with the downright lie, that there would be no alternative to this torture.

Case 2, 8-yr, reported by her teacher:
„..the following CITATION: >modern orthodontic treatment increasingly requires appliances that are independent of patient compliance.<
Which means in plain language that the patient is forced to bear and to continue the treatment, even if she wants no more. Communication gets replaced by compulsion.
The patient, who is often a child, can no more take off his braces when he wants, or when his body requires it. Well-being is much cracked up by this.
Any adult who could not imagine this should be hampered to scratch himself when it itches. Fixed braces are much worse than that!
Unfortunately, many orthodentists consider just teeth, and not the whole body or the whole person (...)
Right now I have a 8-year pupil (!) who goes through this. Disrupting the palatal suture has taken 3 days!
Her parents are completely unaware of what is going on with their daughter. She is very shaky now, unconcentrated, but well-behaved. Useless to consider speaking, it sounds like handicapped (as it is, in fact).
From fixing of her appliance on, she draws giant, empty faces, in which she places a tiny slanting mouth. Then she asks me if this is beautiful and correct.
It is shocking!
I would expect that psychical trouble will follow later, but who will then remember her braces – „since anybody had them“?
According to a lawyer, these are cases of bodily harm. There is NO indication for fixed expanders in deciduous dentition or early mixed dentition (before the side teeth change).
Nevertheless, the websites of several orthodontic practices show off with palatal splitting in 3- or 4-yr young children, which had by no means an extremely narrow jaw. The use of this most brutal treatment is in total scorn of the powerful growth of so young children, and of their well-being, since the size of this appliance is almost filling out the void of their palate, so that chewing and swallowing and speech are enormously hampered. In one example, a child was treated first with palatal splitting and then with a (removable) bite jumper plate, in the sense of this sequence of fast single-task steps which was described in the intro, insctead of using one of these well-proven removable appliances which perform both tasks slower, but at the same time. Even any common type of bite jumper plate can be equipped with an expansion screw.
In another case, two 7-yr girls had been abused for testing a new kind of RPE appliance. Permission of this parents was acquisited by the lie that only this procedure could create space for the wisdom teeth later! At least one of the little test girls suffered tremendous pain, and several had a broadened nose from it, for their whole life! Their parents had not been warned about this side effect. The duty of full information on medical treatment had been neglected here!

6. Victims of „bone piercing“ (orthodontic implants):
Case 1, screwed in the palate: I had been pulled two upper teeth before. Now I have some kind of button fixed in my palate, from which wires emerge to the teeth behind, to prevent them from being shifted. Up to now it was bearable, but since two weeks my palate is inflammed. My ortho rinsed it well everywhere, but nevertheless it aches more and more! Is there no alternative? Couldn´t I wear a removable plate in addition? What can I do to get rid of this thing and to avoid further aggravation?

Case 2, so-called micro screws in the jaw sides: I wear train tracks since 4 months, and I got these mini pins 1 month ago. Under local anaesthesia, I didn´t feel the piercing, but while screwing, she asked me often if anything hurts, which would have signified that a tooth root is going to be damaged by the screw. One of the screws was withdrawn and newly screwed in other position. Then, rubber bands were stretched from the screws to the brackets. Last saturday I discovered that my gums had overgrown one of these rubber bands. Now I urgently need an appointment, but I´m feared what she will do to me. My teeth are already heavily sensitized, and also my cheeks now. Their insides are always on the brink of bleeding, because some sharp upper wires stand rather far out.

8. Victims of spikes:
Spikes were fixed in the mouth of a boy who had already been maltreated from 8 years on, first with a quad helix (1c.) and then with unneccessary extractions. Spikes were elsewhere fixed in the mouth of a 9-yr boy, who had been tormented with a headgear (2a.) and a poorly-fitting palatal bar (TPA, 1a.) before.
Biting off and rinsing after brushing were very tedious around the spikes. Many prick injuries made the tongue burning at any contact with sour fruit or salad, and it was swollen for weeks. The parents had no courage to put the offender in his place, or to use a wire cutter to help their child at least.
In a third case, a family dentist found spikes in the mouth of a 8-yr girl and criticized this in a letter to the orthodontist. She replied with a choice of international publications, which served to establish this cruel method.

ALL TOTAL: late sequels
4 cases at once from an abandonned forum from 2004:
CITATION: Machoire douloureuse
j'ai porté un appareil pendant plusieurs années: à 8 ans un appareil dentaire avec faux palet et dés 11 ans des bagues et élastiques pendant 4 ans. J'ai aujourd'hui 29 ans et depuis quelques mois je ressents une douleur dans les dents, ma machoire se bloque, etc. (...) Ma soeur qui a eu le même orthodentiste a le même problème.
Aching jaw
I had braces for several years: with 8 a removable plate and from 11 on traintracks with rubber bands for 4 years. Now I´m 29, and my teeth are aching since months, my jaw blocks etc.(...) My sister, who was at the same orthodontist, has the same trouble.

Reply 1: Bonjour,
Votre question m' intéresse. Depuis désormais trois ans, j'ai des problèmes de machoire (claquement, ouverture réduite...), et il apparait de plus en plus clairement que cela est dû à de mauvais traitements orthodontiques, des traitements excessifs (8 dents retirées, bagues pendant plusieurs années...). On me dit qu'il va me falloir désormais porter jusqu'à la fin de ma vie, une gouttière, appareil qui se porte la nuit. (...) je voudrais savoir combien de personnes sont ainsi victimes de suites de traitement réalisés sans discernement, par des professionnels plus intéressés par l'argent de leurs patients, que par leur santé...
Re:..interesting. I suffer from jaw troubles (snapping, reduced opening...) since 3 years, and it becomes clearer now that this comes from bad or exaggerated orthodontic treatment (8 teeth pulled, fixed braces for several years...). Then I should wear a retainer for the rest of my life, at night.(...) I would like to know how many people are likewisely suffering late sequels of treatments which were mindlessly pulled through, by experts in making money, rather than in health.

Reply 2:
traitement orthodontique raté! Ca m'est arrivé et je ne sais pas encore ce que mes dents vont devenir enfin celles qui me restent! Je consulte et je consulte ...mais quand je lis le nombre d'années d'études que ces praticiens font je comprends surtout que ça vaut le coup. Le contenu de leurs cours doit être je pense "Comment se faire des couilles en or avec des dents de pigeons".
Treatment failed! Mine also, and I don´t know what the rests of my teeth will become – of those which remained me. I pass from one doctor to the next ... when I think about how many years these experts have studied, I understand that it must be worth while. Curriculum maybe „How to make a bonanza from pigeons´ teeth“.

Two further, coupled cases from the same month elsewhere:
1.>24, Arthrose + Arthritis im Kiefergelenk. Angebl. weil mein Biss falsch ist (zur Info, hatte mit 14 bereits eine feste Zahnspange.) KFO sagt feste Zahnspange würde helfen. Kosten: EUR 5900,-..<
2.>bin 20 ... Bei mir waren die Kiefergelenke/der Knorpel komplett zerstört, konnte nichts mehr essen... Ebenfalls wegen Unterkiefer zu weit hinten) Ich hatte im Alter von 11-14 eine feste Spange, die allerdings nichts gebracht hat.<
1. 24 yr., arthrosis and arthritis in the jaw joints, assigned to my wrong bite position (however, I already had fixed braces when I was 14). My new ortho recommended fixed braces again, now for 5900,- EURO.
2. 20 yr., the cartilage in my jaw joints was completely destroyed, I could no more eat ... also in my case the lower jaw was standing back. I had fixed braces from 11 years to 14, but they didn´t help anything!
3 YEARS (!) of fixed braces in vain, despite of proper treatment age! This ortho must have been a botcher. Order the stuff, glue the brackets and assemble with the wire without thinking, because all will go automatically then ... it´s so easy. And no need to care about failure and damage to the patient, because right this provides a fresh source of income:
2.>Therefore I got again fixed braces with 15 years, this time from a specialist. They weren´t removed until I was 20.<
All in all 8 years of pain, hampered eating and hampered brushing. Teenage youth spoiled and tooth enamel corroded, and public insurance payed finally with our money for this over-treatment.
The specialist seemed to have taken these 5 years to force the arches, which had been forced by the first treatment into a uniform shape which turned out to be highly mismatching here, into a more appropriate shape again.
Instead of tayloring economic removables which allow the jaws and arches to grow to a healthier shape by their own power. Growth is normally not terminated with 15 years, see chapters „case examples“ and Gentle braces B.
Why aren´t treatments not generally done with low-risk methods? Because these are less profitable, first by themselves and second by a much lower rate of late sequels?

Finally instead of a happy end, here the emergency exit: go on strike with cleaning your teeth, thus urging your ortho to dismantle your appliance. Before, take advice of your insurance concerning correct negotiating and financial outcome. I refuse any responsability for any consequences here.

continue to chapter Gentle braces B
continue to chapter Gentle braces A
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