Friday, August 1, 2008

porcelain or metal..that is the question? Anyone have the answer?

I brought up getting porcelain braces on my top front teeth with my Ortho.. and she said it was only like $250 more or something like that BUT... that my treatment would be longer, they are bulkier, and harder and tend to tear up your mouth more.
The bulkier part is what got my attention. as you can see in my pics below my overjet is huge and I can help but wonder if the porcelain brackets would push my lip out further then the metal? This I can imagine would make my face look even more deformed maybe to the point that i cannot close my lips around my teeth.
Does anyone know if the brackets are that much more bulky that they would make a difference? I keep going back and forth on what I want to do.
I would love to hear what everyone else thinks. Personal expirences, opinions, facts, ect... What would you do or what did you do and why? Especially from anyone with a severe overjet.
Thanks Guys!!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have the 'porcelain' ones since over here in France they're standard for adults, but only on the front 6 teeth I think, top and bottom. The rest of my teeth have standard metal brackets.
They are bulkier than the metal ones and do push out your lips a little more, but it's not necessarily ugly. The good thing of course is that they're virtually invisible from a little distance, people usually only notice the arch.
I hope this helps solve your dilemma!

mylene

Kam said...

I have ceramic ones on all my teeth. They are a little bulkier, but if you don't want the braces to seem very noticeable, they're the way to go. If you aren't concerned about the "braces look" then go with the metal.

Here's a good page to compare the look between the ceramic/porcelain and the metal:
http://www.drsugiyama.com/braces/braces.html

Unknown said...

Thanks for your expirences... I don't know why I am having such a tough time deciding which way to go... I keep hearing such conflicting opinions..LOL
Well If I ever manage to get my appointment with my ortho to go over my treatment plan I am sure I will manage to make a desision then.

Mollieb said...

I have metal. I was told for my surgery, this was my only option as they prefer the durability of metal when they are doing so much work in the mouth. I really don't care that I have metal ones, doesn't bother me any.