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Author Topic: Extending treatment possible?  (Read 5567 times)

Offline Bracesagain

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Extending treatment possible?
« on: 22. April 2022, 19:24:11 PM »
Is there any safe way to extend braces treatment time? I have braces and I want to keep them on as long as possible…
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Offline Bracedup

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Re: Extending treatment possible?
« Reply #1 on: 23. April 2022, 04:34:48 AM »
You could always tell your ortho you are going away on a trip for a few months and would be unable to schedule an appointment until your return.  My cousin had sone something along these lines when she had braces and the ortho seemed to lace all of her brackets together so there wouldn't be any movement for a few months until she returned. Can hurt to ask
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Offline Person

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Re: Extending treatment possible?
« Reply #2 on: 23. April 2022, 04:39:14 AM »
I suppose it depends on what you consider safe, what your treatment involves, and how much patience your orthodontist has.

If you have to wear elastics, you could wear the the minimum amount of time your ortho recommends (or less). Doing that month after month, though, your ortho might get frustrated with your apparent non-compliance. As a result, they might take steps with your treatment that don't require as much compliance, or maybe even drop you as a patient if you come across as too stubborn or recalcitrant.

Something else that you could do is, as you get close to the end of treatment, bring up little things that you still want corrected or changed. If you orthodontist wants you to be happy with your result, they may spend more time to work on those concerns. That can only last for so long, though, and they would have to be legitimate concerns.
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Offline m1090y

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Re: Extending treatment possible?
« Reply #3 on: 23. April 2022, 10:00:33 AM »
I understand that for the last portion of your treatment, very little movement happens and they are just letting thing settle before going into retention.  If you thought you were at that point in your treatment, perhaps you just call a week or two before your next appointment and tell them you have to cancel because of a business trip and that you will call to re-schedule as soon as you return.  You then conveniently forget to do that.  You would think that the office would just call after some period of time to find follow up, but I found out from experience with various medical, para-medical and dental practices that they sometimes don't have any process to catch patients who just 'stop going'.

Another more extreme idea is to tell them you are moving quite some distance away and have to select a practice to transfer to after the move.  They might give you your records to take with you, or tell you to contact them when you know where you are transferring to.

Lastly, I have heard about people asking to keep their braces on longer in the hopes it will mean their full-time retention phase is shorter.

As a disclaimer, keep in mind that the first two ideas introduce risk into your treatment where something might go wrong if your treatment is no longer under the supervision of a professional.
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Offline Bracesagain

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Re: Extending treatment possible?
« Reply #4 on: 23. April 2022, 10:08:02 AM »
Thanks everyone for your ideas. I think I’ll probably try to delay my last few appointments just to try to extend treatment maybe a month or two. I still have more than a year to go but just thinking about the end makes me feel a bit down. Will just have to enjoy my time and hope it passes slowly!
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Offline giacc

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Re: Extending treatment possible?
« Reply #5 on: 26. April 2022, 18:13:50 PM »
I think you simply tell to your ortho that you won to have braces same more time becouse you are scaring that you will not wear retainer correctly... you may have more times in fixed braces, under ortho control, and later your retainers... if you want to pay samething more to your ortho i think he will be happy to do this
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Offline paolo

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Re: Extending treatment possible?
« Reply #6 on: 28. April 2022, 20:53:54 PM »
Well I did just what giacc suggested and it went fine.  My ortho wanted me to wear clear retainers for 6 months round the clock so I got him to instead leave braces on.  Conveniently this was during covid so 6 months of clear retainers became 8 months of braces since his office closed for a bit.  Would've liked to stay in braces but he was confused when I told him I'd like to just stay with braces after that.
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Offline somerandomfella

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Re: Extending treatment possible?
« Reply #7 on: 14. April 2023, 16:37:56 PM »
Quote from: paolo on 28. April 2022, 20:53:54 PM
Well I did just what giacc suggested and it went fine.  My ortho wanted me to wear clear retainers for 6 months round the clock so I got him to instead leave braces on.  Conveniently this was during covid so 6 months of clear retainers became 8 months of braces since his office closed for a bit.  Would've liked to stay in braces but he was confused when I told him I'd like to just stay with braces after that.

I'm glad to hear people have done this successfully.
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