I was referred to Dr. Britton by a cosmetic dentist to do a limited amount of changes to my teeth as a prep for cosmetic work. The cosmetic dentist wanted to straighten four lower front teeth and round out my bite. My teeth had always been straight and never needed braces, the teeth on the bottom front had shifted slightly to the left because they were hitting the two upper front crowns that had been done many years ago when porcelain crowns were much thicker and they were now to be replaced.
Dr. Britton wanted to do more extensive work. He proposed "tipping" my front teeth out, protruding them forward, so the bottom teeth wouldn't hit the two old, thick crowns that were being replaced. He also wanted to move a wisdom tooth on the upper right forward to replace a molar that had been removed when I was young. I declined all of his suggestions, my right as a patient. Just stick with the plan. I told him if he could not or did not want to do the work without tipping my front teeth out, I would not go through with the orthodontic work.
My cosmetic dentist was in agreement with me and filed the back of each crown flat to stop the lower teeth from hitting so Dr. Britton would no longer have any concerns.
When he finally took the braces off, after 22 months, I found Dr. Britton not only tipped my top teeth forward, but also the bottom. When I asked him why he had tipped my teeth at all, he repeated the same thing he said almost two years before - he had tipped my teeth out to accommodate the top crowns.... crowns that I reminded him again were to be replaced AND had been adjusted. I told him he had changed the complete course of action for cosmetic work. He looked at me in disbelief and asked "Why??" When I explained the impact protruding my teeth forward would have on the cosmetic work planned, he literally just stood up and walked away saying nothing. I was in total shock at what I saw as a total lack of professionalism. It was at that moment I lost complete confidence in him as a dentist and orthodontist.
I was never able to make myself return to Dr. Britton after that. My trust in him as a dentist was completely broken.
The forward protrusion of my front teeth have been nothing but an issue for me and have caused a lot of problems:
*My front teeth now either sit on top of my lower lip and push it down, or I have to make an effort to raise my lips up and over the edge of my teeth. The edge of my teeth push into my lip, pushing it forward and creating a bulge in my lower lip while the edge of my teeth are raking the inside, often until it's raw.
*Saliva channels to the corners of my mouth, forcing me to wipe my mouth routinely. This especially wasn't fun during covid.
*I can no longer reach the top of my gums with the tip of my tongue. Food gets trapped and unknowingly slides down across my front teeth.
*The edges of my front teeth chronically scrape and dig the inside of my mouth, frequently creating ulcers behind my lips, and I often bite holes when I chew food, sometimes on an ulcer.
*I constantly fight a speech impediment.
I have to speak carefully and I'm often misunderstood and have to repeat myself several times. This is really bad because I talk for a living. I'm a retired teacher, and had been a "troubleshooter" for learning problems. I returned to the classroom after Covid to help kids who'd fallen behind during the shutdown, and this has made it more difficult.
*The edges of my lower teeth constantly hit the back of the top teeth, and have since the braces were removed. This is the very problem Dr. Britton said he wanted to avoid by protruding my teeth forward, but the protrusion of my lower teeth make them constantly hit and push my top teeth out further, fanning them out. The tips of my lower teeth are wearing down and often hurt from this. A split developed between my front teeth.
*The old crowns are now broken and jagged due to being filed down and made thinner to accommodate Dr. Britton. They continue to chip away, but I cannot go forward with replacing them until they are straightened back into their original position. I try to not to speak or smile so my teeth show.
The emotionally painful part of this whole ordeal was the heartbreaking silence from my friends, even from my doctors and other professionals, who had all given me words of encouragement throughout the process. There have been NO compliments on the outcome.
I have been dealing with these problems since 2018 and have tried to get it corrected many times. I cannot go forward until it's done. First, it will cost me as much to fix it as it did for him to create it, IF I can find another dentist willing to fix it. It seems dentists don't like to correct another dentist's work, no matter how bad. Not much of a testimonial to the integrity of the profession, in my opinion. read more