Unfortunately, I had a traumatic experience with Dr. Hamada and I hope others can learn from my mistakes so she doesn't take advantage of you. I went to see Dr. Hamada when I was in my 20s to get a retainer because I imagined that my teeth were slanting out slightly on the left side and I thought a retainer could reset them. I never intended to get braces. I always received compliments on my smile and made the mistake of thinking I could make it look more perfect. When I look at the pictures now, I realize that you can't even notice the slanting, but I was preoccupied with it at the time. Dr. Hamada looked at me and said "You need braces" and recommended I shave all of my teeth or get extractions of my second premolars. I remember her exact words: "Your smile will not look that different, but will look better." Initially, I was shocked and decided to hold off on braces. Over the next two months, I started to convince myself that she was right and my teeth were sticking out. It became an insecurity that she planted and I eventually decided to proceed with braces and get the extractions. I didn't want to shave my teeth bc it would create gaps in btw all of my teeth. I told her I was nervous about getting braces at my age and was starting graduate school and her response was "Your nose will be in a book all the time and nobody will notice." She clearly did not care about what was best for me bc the right thing to do would have been to reassure me that I had a beautiful smile and didn't need to waste my time and money on treatment. Since completing treatment, my once wide smile has narrowed, I have gaps between all of my teeth, including my front two teeth, bc the teeth she extracted created a lot of spaces. My tongue feels trapped and pushes against my front teeth. I have accelerated gum recession and bone loss due to the gaps she left between molars causing my teeth to cave in, and the upper and lower teeth don't align. My face has flattened and my cheeks are sunken in and which makes me look older. I have food constantly stuck in between my molars, and I have to floss after eating anything. I can't brush btw the gaps so it feels unhygienic. She also eroded my upper teeth because they rubbed against the brackets she placed on my lower teeth. She said this was my fault because I didn't wear my rubber bands enough, but you don't wear rubber bands while eating and my teeth would brush up against the brackets when I ate. Dr. Hamada didn't warn me about any of these risks. She made it seem like it was no big deal, that my smile wouldn't look that different, and that I would be happy with the result. I don't understand how she thought I would look better or be better off taking on the problems that come with leaving gaps after extractions, especially since I already had a straight smile. If I was her family member, I don't think she would have even offered extractions, but she was okay with putting me through surgery and treatment that I didn't need. I got a second opinion from two orthodontists and a periodontist. All of them looked at my records and said the exact same thing, unequivocally, that she should Not have extracted my teeth and that I didn't have orthodontic problems to warrant braces. Imagine how that feels to know that three specialists could not find one reason to justify what she did. At the time I saw her, I suspect Dr. H needed the business. She didn't warn me that she was going to cut back to one day per week at her clinic right after I got the brackets placed. I could never see her on that day so I drove an extra 30 min to see her elsewhere. It seemed unprofessional not to warn me before I had the brackets placed. She eventually left that original location completely during my treatment. I was very naive at the time and didn't think an experienced orthodontist would actually convince you to get treatment that you didn't need and that could cause more harm than benefit. I trusted her and I realize now that either she did something very unethical or she has terrible clinical judgement. If she had any hesitation about the treatment plan, she had several opportunities to correct the course before I got the extractions, but she was silent. It seemed like she thought she could just fix her mistakes without me knowing or just make my smile look ok enough and I would just be fine with that. She never thought about what was in my best interest or how this would affect me. I think Dr. Hamada is the type of provider who doesn't communicate with you if something is going wrong, but you can still sense it at the time. I remember early on after the teeth were removed, I had a feeling like she didn't seem very confident with what she was doing, but I was too shy to say anything. I'm not a litigious person and I've read there's no benefit to suing. Ultimately, I think the most healing thing is to prevent other people from making the same mistakes I did. Please get a second opinion if you see her. read more