Background - my son had stage 1 braces as soon as his front permanent teeth came in to push his four front teeth together. Years passed, we moved and he wanted stage 2 braces but two primary dentists all said his teeth were fine other than a slight bite issue where he was chipping one bottom tooth, which braces could correct, but not really necessary. My son wants to be an orthodontist in his future, so he's obsessed with the look of his teeth and wouldn't let this idea go. He had three bottom teeth that weren't straight to his liking and really wanted the stage 2 braces to fix this. We agreed to meet with 3 orthodontists before making any permanent decision. The first two orthodontists had over 20 years of experience each and stated a treatment plan of damon bracket braces, no more than 15 months, all routine stuff.
Consult - Dr. Taylor was our third consult with less than 8 years as an orthodontist. We waited over 40 minutes for our consult in a small cramped office. When Dr. Taylor finally showed up, he didn't introduce himself to me or my son, didn't apologize, just went into what sounded like a rehearsed speech. He examined my son's teeth, in an office chair (no reclining dental chairs in here). My son had to sit up straight and hold his head back, jaw open the entire time of his exam. At first look, Dr. Taylor asked, "Why are you even here? His teeth look fine." We explained the above reasons, then Dr. Taylor proceeded to finish his exam by calling off things to his assistant to chart down. He was going through things... then said, "Tonsils: Normal" and so on. My son stopped him and said, "I don't have tonsils." Dr. Taylor had to correct himself stating, "Uh, yeah, that's why I said they are normal." After nearly 10 minutes my son really started to get uncomfortable and he asked Dr. Taylor to pause while he relaxed his neck. Dr. Taylor seems annoyed by this and then stood back and asked "Why are you really here?" as apparently I didn't explain it well enough to him the first time. I again stated the above reasons. In addition, I admitted to getting 2 other ortho consults, (which I could tell by his facial expression he wasn't happy with) and they both agreed that because of my son's chipped tooth his bite could be adjusted and those 3 teeth straightened. When I mentioned my son's tooth was chipped from his bite, Dr. Taylor said he didn't see a chipped tooth and my son had to physically point it out to him. Dr. Taylor suddenly seemed upset and flustered. He looked at my son's chipped tooth, then stated that my son needs extensive mouth/jaw surgery and many years of treatments that brace can't fix him. I told him I didn't understand,that neither of the other two orthodontists, nor our dentists over the years, ever said anything major was wrong, and never anything that would require surgery.
Dr. Taylor then went through his very arrogant speech about how "he's the best in the business" and people from all over the world come to see him. If he doesn't know something, he "works with the best orthodontists in the country" and can find out. No one can compare to him. He charges the highest rates and people happily pay it. He writes articles and he owns the company, yada yada yada. It was really annoying to listen to him toot his own horn when honestly I just kept thinking to myself, "this guy is nuts" and I can't leave fast enough.
At the end of it all, we did choose an orthodontist. My son has been in braces now for several months and everything is as planned with less than 15 months of treatment. He had his bi-annual check up/cleaning a few days ago with all new x-rays. Still, no medical or dental doctor has said my son needs surgery or any other treatment outside of routine braces. read more