Joe, I will repeat my recommendation once more, even though some listers may be tired of hearing it. : ) I highly recommend that you find an orthodontist who works with lingual braces. These are, for all intensive purposes, just like regular braces, but the brackets are smaller, smoother and mounted on the back of your teeth. I wore this appliance for my senior year of high school, through my college auditions, and into my first few years of college. The treatment time is typically the same as regular braces (mine took a little longer because of inconsistent visits) and the results work equally well. One benefit is that these will fix most, if not all, orthodontal issues. I don't believe this is the case with the invisialign treatment method recommended by another lister, and given your discription of your condition it sounds like your upper cuspids may need more adjustment than this type of appliance could provide. Also, because lingual braces have the brackets, bands, and archwire inside your teeth they cannont by seen and your embochure will not be affected. And now the drawbacks. It is likely that your speech and tonguing will be slightly muffled, at least temporarily, but my speech cleared up inside of a week, and though my tonguing was a little less clean throughout my treatment, I still managed to hold the principal chair in my college orchestra for a year before they came off. Another draw back is the cost. If regular orthodontic treatment will run you about $4000 dollars you could probably expect to pay around $7000 for a full lingual treatment (many orthos offer lingual on top and regular on the bottom for aesthetics). This cost is primarily due to the expense of the appliance (i.e. the brackets), as well as the additional training an orthodontist must complete. You should also know, should you decide to go this route, that it is imperative you find an orthodontist who is not only willing to work with lingual braces, but has been trained and regularly uses them. An orthodontist who does one lingual case every few years is probably not good enough. My ortho had several, probably as many as twenty, lingual patients at once. Speaking of my orthodontist, her name is Dr. Seamount and she has offices in Lompoc, Solvang and Santa Barbara, California. If you happen to be in her area I would highly recommend her. If not, a quick search on www.google.com will provide many links to lingual organizations, trained doctors in all areas, etc. If I you're interested, but need more information, or if I can answer any questions about my treatment process please don't hesitate to ask.
Hope it helps, Caleb [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] unsubscribe or set options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
