I had an orthodontist (the surgeon kind) screw me up; nothing long term (as far as I know) but just money.

I went through the whole ordeal of a Pallete Expander to correct my bite. This was through Junior year of college and I wound up talking like a special needs student for quite a while. To those youngsters that need one you have my condolences.

After months of that BS they downgraded me to a retainer to keep my upper-jaw in place. The goal was to wear the retainer for some months, then upgrade to surgical route to fix my bite (ie, break my jaw and set things correctly).

I followed up with all of my visits and such. But eventually I broke the dang thing.

My parents took me to see her the next day and she said it was no big deal... I'd worn the thing much longer than needed and wouldn't need another one. She made arrangements that she would call my parents when the time came to revisit surgery.

I guess she forgot about me. I drove by her some weeks/months later and waved; she called that day.

I guess I went too long without the retainer because my upper jaw had reverted back to almost it's original size/shape. She wanted to start over with the pallette expander.

We said screw it. It cost a lot of money that we'd have to pay AGAIN, plus now I was in (or about to start) my senior year and I had enough social problems than to worry about the dang medieval pallete expander again.

End result, lots of money wasted and I still can't bite through certain sandwhich fillers like lettuce and bologna.

Also every couple of months and then I get a cramp-like sensation in my upper jaw and to feel better I have to use my tongue to push my back teeth to the side... effectively replicating the pallette expander in a small scale.

This comment was edited on Nov 10, 2009, 15:58.