Can I Sue My Orthodontist For Extractions That Caused Issues?

Location: California

I am currently 25. When I was 15, I got braces on with a local orthodontist.

Some context to understand my case: I was born with lower central incisors that were missing adult teeth beneath them. My mother had the same issue, and she had passed it down to me. My mom’s two baby teeth fell out in her 30s and she resolved hers by getting a bridge in place of them.

My orthodontist initially told me that we would continue my braces treatment as normal, and then when I turned 18, I could get my lower central incisors replaced with implants as they were destined to fall out fairly early in my life (around the time I was 30) since they were baby teeth.

However, months into my treatment, my orthodontist presented a different pathway to me. He said we could extract my two lower central incisors and my two upper lateral incisors (he told me that if we pull two teeth from the bottom, we have to pull two from the top to balance things out). He said doing so would allow us to push my teeth together and fill in those gaps, that it would help with reducing my overbite, and that it would aid my TMJ. I wasn’t even aware that I had TMJ. While I didn’t like the idea of pulling out 4 teeth, he said in doing so I would avoid having implants. My mom persuaded me to do this procedure as she also liked the idea of me having all natural teeth and told me her bridge didn’t feel as strong as her natural teeth. I was concerned about the cosmetics of having four front-facing teeth missing in my mouth, but my orthodontist reassured me that the gaps between my teeth would be closed in 6 weeks. 6 weeks.

When I was 15, I struggled to even choose a candy bar in a drug store. I remember the day I went to the dentist to get these teeth pulled, I couldn’t stop crying. The dentist told me that the two upper laterals that I was pulling had weak roots and may have fallen out anyways as I got older—when he said this, I let him go through with it.

What followed was the worst orthodontic treatment I could imagine. My mouth looked terrible with 4 large gaps and I was embarrassed to smile or talk to anyone. It was just before summer break, and I told myself it would be fine, because the gaps would close by the time I came back to school in the fall. Well, not exactly. The “6 weeks” was a complete lie. My orthodontist placed a tool that blocked my gaps from closing. Each time I asked him about it, he would ignore me or change the subject, no matter how many times I asked. It alarmed me—I had no idea what was going on with my teeth. I had to ask one of his assistants why those blockers were placed, and she informed me that when the teeth are moved too rapidly, it can destabilize them/cause harm. All this to say, I did not have informed consent going into this procedure. I was told my gaps would close in 6 weeks, and that was a blatant lie, and it is one that an orthodontist with decades of practice would surely know was a lie.

Not only this, but my teeth ended up pushing back so far that when I smiled from afar, it looked like I had no teeth. I couldn’t even see my teeth in some of my prom photos. Up close, I had a very visible tongue thrust as well that I did not have before—my tongue naturally began to sit against my teeth and obviously peek out between the gaps in my mouth when I smiled. It was horrendous. Each month I came in, I begged my orthodontist to move my teeth forward because I couldn’t even see them from a distance. He would tell me he couldn’t do so because they were in “the perfect place” and doing so would be “malpractice.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. They were so obviously not in the right place, and I was terrified that they would remain in that position. After months of my asking for a wire that could push my teeth forward, he finally gave me a wire that pushed them forward. After telling me it couldn’t be done and would be malpractice for months, he briefly told me that I would start wearing the different wire. When I asked him why he was able to do this now, he ignored me. When I asked again, he changed the subject and began speaking to my mom about my schooling. I could never get a proper answer from him about anything, and I was infuriated. I only wish I had pushed things more in my appointments, but I was a teenager and did not have the confrontational skills I have now.

It took nearly a year for those gaps to close, but about 6 months before they looked like regular-sized gaps and not like missing teeth gaps. When I finally got my braces off at 19—after 3 years and 10 months, far longer than the initial 2 year timeline I had been given when initially starting treatment, another thing I had been given no indication of as my orthodontist had lied to me about the timeline—I will admit they looked perfectly fine. I thought my issues would end there. I was given Invisalign retainers that I wore as-advised, and that I later wore more than advised.

However, whenever I would take my retainers off to eat, in the 20 minutes or so that they were off, the gaps in my teeth would return in the spaces where my teeth had been extracted. When I got to the point where I could wear my retainer overnight only, I ended up still wearing my retainer in the daytime because my teeth were not straight unless I was wearing it. I felt so defeated—I had worn braces for nearly 4 years only to have my teeth instantly relapse when I took my retainers off.

I’m 25 now. I recently went to the dentist, and they recommended that I get braces on again. This time, I went to a different, trusted orthodontist in my area for a consultation, who recommended that I have tongue spurs placed on my braces to correct my tongue thrust and have my tongue sit on the roof of my mouth. They also were confused by my sharing that I do not have TMJ symptoms and did not understand why I was told I had TMJ. This time around, I wanted to get a second opinion, so I went to another orthodontist in my area. This orthodontist told me that the tongue thrust is in part due to these extractions, as there is less room in my mouth for my tongue to rest properly, and recommended that I keep my teeth forward and get a bridge to fill the gaps. She also recommended physical therapy to aid with my tongue’s position, and informed me that the extractions likely negatively impacted my breathing function. I wanted to laugh hearing all of this—I had begun that procedure a decade ago hoping to avoid having false teeth, and now was recommended to have false teeth to correct the doings of this procedure. I told this second orthodontist what the first orthodontist had recommended to me, and they are now reaching out to the first to discuss what treatment would be suitable for me and told me this would be a “complex case.” I am not an Invisalign candidate at either office due to the need for tongue spurs or other correction tools, which also frustrates me as I wore metal braces for almost 4 years and don’t want to wear them again in my mid-late 20’s.

Do I have a case here? My initial orthodontist deprived me of informed consent, lied and evaded giving explanations when I sought them out, did not address the tongue thrust that surfaced during my treatment with him which contributed to the rapid relapse of my teeth post-treatment, and has created issues that will cost me thousands to fix now and even require physical therapy. Not to mention he would examine my teeth without putting a glove on sometimes, which was gross.

Any advice or guidance would be appreciated. Thank you.