Righellis & Associates Orthodontics

I have no idea what his take on your specific issue would be, but Dr. Righellis (510-482-0600) in Montclair was who we went to for a second opinion with our first kid, and we were so impressed we've used him for both our kids, and have always been very pleased.  Good luck.

My daughter did her orthodontia through Dr. Righellis & Associates in Montclair.  She saw Dr. Straty Righellis.  Her dentist first recommended her for a consult when she was in 4th or 5th grade.  She had a slight overbite, and a gap between the front teeth.  Dr. Righellis was very conservative, and basically said she should wait until she was older and her permanent teeth had descended more.  She came back every 6 months for him to check on this progress (these appointments were part of the free consultation.)  He also said that the gap wasn't causing any problems, so we only needed to treat it if we wanted to for cosmetic purposes (she did.)  He did think the overbite needed to be corrected.  He also recommended that a couple of her baby teeth be pulled, because the teeth above were coming in crookedly (almost horizontally.)  We had that done with an oral surgeon.  Eventually, near the end of 7th grade, she had the braces put on, and they were on for 2 1/2 years.  She had them removed not too long ago, and both problems have been corrected.  I never felt like he was selling us anything, and liked that he was willing to wait until the conditions were optimal for the quickest round of treatment.  We didn't discuss any particular risks of orthodontic treatment. 

The office is a very busy one, so sometimes getting appointments can be tricky, especially if you don't want to pull kids out of school for them.  But overall, we had very smooth sailing with the whole experience.  I would recommend Dr. Righellis.

Both my kids go to Dr. Righellis in Montclair and we were very pleased at the significantly less involved orthodonture strategy he proposed versus Berkeley Orthodonture, which wanted our son to have braces twice starting around age 9.  Our kids both definitely need braces, so we weren't candidates for being told otherwise, but I appreciated that Dr. Righellis wanted to wait longer (our son, now 15, just got them) and only do braces once.  Which, unsurprisingly, turned out to be less expensive.

Yes!  We go to Dr. Righellis & Associates, in Montclair.  My kids are 12 and 9.  The twelve year-old had one round of braces through that office, and we'd been told it was likely he'd need round number two about now.  When we went for that check up recently, however, Dr. Righellis let us know that in fact a second round of braces is unnecessary. (For the sake of full transparency here I will say that he did recommend something else instead at this point, but it is MUCH cheaper than a second round of braces.)  And when we brought in our younger kid, Dr. Righellis said that no braces were needed at this time (i.e. no first round - you probably know that braces are frequently done nowadays at two different times or phases in your kids dental growth), and we should check back in a year or so to see if the second round would be needed or not.  We have been very satisfied with the care we've gotten from Dr. Righellis's office so far. 

It's really hard to shop around! We go to Rhigellis because he has a good reputation and is close by. We're paying about $6000. I could never do what the person who suggested going into the city does. It just takes too much time for my schedule so convenience, even if it cost a bit more, is a must for me. 

We took our daughter to an orthodontist when she was 7/8 who recommended all kinds of expensive work.  I got a second opinion from a wonderful orthodontist in Oakland who recommended we wait until her adult teeth were in.  He said that often the younger children have to have additional work done when they are older.  I love this orthodontist and the kids seem to like him too.  His name is Straty Rhigellis. 2220 Mountain Blvd.  Oakland 94611.  510 482-0600