My ortho misunderstood my treatment goals — 5 months in, $6K paid, and I’m realizing the issue I wanted fixed isn’t being addressed

I’m about 5 months into my second round of braces (private pay, ~$6K), and I’m really frustrated after a recent phone call with my orthodontist that made me question whether we’ve ever been on the same page about my treatment goals.

I went into this round of treatment specifically to address an occlusal cant in my bottom row. I made it clear at my installation appointment that I was happy with my top row and didn’t want major changes there.

After my second adjustment this week, I emailed my ortho a detailed message expressing concern that my top midline seemed to be shifting in a way I never asked for. That prompted a phone call, during which he said he thought my main concern was a top cant and midline, not the bottom — which floored me, because from day one my focus has been on correcting the bottom cant.

He also suggested the midline issue might just be angle distortion in my selfies and said aligning it to my facial midline isn’t possible without jaw surgery. I then asked if the current strategy (including a bend in the top archwire) would improve the lower cant. He said it might help slightly, but didn’t clearly explain how or what I should expect.

To make things even more confusing, at my adjustment appointment earlier that week, he told me my cant had improved by 40–65% — which I thought was referring to the bottom row. But now he seems to be backtracking and not clarifying what he actually meant by that.

During the call, he also made a point of saying that I’m “one of his more demanding patients” (not in a negative way, according to him), and that most orthos wouldn’t call their patients at 8am to go over concerns like mine — implying that I should feel grateful. While I do appreciate the responsiveness, I find myself constantly having to chase clarity. I don’t want vague or surface-level answers — I want to understand what the mechanics (elastics, bends, archwire changes, etc.) are actually doing to address the issue I came in for. And unless I really push, I don’t get that level of transparency.

I posted here a few months ago with photos, and people commented that my teeth looked fine — which I get. But I still see a clear cant in my bottom row in person, and that’s what I came into this treatment to fix. Now, my top teeth are shifting, which I didn’t ask for, and the bottom issue still looks largely unchanged.

Has anyone else had this happen — where your ortho ends up focusing on something you didn’t prioritize?
Did you speak up, switch providers, or just ride it out?

I can’t afford to start over elsewhere, and I’m likely moving out of state in a couple of months, so the timeline pressure adds to my frustration. Just trying to figure out what I should be doing now to course correct.