"Tooth Eruption" Have you had this done?

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#1 Post by **calypsojunky** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 3:48 pm

Hi Friends!

So I'm nearing the final stretch, and my orthodontist has been doing some tinkering with my teeth for the final adjustments. There's one thing that I'm not quite comfortable with, and maybe it's quite common. One of my front teeth is chipped on one side, and what he did was to readjust the bracket such that it was higher up on the tooth compared to the others. The effect was that it pulled the tooth down lower than the other tooth. Then he proceeded to even off the longer part of the tooth so that the chipped length became level with the other tooth.
I know some of you had impacted teeth that had to be brought out, but this front tooth of mine was already in its mature position when it was brought out more.
I was just wondering if pulling the tooth down affects its stability. It's been 2 days since the adjustment, and my front tooth feels wobbly. The tooth also feels narrower at the top where it attaches to the gum. I'm worried that I'll bite into a crunchy apple down the road and wrench off my fragile tooth.
Has anyone else had this done, what how did it feel later on?
Thanks!

#2 Post by **deltawire** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 12:43 pm

calypsojunky - I am glad you brought this up! My ortho mentioned that she will be doing that to me the next time I see her and I was a bit concerned too. Especially because some teeth have sunk into the root and others have been elongated during this process. So I kept thinking how will she know they are in the proper place before she takes off some enamel and most importantly will my teeth fall out.

I plan on asking the ortho all of these questions on my next adjustment before she starts this process.

By the way calypsojunky did it hurt?

#3 Post by **calypsojunky** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 2:11 pm

It didn't really hurt. There was a feeling of pressure as any adjustment, and today's the third day, and it doesn't hurt at all. However, it doesn't feel completely stable yet, and I've yet to put much pressure on it.

#4 Post by **jcdamon3** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 6:37 pm

I asked my ortho this question in the beginning of my treatment because I was afraid if they extruded teeth that the sensitive part of the root would be exposed. He told me it was a really good question.

The reality is that when they pull down (or up) on teeth like that (gently) , the bone moves with the tooth. So the root of the tooth is NOT moving by itself. YOu are not pulling the tooth out by the root, you are moving the tooth, the root and the bone that the root sits in.

I have really tiny lower front teeth and what looks like bone loss there. I swear by ortho put soooo much pressure on those teeth at times I thought for sure they were going to snap off.... but they didn't.