I may have ankylosed canine :-( w/ pic

[ngbraces]

Starting of the braces process, my upper left first premolar was removed to reduce the crookedness and to make space for my inward lateral incisor. After the extraction, a power chain then closing springs were used in order to pull the canine to the extraction gap so the lateral incisor would get the space to come out. My ortho doesn't use an open spring between the canine and middle incisor because the open string may mess up the middle line.

However, it's been more than 7 months, the canine hasn't moved to the gap at all! The gap is still there, it shrank a little bit because the second premolar has moved forward, NOT the canine moved backward! At the last appointment, my ortho said if my canine can't move, it may be due to the ankylosis which means the ligaments around the canine fuse to the bone!

One thing baffles me is that before braces, the canine was protruding out and up. Now, it has moved and rotated vertically to the archwire. It just doesn't move horizontally!

Right now I still have the closing spring between the canine and the second molar. If there is no horizontally moving progress of the canine the next appointment, I may be sent to an oral surgeon to have some procedure done to loosen the canine ligaments. Ouch! I have searched the forum and googled the net, in most cases, an ankylosed canine is also impacted, I can't find a similar case to mine. My canine is not impacted, from the outside, it looks normal and healthy. I'm worrying for my teeth and.. for my pocket - I'm not sure if it would be a successful process and besides more money would be spent on the surgery.

Here is my stubborn canine:

[aj]

Hi Ngbraces!

I also have an ankylosed tooth that resisted movement for 2 years.

I also looked up success stories with anklyosed teeth on the web, but only found abstracts from medical journals... nothing in layman's terms.

A year ago, I had the mini-surgery done on my anklyosed tooth where the ligaments are loosened. My oral surgeon said he was "luxating" the tooth through the surgery. After I had the surgery (I was awake and conscious, I just had the area numbed) my ortho waited two days before he hooked the tooth back to a wire to move it. But by then it was too late, the tooth either fused immediately to the bone again, or it had never even left the bone even during the surgery.

If/when you go ahead and have the procedure done, please insist that the orthodontist immediately re-threads the wire through the bracket of the ankylosed tooth. I feel that if my orthodontist had done that immediately, instead of telling me to come back in two days, the result could have been different!

Also, if you do a search and read the latest post from WoolieBagLady, you'll see that Missing_Tooth mentioned another procedure involving moving an ankylosed tooth.

[ngbraces]

Thanks for all replies. aj, your story about ankylosed tooth is somewhat scaring me. However, I want to thank you for letting me know ahead so I can prepare myself. Had I known about my ankylosed canine, I wouldn't have gone the braces path.

Honestly, I think that my situation is kind like worse than yours because my ankylosed tooth is the upper canine which is more complicated.

Before braces, my upper left canine was protruding and pushing the lateral incisor inward; besides, I don't have upper right canine (pulled out when I was young), then, I thought removing my upper left canine was logically making sense. However, I was told that canine gets long root, its removal can cause my face somewhat deformed or collapsed, therefore, the "troubling canine" was kept and worked on, and my healthy premolar got removed instead.

Now, I come up with an unexpected ankylosed canine! What if the "luxating" procedure doesn't work? Would my lateral incisor need to be pulled out? If so, do I need 2 implants: one is for the lateral, and the other is for the gap due to the removal of my premolar? Hence, is the removal of my premolar a big mistake?

I definitely need a serious discuss with my ortho at my next appointment. My gosh! I'm going to be broke due to this dilemma (aj, may I ask how much the "luxative" procedure costs?)

[aj]

Ngbraces, to get the ankylosed tooth luxated cost me about $450. 00, a year ago here in the states. Gosh, I didn't know the effects of pulling an ankylosed canine could be so negative! So, since that tooth has long roots, pulling it could collapse or deform that side of the face. This possible risk could be one of the reasons why my orthodontists have always been hesitant to pull it.

Didn't mean to scare you ngbraces, with the results of my luxating. I encourage you to go for it... just be sure they immediately re-atttatch the wire to the bracket of the ankylosed tooth, instead of waiting a few days!

[beachrose]

Thanks, Meryaten, for the quote about implants. I was very surprised to see KK's statement and also strongly disagree. I have four implants placed by a most experienced and knowledgeable periodontist - he is really an expert on implants and has written hundreds of articles and teaches and lectures here in the states, as well as other countries. I have had no problems with any of the procedures he has done on me and I have no reason to think that these implants won't last a lifetime.

To me, after suffering for years with a very uncomfortable bridge, it is the perfect fix, albeit, an expensive one. KK was right about that.