Help!! Exposure surgery now or later???

[Koolmama]

Dear fellow canine-impacted-ers....

Pls pls give me your advice... I am about 5 months into my ortho treatment (lowers only) and am planning to try for a second baby any time now i have an upper impacted canine becos of which i extracted a perfectly healthy premolar to help create some space for it to grow downwards (hopefully)... However, as many of you are aware, there is no guarantee it will move down on its own, so my ortho has given me the option of undergoing exposure surgery now or later to help speed things up a bit...

This is where i need your help... i would like to know exactly HOW MUCH inconvenience, discomfort, pain etcetc is involved... If it is just a one-off "ouch" event, i'd be more than happy to get it over and done with now. However, if i were to get pregnant tomorrow, will i still be able to eat whatever i want, sleep whenever i want, without worrying about anything relating to my impacted canine? i always found the first 6 months after giving birth the toughest, so i don't wanna have anything extra to worry or moan about during those difficult months...

Can anyone pls advise me whether i should go for the surgery now or later?? Many many thanks

MOO (Mother of One) xxx

[bracedat34]

I had a wisdom tooth exposed about a month ago. I'll be honest - it was painful. I went in assuming that there will just be part of my gum cut away to give the tooth space to grow. Well, it also included chiseling some bone away that was covering the tooth as well.

I was given a general anesthesia, but as soon as I left the office, I was in pain. I immediately got my prescription for pain relievers filled and took at least 2 per day for a week. I was not 100% again until about 2 weeks after the procedure.

I think I have quite a tolerance for pain, and this is probably one of the worst pains I have gone through. (of course, I've never given birth...).

I don't want to scare you, and maybe your procedure would be different. But I also didn't want to sugar coat how bad I thought the pain was.

[Koolmama]

Hi bracedat34,

Thanks so much for your feedback (and jt2lang too ) Do you think your exposure was painful 'cos of the position of the wisdom tooth? (E.g. very low down, far into the gum) Or was it near the surface? Was your exposure the type where they lift up part of the gum, stick a bracket/thingy and then stitch the gum back again?

Do you think it'll be less painful for a canine?

Many thanks for your sharing

Cheers MOO

[bracedat34]

Hi Koolmama,

It was my lower wisdom tooth that was already starting to come through the gum, but would grow anymore because I had an erupted upper molar that was holding it down.

I don't know if the pain was from the bone that was chipped off or because of the stitches, which held the gum back away from the tooth. The tooth has yet to have a bracket put on, because the ortho wants it to move a little bit more first.

In my opinion, I do think it may be less painful for a canine tooth.

I hope I have been some help to you. GOOD LUCK!!

[jabberwocky]

I too have an impacted canine tooth.
On april 24th (coincidentally my birthday) I had the exposure surgery.

If you're planning on getting pregnant, i would suggest getting the surgery done before you do so. After the surgery they give you hydrocodone and for the first two or three days after the procedure you need it (or at least i did and some of the other ppl i've talked with that have had the same surgery). Since pregnant women basically can't take any drugs it would probably behoove you to have the procedure done while you still can.

That and I don't know what the protocol is for pregnant women and general anesthesia. For my surgery they gassed me, put me under with a general, AND did a local on the area itself.

After the surgery you can't eat much for about a week (because of all the stitches, pain, awkwardness, and it feels like you're going to get something stuck "in the hole"). Actually, i didn't feel 100% until about a whole month had gone by. BUT, i got the surgery a week after braces so it was kind of a double whammy for me.

Other than that... if you have any other questions feel free to ask. I must say that i am happy with the progress that is being made with my teeth. The gold chain they hooked up to the impacted tooth is already yanking that sucker down. I could see a difference in the links a week after the adjustment. Having the chain does make adjustments more painful, but only marginally so. My impacted tooth is way up in my jaw, almost right under my nose.

[Way Too Old For This]

I had my canine exposed and brought into place. I remember lots of pain for a couple of weeks when I tried to eat and some sinus headaches when they tightened up the elastic thread, but it didn't change my life much. I only missed 2 days work and I traveled about 2 weeks after the exposure.

The only impact to my life was that I went to the ortho every week for about 4 months to have the elastic thread retied. That only took a few minutes and I could be to work almost on time. The nice part about that was I lost all my inhibitions about the ortho office....sort of evolved into a much more relaxed patient.

If Ihad the choices you do, I would get it done as soon as possible.