Premolar Extractions Tomorrow!

[lyphta]

My ortho has advised me before I got my braces on that I may have to pull some teeth out. But for the first 8 months, we've been just looking to see if it was needed and if I had enough space for all my teeth. However, I guess it now seems like that's a no-go. I have a tooth on the bottom that just doesn't have space to move and during the time I've had my braces, my teeth have become more noticeably straight, but I also ended up with an open bite.

So my ortho said that by removing all 4 2nd premolars there'd be more space for my teeth to move and for my open bite to close. I do have large teeth according to my ortho as well so I guess that's part of her reasoning. (already removed all 4 wisdom teeth as well)

My only worry is, is it really going to help? Will it really close the open bite? And it won't affect my jaw in any way right? Cause I don't want to end up with like... a sunken structural look if you look at the side profile (sorry if I'm not describing this well...) where my face looks like it "caves in" a bit. I heard that that happens to people who have pulled their premolars because you don't have that "full" smile you're supposed to have so your mouth shrinks inward and so your lips sink in and your chin protrudes. My ortho put in my file that I have a asymmetric face (right side fuller) with a convex profile and a small lower jaw, don't know if that means anything.

I hope it's just my paranoia talking and nothing's going to be wrong. I know it's common to remove teeth, but I'm just worried about what will happen in the future, post-braces. I want a nice smile and a nice bite but to hear that it can affect the way my side profile scares me into thinking I shouldn't do it. Any advice? 1st hand experiences to calm my nerves? I'm getting them taken out tomorrow ><

(Note: all four consultations I've been to before choosing this ortho said that I was borderline extraction and that I'd most likely extract)

here's some photos!

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/6804/prebraces.jpg
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/4919/frontblb.jpg
http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/9900/openbite.jpg
http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/2795/problemx.jpg
http://img861.imageshack.us/img861/4584/premolar.jpg
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/8677/profile1e.jpg

[SlimZippy]

I understand your concern about the 4 extractions. I was a borderline extraction case too. Your lip and face profile look nice and full so I don’t think you will go from that to a really sunken in look. Did you discuss having a single lower extraction to make space? That was suggested to me if the IPR didn’t create enough space.

[lyphta]

Ah, so you took out only 1 tooth? I didn't discuss that with my ortho, though I thought we had to take out 4 in order for the midline to be straight and for everything to be symmetrical?
And I went through the same as you, there's no way I could do IPR.
Thank you for your positive feedback on my profile.

[SlimZippy]

It turned out that I didn’t need to have any extractions as the IPR was enough for me. But if they needed to create more space they said it would be better to extract a single lower tooth as I wouldn’t need four teeth worth of space. In that case the lower arch wouldn’t have a midline, just a midtooth

Hope everything is fine for you tomorrow

[lyphta]

Oh I see! Thanks for explaining that. And so glad IPR was an option for you ^^

So I extracted the teeth today at 2PM and finally got the bleeding to stop at 9PM. Still a bit of blood, but at least it's not like overflowing as it was before.

I was wondering, how long does it usually take for the wound to close? Cause I want to eat things but I'm afraid that food might get in there and it'll get infected.
Also, how long do I have to wait before I can brush my teeth and fully rinse my mouth. My dentist said not to rinse for 24 hours and then after 24 hours are up, rinse with warm salt water. But I would like to gargle and brush as soon as possible because it's just so uncomfortable with the feeling of left over blood in the mouth.

[katiemcb09]

Hey! I had a lot of similar concerns to you a few months ago. Right after I got bracketed, I had to have all 4 second premolars removed. I have one tooth on the bottom that sticks way out and lots of crowding in general. So far, I think the progress has been much quicker than if I had left those teeth in - lots more space for things to move. And I can tell my mouth is changing shape, but I don't think it's bad so far... here's a link to my blog, with beginning/3month photos. http://missmetalmouth.wordpress.com/ Good luck!

[katiemcb09]

Oh, and as far as the healing - I think I started eating real food on the 3rd day, but carefully used a toothpick to skim over the top of the extraction holes to get food off (sounds crazy, but dentist told me too, and I was really careful). Overall, maybe 2 1/2 weeks to heal... After 1 1/2 weeks I tried the waterpik and opened a hole - didn't hurt, but bled and was scary! I brushed on maybe the 2nd or 3rd day. I would say you can eat pretty quickly, just be careful! And keep up salt water rinses.

[lyphta]

@katiemcb09 thank you for your link! I will definitely check it out.
I started brushing now cause it was just too unbearable to go without brushing my teeth. But I'm being veryyy careful not to touch my extraction areas with the toothbrush. It's really awkward brushing with a gap though.
And good idea! I should definitely try that because sometimes I feel like there's food near it but I'm afraid to poke around with my tongue. Definitely keeping up with the salt water rinsing. I just find it hard to eat with my teeth being very sore but hopefully I'll be good to go in the same amount of time as you! Thank you again

[lyphta]

It's been 5 days since my extractions and on my lower right extraction hole, there's like this white thing growing on it!
On Thursday when I got my wires put on, there was a tiny bit of white on there, and my ortho said it's healing nicely. But now, there's like a LOT of white on the gum.
I hope it's not some sort of infection. Is it normal? the area doesn't hurt at all, the only thing that I guess is "painful" is my jaw which isn't even that bad.
I have heard that it could be a sign of healing, but none of my other extraction sites have this....
Here's a picture of it, sorry for the blurriness again
http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/4784/whitej.jpg

[benj]

I am getting to the final stages of my extractions closing, have 1.5mm to go on my lower and just a tiny fraction on my upper jaw and I know how scary it can be! The journey is worth it though... You will notice you go through lots of stages as your bite changes and the damage starts to be corrected.

Try not to worry to much if you get sunkenness as is it can be temporary. My face went from looking full in the early stages of extractions to gaunt looking just 6 months later after the first movements, then to gradually full again.

The sunkenness bothered me quite a bit though, I felt it made me look unwell, so I decided to have a little bit of hyaluronic acid filler injected into my cheeks to plump them up again.