anyone had experience with sandpapered teeth?

[twentysomething]

my ortho says that my lower teeth are flared out, so to bring it back, hes going to sandpaper my teeth just a bit. Has anyone undergone this procedure and is there some sensitivity or permanent consequence involved? Personally, I don't think the flare is that significant or noticeable to warrant it,...but he's done a great job so far that I think that I'm not too long in getting my braces off. Original estimate was 24 months, but it's only been 17 months, and he said i should be out of them in spring.

[sirwired]

Sounds like he's going to perform the procedure known as Inter-Proximal-Reduction (IPR.) He'll use either sandpaper strips or something that looks like a grinding disc on a Dremel tool to slightly increase the spaces between your teeth (a fraction of a mm per tooth)

If the ortho does the job right, there's no permanent consequences. But yes, it is certainly possible to remove too much... knowing how much to remove is one of the things you are paying the ortho for.

[klobird]

I had what seemed like a lot of IPR...no big deal...painless and now that my braces are off my teeth look great!

[Tobilei]

I had some done between my 2 front teeth to remove a black triangle of space. Didn't hurt, he didn't take very much at all and now my teeth slot together like they should.

[anedia]

I had some IPR done at my last adjustment. We did some between some teeth to get some more room, and then the ortho also did my front 4 teeth.
Painless and no sensitivity at all.

[twentysomething]

Thanks for the responses! That's a bit comforting- I was afraid that if I were to whiten my teeth after debracing, the ipr procedure might increase my sensitivity to the peroxide. I dont think my bottom teeth are too flared out, but I guess hes an ortho and i did pay quite a lot of money to have perfect teeth. I think hes done great at reducing my overbite+jet...crossing my fingers so that I can get it off in a couple months before I relocate!

[roxie2519]

My dentist performed this to two of my front teeth. There was no pain and it is an easy procedure .

[TheKT]

Twenty something, what kind of braces are you in? Is he going to sand them while in the braces?

[twentysomething]

Thekt,
He didnt say, but I believe he's going to remove the bottom wire, sand them, and then replace the wire and tightenmy teeth to push them in.
I have ceramic top and metal bottom, and he constructed those upper loops you see, with an activator that helped close my extraction gaps.

[TheKT]

I think they looked great the way they are. Congrats!