IMPACTED CANINES CLUB

[Siobhan]

Thanks for posting, Mik194. Stories like this really help.

[jBraces]

Woo hoo - finally a club I can belong to! I have been braced for 17 months, with 19 months to go (almost halfway!) I had my exposure surgery 10 months ago, and at my last appointment (about a month ago) my canine was finally ready to be apartment of the regular archwire! What an amazing feeling! I'll see if I can find some good pics of the progress...

[alice1987]

That must be such a relief jBraces! I'd love to see some progress pics!

[Siobhan]

Just a quick update. One day after exposure I went to see my Orthodontist. As she was trying to attach the chain, it broke off the tooth so back to the Oral Surgeon today. The re-exposure was easy enough. The difficult part was that the bracket broke from the bonding and he had a hard time removing the bonding. He re-bonded the bracket and as a contingency plan, left a little of the impacted tooth out of the gum so an orthodontic bracket can be more easily placed on it, if necessary. I can also stop the penicillin which gave me a rash (as if having a gap in my mouth wasn't attractive enough). Not a fun couple of days. On the bright side, the nurse swears the tooth has moved. He disagreed as there has been no traction on the tooth but I'd like to look on the bright side.

Hiding back at the office waiting for the anesthesia to wear off. I don't want to risk drooling on my colleagues.

[alice1987]

So sorry to hear that Siobhan, sounds like a rough few days.
I'm a little worried now, since my appointment with the ortho is the following day after exposure surgery as well. Do you think it broke because the ortho was pulling too hard on the chain or that the bonding was not completely set yet?

[millersgirl]

Wow so many updates!

Glad to hear the one tooth seems to be moving quickly. Mine is moving but not as fast. ...or maybe it was as fast but mine is completely horizontal in the roof of my mouth and was far over as being past the midline. I keep hearing my othro saying, "initial success does not mean final success" echoing in my memory.

I can't believe you had to be re exposed Siobhan!
I hope this that was the LAST time you have to have that done. Out of curiosity did your surgeon charge you again?

[millersgirl]

Woo hoo - finally a club I can belong to! I have been braced for 17 months, with 19 months to go (almost halfway!) I had my exposure surgery 10 months ago, and at my last appointment (about a month ago) my canine was finally ready to be apartment of the regular archwire! What an amazing feeling! I'll see if I can find some good pics of the progress...

What was the initial placement of the impacted canine? I'm anxious to see my tooth already but it's been less than three months since activation. I think I've had about two links worth of movement.

[Siobhan]

So sorry to hear that Siobhan, sounds like a rough few days.
I'm a little worried now, since my appointment with the ortho is the following day after exposure surgery as well. Do you think it broke because the ortho was pulling too hard on the chain or that the bonding was not completely set yet?

Both my Ortho and Oral Surgeon said it shouldn't have broken but it happens occasionally. The Oral Surgeon said unless the Ortho was hanging on it, it should have been fine. The Ortho suggested waiting 4-5 days this time, just in case. But, she wouldn't have tried it if the next day was an issue. I think it was a fluke.

Good luck everyone. What a frustrating process.

[Siobhan]

Wow so many updates!

Glad to hear the one tooth seems to be moving quickly. Mine is moving but not as fast. ...or maybe it was as fast but mine is completely horizontal in the roof of my mouth and was far over as being past the midline. I keep hearing my othro saying, "initial success does not mean final success" echoing in my memory.

I can't believe you had to be re exposed Siobhan!
I hope this that was the LAST time you have to have that done. Out of curiosity did your surgeon charge you again?

I'm not sure if mine is really moving but I can dream. If yours is moving, that's great news. I know there are a lot of factors but it's really good that it's not fused to the bone.

I really hope this is the last time, too! My surgeon didn't charge me again which was a $$ relief!

[28andbraced]

I had another appointment yesterday, and we have now begun to pull on my canine--yay! I'm hoping that I'm getting near the end of the hard part of this journey, and that my tooth moves as needed. I'm a little uncomfortable, but at least it is localized and not all over! I got the bad news that my ortho is leaving and I only have one more visit with him before someone else takes over my treatment, which is scary. But we got the hard part done, and it should be easier from here. Good luck to all of you--I hope your treatment is progressing well!

Is that a TAD in the middle? What is it designed to do? Just curious.

It is indeed a TAD. Because I was unwilling to do a full set of braces (I like my bite and don't want to change it, mostly because my jaw has been misaligned all my life and then we'd have to start down a LONG road of surgery, realignment of every tooth, etc. that I would rather not venture down), my ortho put a TAD in to help stabilize my arch. I assumed he would put one on the labial side of my top arch and hook the new tooth up to it, but instead he put it up in the roof of my mouth, bonded a wire to it, and bonded each end of that wire to two of my molars, one on either side of my top arch. This is to keep my bite/arch from becoming distorted by the force of the new tooth being pulled into the arch using the archwire on my braces. Since my tooth is already pretty far in on its own, he was able to attach it directly to the braces via a bracket, a powerchain, and bonding. It's not a typical treatment plan by any stretch, but he is confident we'll get the result I want in 12-18 months.

I can't tell if I'm deluding myself or what, but I feel like my tooth might be a smidge closer to the archwire after 2-3 weeks of pulling. Hopefully this goes fast!!

[Siobhan]

I had an adjustment this morning and my Ortho said she can see the tooth in the gum (still impacted) and it's "trying" to move. She added cement to the adjacent tooth to try to mask the gap but said it's temporary as we'll need space for the impacted tooth soon. So, still no guarantees but looking promising.

On the downside, I need to do a better job brushing as my gums are swollen. I didn't realize I was OK to brush the gum by the extracted baby tooth so have been avoiding that area. It'll be a little nerve-wracking but I'll give it a go.

[millersgirl]

She added cement to the adjacent tooth to try to mask the gap but said it's temporary as we'll need space for the impacted tooth soon.

You're lucky. I have a huuuge gap from the space they've created and my tooth is moving so slow! Like, one link on the chain a month. This last month it's been slow. I hope it keeps moving, it's still got a ways to go.

Glad you had a successful adjustment today though!

[Siobhan]

Hi Millersgirl,

I feel your pain - even though they added a glob of cement, there's still a huge gap, a coil, metal wire, the chain and my frankengum. I can't say it helps that much and makes the tooth it's attached to look slightly odd. I was more excited that she she said it would have to come off soon for the tooth to come in. Although "soon" in orthodontic terms is very different than my "soon".

I'm glad your tooth is still moving. It will get there - soon!

[UnevenJAG]

Yep just went though this surgery last week, got the baby top left canine pulled and the impacted one behind it in the roof of my mouth exposed and a bracket put on it. A chain goes from the bracket to a palatal arch in my mouth, the exposed tooth wound has been covered with periodontal putty.
Just going to put it nicely, I can't eat anything successfully other than mush. Anything harder gets stuck in the palatal arch wire and when I try and move my tongue around to dislodge the food it moves the chain and hurts.

Totally sucks!

Glad I found this post though, I was beginning to think there wasn't too many of us out there.

[Siobhan]

Good luck, UnevenJAG. With everything orthodontic, it will get better.