IMPACTED CANINES CLUB

[sdavis82]

Decided to give an update. I'm 37. It's been almost a year since my last post. I have been in upper braces for a little over 2 years. Both canines were impacted and we started moving them down in May 2017. Last year in July I had a second exposure done where they burned away the gum around my canines. They were bulging out of the roof of my mouth but not cutting through. My mouth was on fire for a week and then it just stopped. Since then, we have pulled them down a bit more. At my January 2019 appointment, both were exposed enough that they could pull them more in line with elastic thread. One of canines is turned sideways and has to be turned around before a bracket can be attached. At my appointment today, my ortho attached lower braces and spacers again (I will not be eating solid food for like 2 weeks.) I also had the gum in front of my canines lasered. She thinks will help them move quicker into place. On my right side, enough gum was lasered away that we were able to take off the button and attach the bracket. Taking the buttons off is super painful. I hope that not what it is like when I get the braced taken off.

[PsychoBowman]

Hi! I just got my braces on Jan 29th this year and I'm due in May to have oral surgery to have my adult canine (right side) in the roof of my mouth exposed, chain put on, and that process started!

My other(left side) canine came through behind the baby tooth on it's own. That baby tooth fell out and my ortho has already been able to move that adult canine very quickly so I hope my other canine comes down and moves just as quick 😅

I also will be having surgically assisted expansion on my upper jaw at the same time. So nervous lol.

[LaraSez]

Hi All! I'm new to the forum but have been reading through all your posts and it's all been very insightful. I'm 27 and had two impacted canines to begin with. Both baby teeth were removed and adult canines exposed in March 2018. The one on the right side started to move, the left side didn't and so it was removed November 2018. Braces were placed on upper teeth January 2019.

My problem now is that the removal of the baby tooth on the left side is causing the gap to close up, and I need it to be maintained for the implant I will eventually get (after we get the canine on the right in the proper position). My orthodontist has not placed an open coil spring to maintain the gap nor a temporary fake tooth. He seems to be against the idea, and hasn't explained why, just telling me not to worry about the gap and that we'll just open it up later. I can't understand though why we would go around in circles like that. Have any of you had a similar experience? Thank you :)

[angeamber]

I have an update. 4 weeks ago it looked like my canine was moving, and we could see the last link of the chain sticking out of my gums. I was happy! So the ortho removed the rest of the chain and attached an elastic "string"/wire to that last link to start pulling even harder. Yesterday I went back to check progress and tighten everything, but he couldn't find the last link of chain anymore - my gum has grown over it.

So, he wants me to go have another exposure surgery to remove that gum and re-expose the chain.

He can sense that I'm already frustrated about this process and it's only 6 months in, so he told me to talk to the surgeon about options (implants).

Right now I am leaning heavily towards extracting both my adult canines and just going for the implants. My ortho said that we may try to get my real canines in place for years, and we could still end up needing to do the implants in the end. He said sometimes the canines are moving well, and then all of a sudden they stop and you have to give up and go for the implants. My canines have *very* far to go, they are in my palate, full centimetres away from the gaps where they belong. Also, each time I have the chains pulled on I am in a lot of pain - taking extra strength advil every 6 hours for 3-4 days. Yikes!

He said I would need to have braces for about another year, and then I could get them off and have the implants put in.

Have any of you considered this route? I'm curious about the benefits of real teeth versus the implants. I know real teeth are always better, but with potential multiple exposure surgeries (already two now) and 3-4 years of braces, I want to know if that's really worth it for me.

Hello, I am currently going through the same thing. Honestly, I got my exposure done 9 months ago and my orthodontist didn't even activate my canine yet. I'm getting, excuse my language, freaking fed up with his bull.

Canine exposure - May 27th 2018
Retainer with pulling arm - May 28th 2018
Braces put on - September 6th 2018
4 premolar extraction - January 5th 2019

Now, he's sending me for a gum removal on the exposure site TODAY (April 3rd 2018)!

I'm very curious to know what you decided to go with, pulling the tooth down or opting for the implant. I cannot begin to stress how much anxiety the whole process has been causing me. I honestly feel that if you've been going on with the braces and the pulling for so long, I feel like might as well try the most you can to get your real tooth. In the long run, all your time and investment was not to waste. I, myself, am trying to be more patient as well. And, if it doesn't come down, going for an implant can be done in a split second.

Please let me know what you decided to go for, as I am curious myself. All the best!

[LaraSez]

Hey, I'm not sure if this helps much but my canines were exposed around March 2018, one of them started to move pretty quickly. The other side didn't budge for months, gum started to grow over it, and I chose to have it removed in November 2018. It's no fun having 2 large gaps in your mouth :(

After the surgery, the surgeon said the root of the canine was actually curved / hooked and so it would never have moved, no matter how long we waited or pulled - so an implant is the only option for me unfortunately, but only after the braces are removed after we get the other canine down all the way.

[Plesh]

Hello Canine brothers and sisters=)

Ive been reading this forum religiously for the past year and a half and now its time for me to share my canine journey with you guys. Hopefully it will cheer many of you up since its the positive one.

We first realized that i had impacted canine when i was 15. It was far up in my jaw at that time laying perpendicular to the rest of my teeth. My parents did not have the money for braces at the time so i ended up just running around with my milk tooth=) When i was 32 the milk tooth was not looking that great anymore (turned black TMI) so i had it taken out.
After that i went and saw three orthodontists and did my XRays. And Voila my tooth moved a lot since i was 15! It was now pretty much on the edge of my gum line (sorry English is not my first language)! I was happy about that.
Two orthodontists gave me 1,5 year timeline to get the tooth out. The third one said it will take 3 years (whaaaaaaat) So naturally i went with one of the 1,5-year-guys=)
And yes i was advised by all three of them that the whole thing might fail.

So here is my timeline:

1) Got my braces on in January of 2018. I started seeing the root bulging out of my gum pretty much right away.
2) Had exposure surgery in August 2018 (it was easy breathy did not feel a thing, did not need any pain killers afterwards)
3) Golden chain activated in September 2018. The first time they activated the chain the tooth showed up a tiny bit at the top of my gum which i was super excited about. But my ortho was not very impressed. He changed my wire to really thick black one (not cute) and pulled rrrrrreallly hard. And thats when my canine started moving for real! I saw it coming out more and more every week.
4) The tooth was completely out by February 2019 (so 13months after i got my braces)
5) My braces came off in April of 2019!!!!

So yes. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I would not say that i enjoyed the process but now i have perfect smile (which i would not bother working on otherwise) and my canine is out.

Let me know if you have any questions.
I am in Miami in case any of you are here and are looking for the ortho that knows what he is doing

[sdavis82]

One month update from last post. After about 3 days of the spacers, one came out and when I went to my ortho to put it back in, she went ahead and put the bands on then. Today at my appointment, she took the button off my left canine and attached a bracket, but it is still sideways and the bracket is on the side of my tooth. She thinks it might not be turning where it is at because it is too close to another tooth and it's keeping it from turning, so she wants to move it more forward and then turn it. I thought I would see more movement on the right canine since it is already in a bracket, but I haven't noticed any movement at all. :(

[birdie]

Update: My orthodontist removed the button that was placed at my last appointment 8 weeks ago (talk about YEOWCH...he said they usually pop right off, but mine must have been glued extra good because there was a fair amount of prying involved) and replaced it with a bracket! He also removed the arch wire with the spring that had been holding the tooth space open and replaced it with a single skinny wire that is attached to the new canine bracket, but only attached to half since the canine is still a little twisted. I’m hopeful that by the time I go back in 8 weeks that I will finally not have a giant hole in my smile and my canine will be pulled all the way down. WOOHOO!

Plesh, your story is AMAZING! I got braced in February of 2017 and still have a handful of months left! To be fair, BOTH of my upper canines had to be pulled down and my orthodontist was kind enough to do them one at a time so I didn’t have 2 holes in my smile at the same time.

I’ll update again after my next appointment. :)

[elltee]

I am currently on day 6 of braces, with the intention of making enough space to finally pull my impacted right canine out of my palate. Reading all of these stories has given me hope that this can be accomplished at age 30!

[lish]

Hi Elltee


Yes it can be done just some takes longer than others started my journey at 29 i am 31 now and canine is visible but not now yet down its been a long journey hoping it can just end.

[Iewia]

I started my braces journey at the end of 2015. My canine is finally out and showing. And now i have a bite plate in my mouth. My face and jaw feels very tight Now :(

[braceface93]

[quote=angeamber post_id=507250 time=1554307554 user_id=31921]

Hello, I am currently going through the same thing. Honestly, I got my exposure done 9 months ago and my orthodontist didn't even activate my canine yet. I'm getting, excuse my language, freaking fed up with his bull.

Canine exposure - May 27th 2018
Retainer with pulling arm - May 28th 2018
Braces put on - September 6th 2018
4 premolar extraction - January 5th 2019

Now, he's sending me for a gum removal on the exposure site TODAY (April 3rd 2018)!

I'm very curious to know what you decided to go with, pulling the tooth down or opting for the implant. I cannot begin to stress how much anxiety the whole process has been causing me. I honestly feel that if you've been going on with the braces and the pulling for so long, I feel like might as well try the most you can to get your real tooth. In the long run, all your time and investment was not to waste. I, myself, am trying to be more patient as well. And, if it doesn't come down, going for an implant can be done in a split second.

Please let me know what you decided to go for, as I am curious myself. All the best!
[/quote]

Hi angeamber,

I can give you some updates. I opted for the implant route. In September 2018 I had both my real adult canines removed from the roof of my mouth and a bone graft placed. When I woke up from surgery, I was told that my left adult canine was "hooked around" the adjacent incisor, and they had to pull it too. So now I'm missing three teeth in the front of my smile. My orthodontist gave me another pontic so I don't have massive gaps. That was... disappointing to say the least. But they did tell me that my canines would never have come down with orthodontics, so I was glad I opted for the implant route.

I waited for the graft to heal (take 4-6 months, but delays with my orthodontic treatment meant we waited 8 months). I had a CT scan to plan the placing of the implants. Yesterday I met with the surgeon to review the CT and well... I don't have enough bone for an implant on either side. Again, another disappointment to say the least. I was crying in the surgeon's office. This process has just been a series of disappointments.

My surgeon is sending me to a prosthodontist to see what he suggests (likely a bridge). I hope we can do something without destroying more teeth (that is usually how bridges are placed).

So essentially, I will never have "real" or even implant teeth again. I feel like a 25 year old needing a set of dentures.

I am very disappointed.

I don't know what to tell you, apparently my case is very strange and the roots of my teeth are "curvy" which is very unusual and makes implants more difficult to place. I also have a really small amount of jaw bone just naturally, apparently. I am sharing my story but my surgeon has told me it is very uncommon and, well, I am just very unlucky.

I hope you have a better experience than I have had.

[Bracefacebride]

Hello!

I’ve been lurking this forum for the last few days, it’s so nice to read other peoples experiences. I’ve read this topic in its almost entirely, since I will probably be having to go through this too.
I only wanted to get the space in front of my two front teeth closed and my right lateral fixed (it’s a peg lateral) but after X-rays we found out I have a impacted canine, honestly didn’t even notice my baby canine before. I’m 33 and getting married next year, so I really wanted to fix my smile and didn’t think all this was so complex.

I am starting to wonder if I should even go through with it. I was told it’s uncommon to have an impacted canine from my new general dentist but from everyone that’s posted I guess it’s very common!

So it seems from all the posts that have been on this board, from page 1-66/67, the 30+ age group has about a 60% chance of failure rate. But it appears to happen more to the folks that have the exposure surgery where the chain is put on and skin placed back over, vs the ones where in the exposure surgery, the gum is either removed with a laser or a hole left open for the canine, leaving the tooth exposed, then activated. It also seems when the chain is only visible so many people have to have re-exposure surgery because their chain breaks. ( I know there is many factors, as I read with tooth positioning, root issues, fusing, etc)

What I want to ask is who here has had the CBCT x-ray?
Isn’t this suppose to help before surgery to see if there is any root damage or any root issues before surgery? And to give the ortho the go ahead to try and just pull the stubborn canine down? I wonder if there is a special X-ray that can display If the tooth is already fused to the bone. You’d think they could with all the advancements these days, instead of just having to go through months/years of blind waiting, surgery and pain/discomfort to find out it’s not possible. Time is what we don’t have, I feel.

I also read that accelerator technology has helped in some cases to activate the canine. I seen one woman post on here about her positive experience but she was also in her twenties. Anyone else try this?

I am just apprehensive of this journey and wish we could all just have these stubborn canines move and come into place!! I considered veneers, but after a mock up decided against it, the whole idea of all my teeth being filed down and replaced with fake teeth creeped me out, and also they looked huge in my mouth!

Sending healthy vibes to all of you!

[Bracefacebride]

Hello!

I’ve been lurking this forum for the last few days, it’s so nice to read other peoples experiences. I’ve read this topic in its almost entirely, since I will probably be having to go through this too.
I only wanted to get the space in front of my two front teeth closed and my right lateral fixed (it’s a peg lateral) but after X-rays we found out I have a impacted canine, honestly didn’t even notice my baby canine before. I’m 33 and getting married next year, so I really wanted to fix my smile and didn’t think all this was so complex.

I am starting to wonder if I should even go through with it. I was told it’s uncommon to have an impacted canine from my new general dentist but from everyone that’s posted I guess it’s very common!

So it seems from all the posts that have been on this board, from page 1-66/67, the 30+ age group has about a 60% chance of failure rate. But it appears to happen more to the folks that have the exposure surgery where the chain is put on and skin placed back over, vs the ones where in the exposure surgery, the gum is either removed with a laser or a hole left open for the canine, leaving the tooth exposed, then activated. It also seems when the chain is only visible so many people have to have re-exposure surgery because their chain breaks. ( I know there is many factors, as I read with tooth positioning, root issues, fusing, etc)

What I want to ask is who here has had the CBCT x-ray?
Isn’t this suppose to help before surgery to see if there is any root damage or any root issues before surgery? And to give the ortho the go ahead to try and just pull the stubborn canine down? I wonder if there is a special X-ray that can display If the tooth is already fused to the bone. You’d think they could with all the advancements these days, instead of just having to go through months/years of blind waiting, surgery and pain/discomfort to find out it’s not possible. Time is what we don’t have, I feel.

I also read that accelerator technology has helped in some cases to activate the canine. I seen one woman post on here about her positive experience but she was also in her twenties. Anyone else try this?

I am just apprehensive of this journey and wish we could all just have these stubborn canines move and come into place!! I considered veneers, but after a mock up decided against it, the whole idea of all my teeth being filed down and replaced with fake teeth creeped me out, and also they looked huge in my mouth!

Sending healthy vibes to all of you!

[Bracefacebride]

Hello!

Was researching impacted canines, and did you guys know there is a transplanting option??? They transplant your impacted canine. Read this link below!

https://www.nationalelfservice.net/dent ... lantation/

I don’t know if this is a common practice but I’m intrigued.