How to get an even tooth level?...

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#1 Post by **Caroline** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 6:19 am

Ask your ortho about "stepping up" or "stepping down". My left central incisor was a touch longer than the the right. He put a kink in the wire in order to move the tooth up, and it has worked beautifully.

Good luck!

#2 Post by **LoobyLou** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 12:36 pm

Both of those things can be done Lucyloop. I have the same problem with my bottom teeth - i have a couple of worn teeth and one was sloping and shorter than the next one so my ortho also put a kink in the wire to bring it up. I asked him if he would file them so they're all straight and the same length and he said yes straight away!

Good luck!

LoobyLou

#3 Post by **LoobyLou** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 10:18 am

Hi again,

It's really a simple thing to do...all your ortho has to do is to put the bracket on the tooth that needs to be brought out slightly nearer to the gum than the others (it'll probably be much much less than a millimetre even) and the wire will naturally want to straighten itself out, pulling the tooth out from the gum as it does so. It's really is a simple thing to do and it shouldn't make a difference as to whether you're private or not, and I would have thought your ortho would do it automatically. Your ortho or dentist will file the teeth at a later stage. If not, mention it...he'll know what your talking about straightaway!

Luv LoobyLou x

#4 Post by **butterfly** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:22 pm

My centrals are longer and bigger than the other teeth. Now because they are rotating to an upright position more and more it becomes obvious. Will they stay bigger or will they be filed down? It's a millimeter or so. The gumline is straight.

#5 Post by **fins** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:45 pm

Why would you want to file your teeth down? Your teeth grind down naturally with age so why speed up the process? If there's another way to "level" it might be better in the long run.

#6 Post by **butterfly** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:54 pm

so why didn`t they put the brackets lower so the teeth would move up? one of the centrals is a bit chipped. maybe they actually planned to file them because of that?

#7 Post by **Eleni** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:39 pm

Lucyloop wrote:Thanks Caroline & LoobyLou for replying!... much appreciated!

So, by the sounds of it, this little problem can get fixed?!

Sorry for going on but - Could you explain to me exactly what the ortho would do to achieve this?

Here is an example of a bend. Granted this is an EXTREME bend, yours would be smaller.

My tooth is being lowered a fair distance. In my case there wasn't enough surface area to properly place my bracket.

There is always movement and directions of pressure at work, that teeth can slightly move in an undesirable direction, even though the braket is in a proper place.

There are different bends used in orthodontia:

bends -

first order Offsets in the arch wire to accommodate the labiolingual and buccolingual thickness of teeth or to produce horizontal forces.

second order Offsets in the archwire in the vertical plane for tipping and uprighting teeth.

third order A twist in a rectangular arch along the long axis of the archwire producing torque.

gable, tent bends Bends to upright teeth at extraction sites.

"V" bends Place to mark, solder or twist wire or activate tooth movement.

Source

Just ask your ortho about it. Its a quick and effective way of fixing a slight tooth level issue.

#8 Post by **bbsadmin** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 9:09 pm

Oh, that is cool info you posted there from the AAO site!

#9 Post by **LoobyLou** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:27 am

Wow I agree that is cool info... the kink in my own wire was tiny in comparison...I didn't know that a more obvious square-shaped kink could be created like that...Oh how every day is a new learning experience!