Gap-Closing Techniques

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#1 Post by **DavidT** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 10:10 pm

I'm curious to know how everyone's orthodontist chooses to close large gaps made by tooth extractions. Mine has been using closing coils and power thread for three years with little success.

#2 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 12:58 am

I've been on powerchains and they've been moving things along fairly quickly.

#3 Post by **loulou123** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 6:08 am

Hi there

ive got 2 extraction gaps side by side and my ortho has to pull the tooth behind this gap a whole tooth space forwards (hope that makes sense!

)

The orthos been using powerchains stretched acrossed the gap, using the other bottom teeth as an anchor by ligging them all together to provide a firm base on which to pull.

Progress has been painfully slow, which has actually resulted in my surgery being put back a couple of months, so i understand your frustration completely. But although the progress is slow there is movement occuring.

If your unhappy and or worried by this i would speak to your ortho.

Louise

#4 Post by **cmclin** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:37 pm

It took me over a year to close my gap. Started with power chains and moved to closing loops which did the trick. My ortho says it's best to move them slowly so be patient!

#5 Post by **katmc_tx** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 8:22 am

Hi David, I had this gap open up on the lower right side between my six and seven and my ortho tried to close it with double powerchains for a couple of months with no success.

She then tired a procedure I believe was called a McLaughlin which consisted of saudering a post on the lower archwire around my fourth tooth and she got a spacer and stretched it from the back hook of the seventh tooth to that post on the wire. It had to be changed out three times and took about two months for that space to finally close.

Good luck on your closing that space.

#6 Post by **NikkiB** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 11:22 am

I thought I would chime in here! I had an extraction done in April, in June they started to close the gap (however creating a new gap on the other side, intentional). For the first two months they used a chain to pull and a spring to push, if that makes sense. However, I started getting migraines and was clenching badly.

At my next appoint they decided to go a bit more aggressive as she determined that it was the only way to close the gap and rid of the migraines. So, three weeks ago they put in a heavier wire, power chain, closing spring, wire ties and elastics.

I will be heading in there this afternoon as the closing spring is now loose and I have to double up on the elastics as the current ones are no longer applying as much force if any. I have handled this much better than before (weird, I know). The estimate that my gap will be closed and the tooth in the correct position in roughly 3 more weeks. This has all been done so that we can put the flipper in where the tooth being moved used to be.

Good luck with closing that extraction gap!

#7 Post by **DavidT** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:26 pm

Thanks for the input. NikkiB, I'm not ortho but I'm wondering if your treatment is too aggressive. Too much pressure can cause problems.

#8 Post by **NikkiB** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:13 pm

Hi David, I appreciate your concern. For the two months we were using the spring, I was having a lot more trouble as my midline was way off and the migraines were affecting my work.

At my next appointment we discussed the concerns and the effects. We reviewed my x-rays to look at the root of the tooth needing to be moved as well as the roots of the surrounding teeth prior to changing my treatment. I had asked her is there was a risk of root absorption, to my surprise she had no concerns. Luckily, I have extremely long roots. If I put my finger on the outside of my nose where your nostril curves in, I can feel the root all the way up there.

Since that appointment, I no longer have the migraines and my teeth in general are less sore. We figured out that I handle the pressure from the tooth being pulled back better opposed to it being pushed from the front thus having other teeth being pushed off my midline.