Metal Mouth Message Board

Can gaps between molars be closed easily? Does anyone know?

I've just noticed that a gap has opened up between the last upper molar on the right hand side of my mouth, and the one next to it. At the moment, most of my upper teeth are wire-tied -and- powerchained into a heavy steel 19/25 surgical wire, so that nothing moves. The last upper right molar is not powerchained, so maybe that's why it's gone adrift (though it has not done this on the left hand side of my mouth..)

Is this something which can be closed fairly quickly? I'm not due to see my orthodontist for over 3 weeks, and I don't want to have to tack another couple of months onto the end of my treatment if the moving molar is something that can be stopped now, and reversed. I'm fairly near the end of treatment, after 2½ years in braces and jaw surgery 2 months ago.

Anyone got any experience with molars going adrift right at the back of the mouth, and pulling them back again?

Karen:
How is the molar being moved?

Mike

Karen

Apologies to dubnobass if this is a bit of a threadjack. I also had bottom molars extracted about 25 years ago that my ortho is now trying to close that gap. In my case though, no one knows why on earth healthy molars were extracted as i was not in orthodontics then. Result is that the teeth on either side of the extracted molars collapsed inwards (the canine and the other molar). My ortho has managed to successfully straighten these teeth and even bring the collapsed molar out from the gum, and has been trying to close the gap with a variety of methods (powerchains,bends etc). I would say I now have about 2-3 mm gap left, but it seems that that's the best it's going to get. My ortho says that the bone is just worn away, because the extractions were taken so long ago, and that the likelyhood that the gap opens again is high even with a retainer. As yours were also taken out so long ago i would be intrested in what your prognosis is for that gap?