Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi I'm 33 years old and been in braces for about 2 weeks now. I've noticed some movement but I'm really concerned about one of my maxillary central incisors. It seems that one is moving back while the other isn't. My OD had mentioned anlylosis during my consult because back in middle school I fell and hit my two front teeth chipping one of them. My OD said ankylosis is a rare complication but didn't really go into detail. Please don't tell me I'm one of the lucky rare cases.... Well, I was just wondering if anyone has any experience with this? What my options are if it is in fact an ankylosed tooth? Maybe I'm just being paranoid... That's what my daughters keep telling me. Lol!!! Any information would be appreciated!

Hello,

I don't personally have experience with ankylosis, but I was concerned about it during a phase of my treatment which involved trying to erupt at impacted canine (my left canine tooth never erupted naturally during my childhood years, and as a result, I had to have surgery to expose it in my gums and pull it down into position orthodontically). Luckily, it turned out not to be fused to the bone, and eventually moved into position.

Anyway, I know that some people who have ankylosed teeth occasionally undergo a procedure called "luxation." I don't know the details of how it works, but it's basically a surgical procedure that is performed with the goal of breaking the ankylosis using specialized instruments. I'm not sure if this can be performed on teeth that have already erupted, or if it's only used on teeth that are still fully impacted in the gum tissue.

If it's only been two weeks since you've been braced though, I definitely wouldn't be concerned about ankylosis yet. I didn't notice visible movement in some of my teeth for months, and there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for it...some moved a lot right away, some were more stubborn.

Best of luck! Hope it works out for you.