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TADS/Microscrews... what's your experience been like?
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 6:49 pm
by nuttynat
Just had two screws put into my upper jaw with elastic attached to my canines.
I must say apart from the needle & when the elastics were being put on it was a painless experience. I even happened to mention that I expected more of a high pitch drilling noise when he was drilling a hole for the screw
I had to chuckle to myself when he got out his little mini wrench to tighten the screws.
So who else has had TADS/microscrews and what was your experience like? I'm keenly interested to know if they made your teeth move faster.
Re: TADS/Microscrews... what's your experience been like?
Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 5:33 pm
by VA5
nuttynat wrote:Just had two screws put into my upper jaw with elastic attached to my canines.
I must say apart from the needle & when the elastics were being put on it was a painless experience. I even happened to mention that I expected more of a high pitch drilling noise when he was drilling a hole for the screw
I had to chuckle to myself when he got out his little mini wrench to tighten the screws.
So who else has had TADS/microscrews and what was your experience like? I'm keenly interested to know if they made your teeth move faster.
oh you're lucky. my experiene was horrible. really painful getting them in. she used another kind that didn't require a drill.. it was self-screwing. no painkiller though.. is that what you got, with the needle? she said she needed to know if she was hitting a nerve and couldn't numb me beyond the topical numbing cream.
but yes, they do work VERY well. it is consistent force all the time. and it's non moving so it's 100% force.. unlike force from your back teeth which isn't as strong b/c the other back teeth will move forward too.
the problem with mine (besides the pain) was that they failed after a few weeks. they came loose and she tried to do it again once but then after gave up. i'm thinking of asking her to try one more time though, especially for the top teeth. i don't want my molars to drift foward anymore than they have so any help from the tads, even if they fail after a few weeks, is worth it to me.
let us know how it goes!!! are you getting teeth retracted?
Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 3:59 am
by nuttynat
not sure what you mean by retracted.
It's pretty unfortunate you had a bad experience. I could imagine the pain, especially if no hole was pre-drilled. Youch!
Will keep in touch on how it all goes
Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 8:20 am
by drrick
TADS do have a tendency to come out and often have to be replaced or moved to a new location (sometimes with a change in tx mechanics)
SOme doctors use a strong topical others use a small amount of lidocaine (or similar) it is true you cant use too much as you only want the soft tissue in the area of TAD placement numbed and not the teeth themselves as you do want to know if you are approaching the root of the tooth.
Pre-drilling is not needed often and even if the location was pre-drilled you still neede to screw it in as the TADS are frictionally retaned not integrated like dental implants for tooth replacement.
Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 2:01 pm
by Rachel B
I have one in my upper jaw. This was to pull a canine around on to get my midline central. The crunching grinding sound I heard inside my head as it was screwed by hand into my jaw was a bit unnerving but painless. I found it uncomfortable after the numbing injection wore off and it did tear my mouth up a bit but it has worked perfectly and I don't really notice it any more. Now it's just sitting there waiting to be used for elastics in my next visit
Overall - good experience.
Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:08 pm
by VA5
drrick wrote:TADS do have a tendency to come out and often have to be replaced or moved to a new location (sometimes with a change in tx mechanics)
SOme doctors use a strong topical others use a small amount of lidocaine (or similar) it is true you cant use too much as you only want the soft tissue in the area of TAD placement numbed and not the teeth themselves as you do want to know if you are approaching the root of the tooth.
Pre-drilling is not needed often and even if the location was pre-drilled you still neede to screw it in as the TADS are frictionally retaned not integrated like dental implants for tooth replacement.
thanks! so good to hear from a professional regarding things like this
so i'm curious.. i have a dental implant as well. are they totally different in terms of retention in the bone? i worry that b/c the tads failed several times, that my implant might not "hold" either. and to top it off, my ortho wants to use that implant to retract my teeth.. to which i expressed that i'd rather not b/c i worry that my implant will fail too. is my worry justified?
i don't know why my experience was so much more painful than others. it wasn't the soft tissue part... I think the topical numbing sufficiently took care of that, and she poked a hole in there first before screwing anyways, and that part is nothing. it's when she's screwing, especially after a few turns, where the pressure is so great that it hurts. obviously the bone doesn't hurt per se, but the pressure going on all around to the gum, the nerves of my teeth, etc... from the pressure of the screw expanding the bone. how come my experience is so much different than other people? even when i looked online about tads, everywhere you read it says that inserting tads is painless!!! i don't get it. i want to use them again but want to know if there is a way to prevent the discomfort for me!
Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:09 pm
by VA5
nuttynat wrote:not sure what you mean by retracted.
It's pretty unfortunate you had a bad experience. I could imagine the pain, especially if no hole was pre-drilled. Youch!
Will keep in touch on how it all goes
retracted meaning is your ortho using the tad to pull your teeth back? or pull them together, or side to side, etc? mine was using them (2 on top and 2 on bottom) to pull the anterior teeth on both top and bottom back. instead of using my back molars as anchorage, she was using the tads.
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:59 am
by drrick
yes dental implants for tooth replacement are held in by a completely different mechanism than TADS for ortho are. TADS are simple frictional retention where dental implants are osseointegrated which means the bone grows in and around (and actually forms a bond if you will) to the implant. Failure of a tad does not mean you will have failure of a dental implant -- or vice versa.
Google osseointegration and you are bond to get some cool info.
Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:04 am
by VA5
drrick wrote:yes dental implants for tooth replacement are held in by a completely different mechanism than TADS for ortho are. TADS are simple frictional retention where dental implants are osseointegrated which means the bone grows in and around (and actually forms a bond if you will) to the implant. Failure of a tad does not mean you will have failure of a dental implant -- or vice versa.
Google osseointegration and you are bond to get some cool info.
So, using implants for anchorage for retraction of my anterior teeth.. that's okay??
And actually i only got an implant on one side. would it still work to just use that side, and the molar on the other side, for retraction?
Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:10 am
by drrick
Do you mean the dental implant or the TAD?
Either way the implant will not move. If you are using the dental implant then the wire, etc is ties into the other teeth so you can get movement of those (may or may not be desirable)
If you are currently assymmetrical then one side may be fine otherwise you will want one on each side or it will not retract evenly.
If yu have a dental implant one one side and a tad on teh other that could also be ok depending on your particular case.
Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 12:17 pm
by VA5
drrick wrote:Do you mean the dental implant or the TAD?
Either way the implant will not move. If you are using the dental implant then the wire, etc is ties into the other teeth so you can get movement of those (may or may not be desirable)
If you are currently assymmetrical then one side may be fine otherwise you will want one on each side or it will not retract evenly.
If yu have a dental implant one one side and a tad on teh other that could also be ok depending on your particular case.
Yes the implant. Since my tads failed, she wanted to use my new implant. but, i am going to suggest giving tads one more try. i understand what you're saying though, and that was my concern. although.. i know on that one side with the implant, she wanted to try to push my molar back a little bit b/c apparently they shifted forward too much on that one side. so maybe it could work.
Re: TADS/Microscrews... what's your experience been like?
Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 2:46 am
by nuttynat
are you getting teeth retracted?
Yes I believe I am...
Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 2:46 am
by nuttynat
i'm hopeless at 'quoting', sorry.
Need TADs after 6 months in braces
Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:42 am
by 50+
My Ortho referred me to an Oral Surgeon for TADs. I'll need 3 to close gaps left from molar extractions done years ago (2 top and 1 bottom). I've already had a consult with the OS and I feel confident that he knows what he is doing. Evidently, my mouth is "complicated" - so my Ortho needed outside help. I am a little nervous about the procedure, but based on what I've read in the forum, I shouldn't be. Just afraid they might fall out. I can tell already that the gaps have gotten smaller with the movement of my front teeth, which were crooked. My option was to get bridge work to fill my gaps, but realized I would still have crooked teeth and who knows how long the bridges would hold up...so I thought about braces and set out to get 3 orthodontic opinions. The ortho I ended up with gave me the best senario which included TADs. The others said I would still need bridge work after braces. So here I go. I've been in braces almost 2 months and have 4 months before I need to get the TADS.
Anyone currently with TADs, I would love to hear about your experience as it seems many of the posts are from years ago.
Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 7:47 pm
by braceface418
My understanding is if they're loaded right away (ie. connected to elastics, spring, etc.) there's less of a chance of them failing. If you're concerned, you could always ask your ortho if you can come in right after having them put in so you can start putting them to use right away.
Also, I've had mine for over a year now. The uppers are slowly moving forward and, once they're in place, the TADs will be removed.