Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello,

I started braces to flatten my profile a little, since I have an overbite as well as some crowding. The treatment plan is to create space to "bring back" both my arches a little inward towards the back of my head.

I have an obvious, yet not severe, overbite. I have debated for a long time over extracting 4 premolars, but considering my okay bite, my orthodontist and I decided it's an overkill to remove 4 premolars, since it's risky that it will flatten my profile too much.

Right now, I have 2 impacted wisdom teeth on my right side that's destined to go off because it's been causing problems, whereas I have 2 healthy wisdom teeth on my left side that can potentially grow out just fine. The 2 healthy wisdom teeth hasn't erupted fully yet and there seemingly is enough space to grow them, but who knows what will happen to them in the future with braces.

To avoid an asymmetry in facial shape, I'm quite determined to pull off all 4 wisdom teeth. Here's the question: can having 4 wisdom teeth extracted create enough space (say 0.1mm or 0.2mm) for treating my overbite and crowding? This is just to replace the radical extraction of 4 healthy premolars.

At the same time my orthodontist will do some teeth striping (which may create another 0.2mm~0.4mm of space) and some change in my arches (from narrow to slightly wider) to reduce overbite. How much time will it take to "move back" my entire 2 arches *partially* backward into where my wisdom teeth are? Does anyone have a similar experience? Thank you!

If you are removing your wisdom teeth and want to have your entire arches pushed back, you have to think of how it is possible to physically push them both in at the same time.

You will need something to anchor against in the area distal to the last tooth that will not move at all, while you retract the entire arch back. The only way to do this for both arches is to have some kind of absolute anchorage, such as TADs, placed.

Another consideration is that you are having your wisdom teeth removed because there is not enough space for them. Therefore, you may not have enough room to retract into.

In general, wisdom teeth are not considered "extractions" for the purposes of orthodontic retraction. We're generally looking at premolars as you've mentioned.

Speak to your orthodontist if you have any further questions. Good luck!