Metal Mouth Message Board

My orthos favorite thing to tell me is "everyone is different." So I know it'll take a different amount of time for me than it did for someone else, but it's driving me CRAZY waiting for this tooth! It's the only thing holding up my braces coming off.
I had the surgery in April '05 and my tooth is actually coming down from the roof of my mouth, not above the old canine like others I've seen. It's been 9 months since my surgery and while there has definitely been movement that I can see, the tooth is not visable from the outside at all! To see it, I have to tilt my head back so you can look at the roof.

So my question is, to those of you who had surgery to expose your impacted canine(s)--- just how long did it take for them to come into place?? Where were they coming from as well (roof of your mouth or from the spot they should be in)?

Thanks in advance!
Jamie

I had two impacted canines that were formed in the roof of my mouth! I had the surgery to have them exposed in March of 2005. One of them probably came down around June I guess, I really don't remember. It didn't seem very fast but I guess it was. The other one is just now coming down. So that one probably took around 10-11 months just to come down!

I know how painfully slow and annoying it can seem when you have lots of pain and you don't see this tooth coming down at all! It is so frustrating!

It is really painful when the ortho tries to bring them down! AT least for me it is! Still!

I hope your canine comes down and you get your braces off soon!

Good luck with bringing your impacted canine down!
Keep us posted!

-Hannah




Top braces: 4/28/04
Bottom braces: 11/16/05
Next Adjustment was 1/11/06 but now is rescheduled to 1/21/06

I don't know but I'll let you know once they start to try to bring them down. Like I've said before, I'm really hoping they come down. Won't know for serveral months though.

waiting for the impacted canine to come down...

probably one of the most annoying and frustrating aspects of braces. No, I'm going to take a leap and say probably the single most frustrating aspect of braces the worst thing about it being that you can't see the progress even though it's there and is actually occuring. With most other problems, you can actually see the progress being made, even though it may be just as frustrating and slow, ie lining up teeth, closing up a large gap, roping one specific tooth into place, fixing a midline, fixing the bite...you get the idea. But bringing an impacted canine down....no such luck.

The canine may be moving through your gums coming into place, but you can't see it at all until it finally 'rears its ugly head' as I used to threaten it with when I was waiting for mine to come down...

No, bringing down an impacted canine takes patience...lots and lots..and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of patience, the worst part of it being that in many cases, the rest of your teeth may be perfect, so you are literally just waiting on one particular tooth. Talk about a spoiled tooth...

But to answer your question, I first got mine (and it was only one) uncovered on January 2, 2004, and then again on June 11 2004 when the bracket actually came off the tooth and through the gums. The first time I saw it was....April of 2005. That's 16 months total. But according to my orthodontist, he's had people that have taken longer.

All that work and still no record...sheesh.

Eve

*sigh* Yeah that's what I was afraid of. Even worse, I'm over my 2 years now so i'm going to have to start paying more money now and I really can't afford it.

Question, I've seen quite a few people write things like this " when the bracket actually came off the tooth and through the gums" what do you mean by that? I'm a tiny bit confused because my bracket had never been under the gums-- should it have been or am I visualizing that completely wrong? lol

EyeHartEwe wrote:*sigh* Yeah that's what I was afraid of. Even worse, I'm over my 2 years now so i'm going to have to start paying more money now and I really can't afford it.

Question, I've seen quite a few people write things like this " when the bracket actually came off the tooth and through the gums" what do you mean by that? I'm a tiny bit confused because my bracket had never been under the gums-- should it have been or am I visualizing that completely wrong? lol

Yea it's tough going through but I've gotta say, it's a hecka lot more satisfying when it's all done and you can be so proud that you went the right way and didn't take any shortcuts.

Although keep in mind mine is not what you would call normal. It's not necessariy abnormal, but it's definately at the longer end of things. My friend had both her impacted canines uncovered two days before I did and hers were in within a month. It really depends on where the canine is to begin with. They were never too optimistic about the time frame of mine coming down since it was pretty high up to begin with but I don't think anyone expected it to take as long as it did.

When I said the bracket came through the gums....my canine was uncovered from the front and they surgically attached a bracket onto it then covered it up and then had an elastic going from the bracket down to the archwire and they just pulled it tighter at each visit until the little guy finally decided to show up. One time, 6 months after they attachedthe bracket to the tooth so the gum was all healed over the bracket,they pulled too hard on the elastic-so hard that the bracket came off the still-impacted tooth and went through the gums and then the next day I woke up to find the elastic dangling off the archwire with a bracket but no tooth attached to the end of it. Arg, then it was back to the oral surgeon again....

I'm sorry, it might sound a little gruesome describing the whole thing but in going through it it's really not that bad at all...especially the surgery I got all worked up over nothing-it's fairly easy as oral suregies go.

The money issue sounds tough....I'm really lucky my treatment's been payed for by my parents so I really don't know much about the money aspect of things, but surely there's got to be some sort of financial help out there?

Good luck and I really hope everything goes well for you!

Eve

I haven't had mine exposed yet. I've heard that the average is 8-9 months, but I know a girl whose canine came in after only 1 month and I've heard of other people's taking more than a year.

From what I gather, some people's canines are too far up in the roof of their mouth to leave them exposed, so they have to cover them back up with the gums, meaning the bracket is under the gums but connected to the archwire with a chain or something. But some people's are close enough to the surface of the palate that they have to leave them exposed.

Hope you get your money situation worked out, good luck with that! BTW, I totally remember seeing your page when you first started it. In fact when I clicked on it I was like "I've seen that layout before!" Then when I saw the pictures I was like ohhh yeah, she was here a long time ago. I was only lurking back then though, lol.

Yeah I'm at 9 months right now and I hardly see any progress. I lost my bracket once already too lol I had to run to my orthodontist in July and have them reattach it to the tooth real quick! It's exposed enough that it's got a regular bracket now, but it's still way behind

Right now they're only taking a piece of elastic, tying it around the bracket, then coming back around the wire and knotting it twice!! Personally, I don't think that is doing ANYTHING! I need some heavy duty things here because I'm going to refuse to pay them until I see some movement of this tooth. Can I tell them I want them to hurry the process up somehow? I know there's gotta be a way to do this differently, I swear they aren't doing something right. There is no possible way that I've been doing for adjustments every 3 weeks for 9 months and have this little movement.

I will have to try to get a picture on here tomorrow so you can see what I'm talking about

-Jamie

EyeHartEwe wrote:Can I tell them I want them to hurry the process up somehow? I know there's gotta be a way to do this differently, I swear they aren't doing something right. There is no possible way that I've been doing for adjustments every 3 weeks for 9 months and have this little movement.

Heheheh. Sorry I find that funny, but *trust me* I've asked! You are basically dragging a tooth through the bone and gum of an adult. I don't know your age, but I'm told it is easier accomplished when you are younger. Mature bone is just more solid.

I'm another impacted canine. My case is very different from anyone else’s on this board.

Similarity – My right canine was pulled out from the roof of my mouth/palate, behind the baby canine.
Difference - Mine was not exposed surgically but erupted on its own. (neat, huh?)

Timeline:
Date it broke through the gum until today - 1 month shy of 3 years (yes, years)
Duration of time in actual braces - 1 and 1/2 years
Duration left in braces - give or take 6 months

So, all told, 2 years in braces to get my canine in its final position. I was quoted 12 months originally, but my canine proved very stubborn in coming down. You can read the full story if you click on the link in my signature below (I also include some pictures along the way).

I know it is very frustrating, and awkward considering the position of the tooth growing out of the palate, but unfortunately there is no way to hurry the process up.

BEST OF LUCK, and try to bribe the tooth with sweets. I did. Not sure if it helped the tooth out, but it definetly made me happy.

From what my doctor and the assistant said, I guess mine came in fast. My surgery was on March 10th. Starting on March 23rd, I had adjustment appointments every three weeks. The tooth started to break through on July 1st and was fully in place (had to be rotated to line up with the rest) by late September/early October. They've done a little work on it since then but it took just about 7 months total.

Mine took about a year and a half.

All these success stories is very encouraging. I decided to be optimistic and expect mine to come down.

I got my braces in April 2004. The canine is in the roof of my mouth and didn't erupt on it's own, so the exposure was done in October 2004. A metal loop (can't really call it a bracket) was attached to the still hidden tooth with only the loop sticking out. An elastic thread and spring mechanism was attached to the loop for what seemed like forever and I didn't see any progress. In September 2005 a second exposure was done and I can now see more of the metal loop and where it is attached to the tooth, but not much else. After the second exposure, they attached two brackets to the inside of the teeth next to where the hole is, and a wire through those brackets is attached to the loop on the canine. The schedule now is to tighten it every 6 weeks, but I don't think that is often enough. Like others have said, not being able to see any movement at all is really the awful part.

At the start I got an estimated time of 2 to 2-1/2 years. It has been 21 months now and not much movement for the canine, so I think I'm in for the long haul.

EyeHartEwe wrote:*sigh* Yeah that's what I was afraid of. Even worse, I'm over my 2 years now so i'm going to have to start paying more money now and I really can't afford it.

EyeHartEwe, I find that odd. The contract with my ortho states the conditions of my braces plan and procedure costs, and if treatment runs past the estimated time it is at my ortho's cost, not mine.

2thjewelry wrote:I got my braces in April 2004. The canine is in the roof of my mouth and didn't erupt on it's own, so the exposure was done in October 2004. A metal loop (can't really call it a bracket) was attached to the still hidden tooth with only the loop sticking out.

Yeah, I called it a metal loop thingy as well. Someone else on this board with the same thing called it a mouse trap. I'm not sure if that was her name for it or the actual name of the wire configuration.

I've come to the conclusion that the time it takes to move a canine from the roof of the palate is at least twice as long as just brning it down if its already in position. Think about it, it has to come down first and then moved across as well.

2thjewelry, have you had an x-ray in that time to at least check that it is not fused and has made some progress under the gums?

Eleni wrote:2thjewelry, have you had an x-ray in that time to at least check that it is not fused and has made some progress under the gums?

About a month before the second exposure an x-ray was done. At that time the impacted tooth was strung via spring mechanism to a back tooth and the impacted tooth was starting to throw my bite out of whack by pulling the back tooth in. The ortho told me then that she had been trying to use the back tooth to push the impacted tooth off my front teeth and she could see in the x-ray that there had been some movement, but the tooth was not becoming more exposed, just manipulated. Since the x-ray showed a little movement, an assumption was made that it was not ankylosed and so we went ahead with the second exposure. The current plan is to start bringing the tooth down and closer to the hole it will be filling. I still don't think that tightening it every six weeks is often enough to get it moving. How often was yours tightened up? Another thing I don't understand is why my orthodontist put the brackets on the back of my teeth to attach to the canine. Other people seem to have had a u-shaped wire put on the tooth when it was still up in the roof of the mouth, which was somehow attached to the wire up front. It's kinda hard to ask questions though. When I do, I feel like I'm suggesting that my ortho doesn't know what she's doing.