Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi all!

I am FINALLY getting braces on Thursday, and in order to do so, my ortho said that it was probably best for me to get 4 premolars removed to make room for teeth.

I got my teeth removed last week, and during the extraction the dentist accidentally broke off a piece of the root on my top right tooth (less than 2mm, apparently). She tried to fish it out with her root fisher-thingamajig, but then after some minutes she said that if it was left in, with it being so small, it shouldn't cause a problem. If she tried to continue trying to dig it out, it might enter my sinus cavity.

Of course, with me being a worrier, should I be fearful of any complications that might arise due to this little piece being there during my stint with braces? Or shouldn't it cause any problems.

I am thinking that I will tell the ortho regardless and get his opinion, but I just wanted to see if anything similar happened to anybody else.

I'm not too sure. If it was a healthy tooth, not infected, it may not cause a problem. I think it would be fine. Reason being, I broke my two front teeth when I was younger. One of the teeth actually broke really close to the root tip, and is now disconnected from the rest of my tooth. It's still sitting inside my gum and doesn't cause any trouble. I had to get a root canal because my tooth got infected and I had a huge abscess. The infection is now gone and that root tip is still inside my gums and I have no problems with it. So yeah, I think it should be fine. Maybe get a professional opinion as well in case you're still worried.

My orthodontist actually swore I had a piece of root tip left after my extractions (and after a procedure, it turned out to just be immature jaw bone on an x-ray).
So as for how it heals, I can't really help. When I was researching about it, most people I read about with root tips had extractions done without plans to close the gaps....so for them, it wasn't a problem. Again, not much help for your situation.
I would imagine if it is small, it shouldn't pose a problem for you, but I would definitely mention it to your orthodontist to be sure. That way he'll know to keep an eye on it as things progress.

Congrats on your upcoming brace day!