Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi everyone, I'm new here and so glad to have found this site. I have spent several hours reading to learn as much as I can today. It's a bit overwhelming for now since there's a lot to know and then there's finding a surgeon and all that stuff....

I have a question about having upper and lower jaw surgery for those who have already gotten a few implants. Since implants are not affected by braces, how would that work in terms of getting braces to straighten natural teeth? The only way it would work I would imagine is for the braces to be put on natural teeth to be straightened and then having the implant crowns redone to fit the new straightened teeth / mouth / space. Sorry I'm unsure of the correct term to use here. Hope my explanation makes sense..?

For instance, your natural front teeth are off centered to the left and it's being corrected with braces. You have some implants on the sides which can't move. In order to center your teeth nicely it will need to move to the right, but because of implants being in fixed position, there's no space for your natural teeth to go. UNLESS, implant crowns are replaced by with new ones that are sized to fit the new space available. At least that's what I'm imagining in my head, but really have no idea if this makes any sense or if I'm totally off. Hope someone can help.

Thanks in advance.

A wild guess here but I think you might be right the implant crowns can be reshaped to fit realignment of your teeth. I would also think you could compromise somewhat with leaving the implants in their current position and aligning the teeth around them.

Tough question though. I am due for some implants and my ortho advised to wait till treatment is completely finished before getting them because they complicate treatment

I had an implant put in during braces... I have a temporary crown now.. and they put the implant in a little further back than necessary.. it's being used as anchorage to push the teeth towards the implant.. also, after I have my braces off is when the dentist will put in the permanent crown, and they can make them bigger to fit the space but not by much b/c it will leave imbalance to the root/implant if the top is too big.

Thank you both for your replies. Almost makes me wish I had waited a little while longer. I guess it's better to have everything done before getting implants done since they're permanent and can not be moved later on.

Thanks for the help!

I had to wait and do my implants after braces.