I just wanted to share an update on my treatment! I was braced right after i finished up with my jaw expansion during February of this year. After my teeth straightened out, a spring was installed between my left lower premolar and lateral incisor to make a gap for my canine which is stuck underneath my gums. For the past 5 months, my ortho has been "stretching out" the spring in order to slowly and gradually create a gap that is big enough to fit my canine tooth.
The gap is finally big enough to fit my lower canine tooth! At my recent ortho check up (about a week ago) new x-rays were taken of my teeth to see the progress of the roots of my teeth. At the beginning of my treatment, my ortho wanted to try to save my lower canine but the current x-rays show that the stubborn canine is angled really close to the roots of the nearby lateral incisor. My ortho is worried that the roots of the lateral incisor might be disturbed if I go through with oral surgery to expose the canine to bracket and brace it. As of right now, I kinda feel like I don't really want to go through with the process of trying to save my canine because I was told that it can take maybe another year of being in braces for the canine to be pulled up, but it's not even 100% guaranteed that it can be saved. I don't want to waste a year of bracketing the canine and in the long run it won't budge
Soon, I think that I might make the decision to get my lower canine extracted and get an implant to fill in the gap for the missing canine. My ortho said that I can get my braces off in a few months if I go through with getting the extraction and implant asap! Any thoughts on getting implants to fill in gaps??!!The first picture is at the beginning of my treatment with my jaw expanders! I am so happy that I decided to expand my jaw versus extracting my premolars to make space for all of my teeth!
