Metal Mouth Message Board

Does anyone else's teeth feel loose even after braces are off? This is starting to freak me out as I have a lot of bone loss. My 4 bottom incisors feel the worst. I very gently wiggled them with my finger and could see them move.
Edited to add: I just got my braces off July 2.

I had my braces off this past Monday. I can't physically wiggle my teeth but I have a few teeth that have that mildly crunchy feeling (like when they were moving alot when I had the braces on). I was told this is normal and it should settle down after about a month. It does sort of feel weird though.......

Merrily,

Did your ortho not bond a fixed retainer on your lower teeth? If not, maybe you could ask for one.

I have upper and lower Hawley retainers. A previous ortho (my orthos were switched mid-treatment) said that he didn't like bonded retainers because they tend to accumulate tartar etc. Because I have periodontal disease, I need to keep my teeth as clean as possible, so I think a lower bonded retainer is out of the question.

Will I can't tell you fr my own experience since I'm still in braces but they're coming off next wk.
but my brothers both had their braces and from what they told me, when the braces come off, your teeth are gonna feel wier and wobbly and week but in time they'll settle in and get stronger and they won't be lose for very long.

Hi Merrily,
I just got my braces off yesterday and my bottom two middle teeth are loose, I can wiggle them. I also have bone loss and my ortho gave me a removable retainer so I can floss. I'm going to give them a few weeks to settle in place. How are yours doing?

-sophie

Sophielafille,
I went to the periodontist a few days after debanding and he said he wants to wait for a few weeks before developing a treatment plan for me. We hope that some of the mobility will go away during that time. So I see him next month. Right now I am just being very careful and trying not to bite into hard foods (but I do bite into soft foods, and wonder if that's ok or not). I think they are still quite mobile though...I can see them move ever so slightly when I floss.

Hi Merrily,
I just went to the perio today and showed her my loose two teeth. She also wants to wait and see if they tighten up a little bit. She also made me bite down on my four front teeth, and she ground down the two teeth so that the load was even on all the teeth. She said that over time, if the load is not distributed properly, it can cause problems with your teeth. It was called an occlusion adjustment, she did the back and front. Maybe you could have this done too. The other thing that sucks is that because I have bone loss there are large gaps at the bottom of my teeth. They don't really show when I smile on my bottom teeth, but the perio said the gums don't really grow back. Rats!!

Good luck!

-sophie

Hi Sophielafille,

I saw the periodontist again today. We had waited a month to see if any mobility would go away, but it hasn't, so he wants to do periodontal surgery on me. He did mention occlusal adjustment at another appointment, but not today. He will (as I understand it) make a flap into my gums and place some powdered bone onto my existing bone and also use some collagen to help with tissue reformation. It will only be for my lower front teeth, where I have 80% bone loss. I suppose I will go through with it. It will cost me almost $1300 after insurance.

Although I have 80% bone loss on my lower front teeth, he said he will be happy to gain 20-25% back. I have bone loss pretty much everywhere, but we want to be conservative so that's why we won't do my entire mouth. I probably couldn't afford that anyway.

If anyone is interested, here are the proper names for the treatment I'm having done, as listed on my cost estimation sheet: Osseous surgery, bone replacement graft, guided tissue regeneration

I got a 2nd opinion from a different periodontist and his treatment plan is completely different. The 1st perio didn't mention any pockets (I had the impression that I didn't have *any* deep pockets) but this guy says I have pockets in the upper and lower back teeth. He wants me to do a deep cleaning (scaling) and wait a month and see if the pockets go away.

He said I don't need osseous surgery or bone grafts because they won't help in my case. Bone grafts help more if there is a hole in the bone (like from a missing tooth, I guess).

After the scaling, if the pockets are still there, he could do periodontal surgery. He said this is not the same as osseous surgery, because osseous surgery implies leveling or shaping of the bone. The purpose of the periodontal surgery is to open a flap in the gum and just clean up the roots (I think).

About the looseness--he said it doesn't mean I will lose my teeth and he believes they will stabilize over time. All I can do is keep 'em as clean as possible and get them professionally cleaned regularly.

I've had a deep cleaning done before with another periodontist during my time in braces (he worked around the wire and brackets and everything) and it wasn't a big deal. This doc did say that the contacts between my teeth were pretty loose though--I may need to get further orthodontic treatment to get that fixed (like maybe an Invisalign type system). I would definitely not go back to my old ortho for that. He said the loose contacts is a concern because I would get food stuck there and it would aggravate my periodontal disease.

This perio seemed much more thorough. The first one only did a pocket and mobility check, but this guy did all kinds of things the other didn't do, like checking my jaw for TMJ, checking my tongue and cheeks, and other stuff I don't even remember.

So for now, I have appointments for scaling with a hygienist. I feel much better about this treatment plan and also like this doc much better.