IMPACTED CANINES CLUB

[ngarner0717]

Good luck everyone! My canine is now all the way down and in place. They strapped on a powerchain to tighten eveything up since I still have a pretty big gap where my canine is now. But due to the multiple surgeries to keep my chain on I have a lot of bone lose and they are a bit hesitant to use the full strength of the powerchain to pull everything together so they are taking their time and pulling a tad bit slow . Oh well it's already been so long what are a few more months?

[Kittykins]

I am so surprised at how common this problem is.
I myself had to have both the baby tooth which caused it and the adult one removed as it had already settled and where it was would of misplaced my 1 and 2 on the left upper side if it was moved with wires.
It did leave a fair gap I must admit, was rather scary to look at but at 3 weeks the gap has almost gone

[AnitaMarieT]

Count me in the club!

I had my exposure surgery on Nov. 1st, a little over two weeks ago.

The surgery was a breeze, I was in a LITTLE pain afterwards when the anasthesia wore off, so I took the meds they gave and I went to sleep. There was no swelling and only a little bleeding. And I must add that I have a VERY low pain tolerance and I'm a big baby about stuff like that. The worse part of it was three days after the surgery I went to have the chain attatched to the archwire with this little elastic band, they didn't pull on it hard but it hurt.. it was really sore for like a week then it was fine.

But now this week they are sore again and I was wondering if that was normal? I see it's taken 3 years for some of yall.. I really hope this one comes down fast. I will post pictures of my teeth before braces, recently, and some gory pics of the post surgery haha

[DeepImpact]

Hi guys!

I am a little new here. I am unfortunately also on the impacted braces club.
I had my exposure surgery a little over a month ago and the teeth seemed to be moving well after the orthodontist tightened them.

However, I went for a tightening today and the bond came off the right impacted canine. I was really upset to hear that I will have to expose them again. I also forgot to ask if I will be expected to pay for the surgery again. What are your experiences with this? It seems unfair to me that they will make me pay again since it is a lot of money and the bracket came off because the orthodontist pulled too hard on them as he said it himself.

What do you guys think?

Thanks

[ngarner0717]

I had the same problem x5. Unfortunately my insurance didn't cover the whole cost so I had to pay out my portion every time. I've been told most Oral Surgeons will usually go back in and do it at no charge. I had to pick the Oral Surgeon that would not do that lol. I finally got a break the 4th time and they just billed my insurance company their portion. But it ended up coming off again. Thankfully at that time my dentist office brought on board their own Oral Surgeon and whatever bond he used stayed on and finally brought my tooth down. Hopefully your Oral Surgeon will do the procedure at no charge or maybe just charge the insurance company their portion. Best of luck to you .

[Bracedmom32]

Well I am officially in the club now!

I had surgery yesterday morning. I had two baby teeth extracted and two impacted canines exposed. I am so glad it is over with. My doctor prescribed me two doses of valium. One to take the night before and one to take an hour before the procedure. It was magic. I honestly don't think I would have made it thru without the medicine. I was completely aware of everything that was going on...could answer questions...and could feel the novacaine needles....but i was in such la la land that i did not care. My surgery took about an hour and a half.

My husband drove me right to CVS to fill my prescriptions...I was given percocet and an antibacterial mouthwash to use twice a day. I took the pain medicine yesterday and basically just crawled into bed for the day. Today I feel fine...I took a couple of advil and my biggest complaint is that I am STARVED! No food other than liquids for 72 hours.

I am nervous that I haven't seen what they did yet. The two surgery sites have packing (whatever that is!) that looks like play-doh completely covering the areas. He wrapped the chains around my teeth and then covered them with packing. I go Monday morning to my ortho to have the chains/elastic attached to my archwire. My wire was removed prior to surgery. I am scared they will break b/c the surgeon told me the teeth were deeply impacted and it was difficult to attach the chains. So hopefully it is strong enough to attach! I don't want to go thru that again anytime soon! Although he did say he would not charge me again if they fall off.

The teeth were not fused to the bone and were fully formed so if I'm lucky they will come down in a year to a year and a half!!!

Sorry this is so long but I hope its helpful to someone. I know I read this thread about 10 times before i had my surgery ...lol....

[CCandy]

Bad news, I went to my ortho yesterday for my brace adjustment etc and she said I still have a long while to go yet She is very vague on the details like an exact time (probably because this took x10000 times longer then expected).

My last impacted canine is down a lot now and its on its way over to its spot but she said it would take quite a while. Ohhh and she also said I should get a dental clean because I have a bit of tartar build up..... which I admit I have been slacking off I'm just a bit fed up with it all

Not the best day in the office for me "sigh"

[braceface:)]

I'm in the club as well!! I am glad to see I'm not the only one. I was super nervous when my orthodontist told me I had an impacted canine. I just got braced today, so I will not have the surgery until about 6 months from now. I hope everything goes smoothly...fingers crossed! Good luck to everyone!!!

[caseymray]

Hey!

I'm in the club!! I have one impacted canine. I was just dealing with it, but always wanted a nice EVEN smile. So it's a combination of that and the fact that my adult canine up in the gum is now causing problems with one of my good front teeth. So my hand is finally being forced to do something about it. I should have had this done a long time ago, but one day you wake up at age 27, and the years just went by so fast. I had my top braces put on on January 28th 2011. I am going to get my bottom teeth straightened as well, but those will not go on for 6 months. For now I am just waiting for the braces to make enough room, so that they can pull the baby tooth and try to bring down the adult one. My dentist mentioned something about possible extractions, which scares the living ^&%^&%^&% out of me. I have a phobia of getting rid of good teeth. I also have all 4 of my wisdom teeth, but only 1 is half out. So I'm sure I will be dealing with something in that dept. as well. This is all I know at the moment....but I will post more as the info comes in. Oh and I opted for ceramic uppers and metal lowers. I'm still trying to find the RIGHT CAREER, so the ceramics were a better choice for me at this point in life. Noticable, but a little less ya know. This is the start of quite a journey, but I am glad we can all go through this together = )

[MyLittleTeeth]

That's awesome that you decided to take the plunge, caseymray! I started treatment to erupt my impacted canine at age 27 too. Just recently got my braces off, two years later. Well worth it in the end.

Good luck with your treatment, keep us posted on your progress!

[tkna]

Just finish reading all the pages to this thread so HAPPY that I found it. Lol! I guess we are the 2% of the population w/ impacted canine issues.

I am still in the middle of getting several consultation. Last year I had my upper canine baby tooth extracted because it was in bad condition. I am 28 going on 29 next week and during my recent dental visit he did a pan-xray and my adult upper right canine is hidden slightly on frontal roof behind 2 of my permanent teeth and 2 bottom horizontal impacted wisdom teeth. I know for sure I will need to get my 2 impacted wisdom teeth out since both the orthodontists I saw today suggested it and plus the back gum been flaring up recently. But back to the right upper impacted tooth. Ortho#1 suggested exposing the tooth and braces but he is very optimistic w/ my age, the uncertainty etc but either way I still need to get the impacted tooth extracted. The first consultation I kind of went in w/o knowing anything so it was like listening to a foreign language. Lol I should have researched a little more before I went to it. Ortho #2 consultation strongly suggested implant which I told him I did not want. The thought of having a screw drilled in you is just horrifying. But he also did his xrays and stuff and said he couldn't see a well define root and that is why he suggested implant and not exposure. He said the only way he can get a better view is to do an mri which will cost like $3000 on top on the other fees. Since I was head strong on not getting implant he said we can try to expose the impacted canine and w/o braces and see how it will turn out. Oh I also asked him if I want to close the gap where my canine tooth would appear is it possible. He said yes but you will have to realign your teeth structure and possibly extracting good permanent teeth in order for align properly. But yeah...I have a 3rd consultation on 4/13 and I probably will make a decision what direction I want to go once I see them. So basically my options are to get exposure surgery and braces or implant/bridges. I will more likely go w/ exposure surgery and braces w/ chain/bracket and see how that goes. If it doesn't work heck just extract the impacted tooth so it won't cause any probably in the future. As for the gap it is not a big deal really b/c I am so use to it.

[LuckyLola]

TKNA, I would opt for braces and exposure. Did the first ortho mention not being able to see a well defined root? Your age should not be a concern. I'm 41 and currently have an impacted canine being brought down.
My ortho recommended exposure surgery and a couple of months later placed a bracket on the impacted canine. I don't recall if there was much movement before the tooth had the bracket, but quickly moved thereafter. Of course, everyone has a different situation.
I suggest getting a 3rd or 4th opinion, or more if need be, and get educated on your situation, and options, before making a decision. Also, what is the opinion of your dentist and oral surgeon? Not sure about anyone else on the board, but I've never heard of anyone getting an MRI.

Good luck!

[traintrackmama]

Hi guys. I'm new here. I had a canine exposure surgery in December 2010 (December 9). It is now almost April. I had an appointment in January and then was out of town visiting family and the soonest the could get me in was today.

Well, they put a new thread in on my chain, (along with having cut some chain beccause so much had become exposed since last visit)... and she started pulling and told me when to tell her when I couldn't take it. Well, I barely felt anything- next thing we heard was a pop! Orthodontist said he didn't think the bracket came off because he wiggled and didn't see movement through the gum.

I get home.... And the bracket & chain are hanging from my wire. I'm hoping to get this fixed ASAP. I felt so good leaving the orthodontist- progress, I thought. Only to get home and feel completely torn apart. And of course- it was the end of the day so all I can do is wait for answers.

All we are waiting for is this tooth to come down into place --- then I can be scheduled for orthognathic surgery-- to move my top jaw forward 4 mm, bottom back 4mm.

[Iam918]

I'm in this club as well.

I'm 34 & my right canine is still baby tooth. It's been dead & 'blackened' for as long as I can remember. It's loose in it's socket & I could probably pull it out easily enough if I wanted to, I think it's just held in mostly by the closeness/pressure by the two teeth around it.

Just got braces yesterday (3/24/11) & found this site today while looking for info re: proper care for them. The space for the canine is slightly smaller than it should be so my Ortho is having me wait ~2mo while he starts to open the space. Once open sufficiently I'll be having the tooth exposed & a chain attached to pull it down.

[tkna]

[quote="LuckyLola"]TKNA, I would opt for braces and exposure. Did the first ortho mention not being able to see a well defined root? Your age should not be a concern. I'm 41 and currently have an impacted canine being brought down.
My ortho recommended exposure surgery and a couple of months later placed a bracket on the impacted canine. I don't recall if there was much movement before the tooth had the bracket, but quickly moved thereafter. Of course, everyone has a different situation.
I suggest getting a 3rd or 4th opinion, or more if need be, and get educated on your situation, and options, before making a decision. Also, what is the opinion of your dentist and oral surgeon? Not sure about anyone else on the board, but I've never heard of anyone getting an MRI.

Good luck![/quote]

Hi LuckyLola...thanks for your reply. To answer your question the 1st ortho is concern about the way my impacted canine is poorly positioned. If I agree to the treatment of getting braces and exposure then he will get more diagnostic records and consult w/ an oral surgeon and then he will further advise me if it is better to go ahead w/ exposure or extract the tooth. Before all the consultation my dentist gave me a variety of option from implants, bridges, etc but he said since I still have my natural tooth I should try and get it expose. So that was when I ask for list of orthos he would recommend to me and he said they will give me different options etc and it is best to have several different consultation before making your decision. Oral surgeon? I never thought of consulting w/ an oral surgeon before. But yeah I have another consultation coming soon and probably will need to find couple more before I make my decision of who I want to be treated by. For sure it is not #2 ortho.