IMPACTED CANINES CLUB

[Danielle18]

I believe my surgery alone with general anesthesia was around $900.

[~KMG~]

Hi everyone!
I just had my canine exposure surgery this afternoon, so I am officially in the club! Since my dental insurance covered most of my costs, I elected to have the IV sedation. It seemed to be a pretty cut and dry procedure and they didn't have too much difficulty locating the canine. I did not have my baby tooth extracted at this time for cosmetic purposes, so once the canine is on the move, I will go back to have the baby extracted. I was prescribed Vicodin for pain, which I did have to take a few hours after surgery, as it was hurting pretty good. At this point, my bleeding is under control and I am feeling pretty good. I was instructed to take it easy for the next 24 hours, which is fine by me, as I am feeling a bit groggy and tired. No hot foods until tomorrow, so I have only had a protein shake, yogurt and pudding today. Needless to say, my tummy is growling, especially since I couldn't have anything to eat or drink 6 hours prior to the procedure!

Bottom line, for those of you that are contemplating the procedure, or scheduled to have it done, it wasn't bad at all. Nothing is visible on the roof of my mouth, except for the gold chain, so the surgical site looks pretty clean, which surprised me. I guess I was expecting to see the exposed tooth and a bloody mess. I go back to my ortho in one week to have the canine activated, so I will be keeping my fingers crossed that this sucker moves!

For those of you interested in cost, my total was right around $1,000, which again, is non-inclusive of the extraction.

[Danielle18]

Congrats! I was so relieved when I had the surgery done and over with. I wish I could tell you it gets easier from there but I had it done about a month ago and the waiting game is much worse. I was told it was in my best interest to have my baby tooth extracted, according to my dentist and 2 orthos it helped the adult canine feel like it had somewhere to go. However, I wish I still had my baby canine there because a big gap definitely makes me self conscious. But i'm willing to do whatever I can to get that canine moving... gap and all!

[LuckyLola]

So apparently my cost estimation I got from my ortho was only for braces and does not include cost of getting my impacted canine expose. Can anyone tell me what the cost you had for exposure?

I don't remember the cost of exposure surgery as it was a year ago and I had wisdom tooth extractions at the same time, along with IV sedation. However, I don't believe it was very much at all. The oral surgeon office can give you a quote estimate over the telephone.

The oral surgeon costs will not be included with the orthodontist fees as they are separate.

[LuckyLola]

I asked this question on another board but I haven't received a reply so I will repost it here...

My impacted canine is finally at the gum line now. However, it is still tilted.. almost sideways but not completely. I have lingual uppers and a flipper/fake tooth attached to my opposite teeth to conceal the gap. Last week, my orthodontist mentioned he was planning to remove the flipper during my next visit.
When I politley questioned this, he only said there was no other way other than to extract the impacted canine and get an implant. I was taken back by this statement as I can't understand why that would be an option after I have been in treatment for 1.5 yrs and spent $8K on braces and extractions, etc, and not to mention that the tooth is finally at the gum line. Our pretreatment agreement was that the impacted canine would be brought down behind the fake tooth and once it's in position to move forward, the fake tooth would then be removed. I can't understand what has changed.

I'm wondering if anyone else had a canine that was tilted and how it was rotated? Also, when was your fake tooth removed? Everyone I have spoken to thus far has said that their tooth was completely brought down before the fake tooth was removed.

[Lenka]

Hello everyone. I'm from Serbia, 34 years old and I have two upper impacted canines. I'm in braces from 19th October 2010 and I will have operation in few weeks. I've waited all these months because my ortho advised me to wait for the canines to poke out but they didn't. First three months they did move a little but that is all. They are little diagonal but very low, only few mm from where they should be. My ortho and oral surgeon are not sure are they palataly or vestibularly placed so I'm afraid how and where the surgeon will cut if she is not sure. The price for the operation in Serbia is 160 euros for both impacted canines. The anestesia will be local because total anestesia is not performed in Serbia for this type of operations. I also have braces on my lower jaw but it will be removed in few months when four of my teeths are alligned, it's only smaller adjusment. I can't wait for braces to be removed from my lower jaw becuse it is metal and very visible (on my upper teeth it's not so visible). I have read all threads and it is very helpful to know that I'm not alone with this problem. I hope that until next summer I will have my canines down. Sorry for my english, but I hope you all understand what I've written.
I will post about the operation afterwards.

[kaddessi]

Count me in the club. I am very glad this was posted. Now I know that my ortho wasn't lying about this being a very common thing!
I'll be 25 in 3 months and next Friday I am having 5 baby teeth removed. Including my 2 canines that are currently sitting in the roof of my mouth. I'll get my braces on about a week after the extractions and I have no clue when the exposure will take place but I am not looking forward to it!

[~KMG~]

So, here is a little post surgery update for those of you in the same boat as me.....

On Monday (one week post exposure surgery), I returned to my orthodontist to have my impacted canine "activated". I love when I arrive and the first thing my ortho says is "this is going to be the most painful visit for you with regards to your impacted canine". Needless to say, I wasn't too excited to get started after that greeting! All I can say about that is, I sure hope she was right, because she was right! First of all, my ortho likes to use TPA devices to aid in canine eruption. She feels the TPA helps keep the molars stable and it allows for better traction. If you want to see how I feel about a TPA, just go to my post titled "TPA", as that is a whole other ball of wax! Once the TPA was placed, she basically had to "tear" the gold chain through the soft tissue in my palette to get it in the right position (**que bleeding**). Then she moved the chain back and forth to see if she saw any movement, which was no picnic either. She did say that she saw some "bruxing", which she said was a good sign.... Then she took a peice of elastic, threaded it through one of the loops in the chain and tied it down to my TPA. 72 hours later, my biggest problem is the effects of the TPA. My palette is fine...no soreness where the chain is. I go back in two weeks to have a pano taken to evaluate movement and have the chain tightened some more.

I am crossing my fingers that this works.....

[danak002]

Hey everyone! So I've had 2 visits to the ortho since my exposure surgery. I don't mind the pain of bringing it down but every time he does it I'm inwardly panicking that the bracket will break and I'll have to get surgery again! Anyway, it's looking pretty optimistic, he said this time around it may start poking out in my palette. I can feel it on my palette and if I accidentally bite down on something it hurts. I am just a little concerned with some things he is doing.. I had the same situation with an impacted canine on the other side, except that one decided to emerge in my palette all on its own and just needs to be brought into the right spot. I had both baby teeth removed during the surgery, and he had said he would put on a bracket and start bringing it in, but it's been two visits and he still hasn't done it. This frustrates me because it could have been well on its way to its spot, and now I'm stuck with a gap for two months. He also was supposed to put bumpers on the back of my front teeth so I don't bite down all the way, and because he hasn't I keep biting on the chain every time I eat and it hurts. I feel like he's just blown it off because he didn't want to spend more time during my visits (even though this last visit we had scheduled a longer visit so he could do this, and he still didn't). I made it clear to him at the beginning that I wanted this process to go as quickly as possible, because I have had braces on for six years already and am just sick of them.

Also I am moving in a few months to another state, and am a little worried about having to find a new ortho in the middle of this process. Any suggestions?

[LuckyLola]

KMG ~ I've never heard of a TPA being used. My ortho left the impacted canine completely exposed for a few months. He felt there was better success in that method. He placed a bracket on the tooth a few months later if I recall correctly, and I noticed movement right away. It ended up coming off and reattached it a couple of months later. However, it will be a year next month since the exposure surgery and it's finally to the gums. It's coming down at a slanted angle so that may be the issue as to why it is taking this long. Good luck! I hope there is movement in your canine.

Dana, my oral surgeon left my impacted canine exposed and although my bracket came off, it was reattached without having to expose the tooth again. I requested this in the beginning. My impacted canine on the opposite side emerged on it's own also.
My ortho does the same thing in regards to taking several visits before doing something that he tells me he will do, or he changes the plan all together. It's frustrating. I recently saw a thread on changine orthos, there was a link inside that gave advice on what you need to know.

[~KMG~]

Just a little update on my canine......I went back to the ortho this past Monday (only two weeks post activation). Movement!!!!!! There were three links of my chain that came out of the soft tissue and the pano showed movement as well! My ortho was VERY pleased. They cut the links off and tightened it up again. She also attached a Nitinol spring to the TPA and the chain in efforts to keep constant tension on the chain, but I still go back in another two weeks for a check. I know it is early and progress could stall, but I am just glad something is happening!

I hope everyone on the impacted canine journey is doing well!

[tkna]

@ KMG that is great news. I am happy for you. I am nervous and excited about my own journey because I have not officially started it yet but anxiously waiting for that day. I have appointment with my ortho this coming week and will have my records done and my official brace day is June 8th and will soon follow by exposure surgery and my 2 impacted teeth being removed. Hope to hear more updates on your journey. Wish you and other luck on their canine journey as well.

[BracesBlonde]

i have a canine that is in the gums, but it completely exposed, like out of the gums. i had a baby tooth that i didn't pull as a kid so the adult tooth came in anyways. is this considered an impacted canine?? they are supposed to "engage" it in a few weeks and im wondering what to expect. sounds painful.

[Iam918]

I had my "exposure" / chaining surgery May 19th, along w/ other teeth being removed. As an fyi, I'm glad I did everything all at once.

My impacted canine isn't really 'exposed' as such, as it is still under the upper palate. Which when I first heard about this is what I thought they'd do (ie: cutting a hole in palate, exposing tooth & leaving the hole).

I went to the Ortho 5 days after having the surgery to have chain pulled taunt and tied off by a rubberish type string onto my archwire. I don't have a good pic of the chain / palate atm but here's a side view.

[tkna]

@Iam918 thanks for posting a picture. From the pic do you have damon?

I went to the ortho this week and got my records and cleaning done.
I thought they were going to do molds but I guess they don't need it.
Also, the cleaning wasn't all that bad. I expected it to take long,
but it only lasted bout 5-10 mins. The toothpaste they used
was very gritty. Felt like I had sand in my mouth.
I will be getting my braces on next Wed.
Really excited. Once I get them on next step will be getting
my exposure and 2 impacted wisdom teeth out.