Open bite, braces, wisdom teeth

[Nikola]

Hello,

I am 26 years old and about to begin my journey to correct my anterior open bite, with braces and TADs to intrude my upper molars. My upper wisdom teeth have come through, but my lower ones are both impacted. I am booked to have all four removed under anaesthetic by an oral surgeon in 3 weeks, and hope to get my braces on soon after this, once everything has healed. My teeth are actually pretty straight but my open bite is quite bad with only the very back molars touching. I have had TMJ pain on and off for a while now.

My big worry at the moment is my lower wisdom teeth. My XRays show that the roots of both lower wisdom teeth are overlying the inferior alveolar nerve, and I am so scared of nerve damage during extraction. I know permanent nerve damage is supposed to be very uncommon, and I’m probably being paranoid, but even a small chance of having to live with speech difficulties, drooling, and being unable to kiss or taste food is terrifying.. And everything I read tells me the risk becomes greater over the age of 25..

My dentist has always told me to leave my wisdom teeth unless they start causing pain. My orthodontist has said that it would be preferable to remove them, but not absolutely essential. I am considering just removing the upper ones, and leaving the lower ones for now. I’m worried though that if I do this the lower wisdom teeth may cause problems with my bite later on, and undo the orthodontic work…

So my question is does anybody have impacted wisdom teeth which they were able to keep without them causing problems? Or do orthodontists usually recommend their removal? I would also love to hear of anyone who had their impacted wisdom teeth removed as an adult, and how it went.. I am sooo nervous about all of this!

I am going to try to speak to my ortho again about this in the next few days, but I would really appreciate anyone's thoughts or personal experiences.

Thank you :-)

Nikola

[ajs604]

Hi,

I also have an anteior open bite! Your case sounds very similar to mine. I am going down the TAD as really do not want surgery.

Also recently had both my lower and upper wisdom teeth removed under a LA at the Dentist office.

I was also advised of the risk of nerve damage during extraction. I was advised that this was very unlikely and should it result most people usually regain full nerve function after a few wks to a few months. If your wisdom teeth are impacted the general consensus is remove them as they can indeed causing crowding of the teeth or compromise any worth the ortho will do. I was told the risks are very low - between 3-5%. Good luck with it, i am sure you will be fine.

[Patmos330]

Hi, I registered just so I could respond to you!

I got my braces (top and bottom) on July 11th. I recently got my wisdom teeth, 5 of them, removed on the 26th of july. While it wasnt the best time of my life I want to tell you not to be worried. My bottom two were also impacted, and having an extra one up top (called 16b by my ortho) makes the process of healing a bit of a pain but its manageable. As for the nerve damage thats one of those things the HAVE to tell you. The day following the surgery I ate some ice cream and on the tip of my tongue it tasted warm, even ice cold water on that spot tasted warm. But it took one day for that to go away. And I personally think that I was a bit of a rare case even having that much affect on my taste buds. Personally the braces themselves are a more daunting task than getting wisdom teeth removed and if you're willing to get braces, dont let a thing like wisdom teeth scare you off or affect the results you'll get from the braces. Especially since you're considering leaving the worst ones in.

If you have any other questions I'm still going through the healing process as I type, so feel free to ask. Don't sweat the surgery though, its as minor as it gets =)

[ArchWired28]

I still have all of my wisdom teeth, thankfully they are not impacted but I would be horrified to have them removed. I am one of those people who always thinks of the worst and worries too much, but... bad things do happen, unfortunately and we have to be aware of them
This being said, if you did not have braces, I would have said "leave them alone until they cause you problems". However, you are doing braces that is a HUGE commitment. You don't want impacted wisdom teeth to impede on the treatment or the retention in any way (retention of a corrected open bite is already quite a task in itself). So, my advice would be to just hold your breath, cross your fingers and do it. Because if you don't do it now, you will likely regret later. And remember, the odds of being fine vs not being fine are completely on your side

[MakeKeyOver]

I got my braces on yesterday. My upper wisdom teeth are in and normal. My lower wisdom teeth are both impacted and they are the cause of my crowding on the bottom teeth. I have to have them removed sometime soon. I know so many people who have had their impacted wisdom teeth removed and no one has had any problems.

[cocomi]

Hello,

I don't think my wisdom teeth were impacted, but I had both my bottom ones removed. It wasn't that bad, you're numb during and afterwards it's just annoying for about a week while you recover.

I was researching the surgery and how you lose feeling in your face temporarily as the surgery does something to your nerves, so I think the chances of you having any complications are quite slim compared to someone doing the jaw surgery.
Also, people who did do the surgery and felt numb in a part of their face for a while-- all of them felt totally normal after a few weeks or months.

Don't worry too much-- most people have had their wisdom teeth taken out.