IMPACTED CANINES CLUB

[birdie]

Update: Surgery was a breeze; IV sedation is definitely the way to go, just like taking a little nap. Gums/lips were numb for the rest of the day from the local anesthesia but returned to normal the next day. My surgeon prescribed Tylenol 3 for pain but it was very manageable with regular extra strength Tylenol. I was instructed to rinse with salt water at least 4x per day and after every meal and use a prescription oral rinse after breakfast and before bed in addition to regular brushing (which I did with the softest toothbrush I could find). I had mostly dissolvable stitches in several spots and a few silk ones for holding the chain in place, all of which were removed 1 week post-op. My orthodontist lightly activated the impacted canine at 5 days post-op by threading elastic cording through the chain and tying it to my archwire. Pain on the activation was minimal and disappeared almost immediately, all I feel now is very slight pressure.
Aesthetically it’s not the best, but several people have commented that if I hadn’t pointed out the giant gap where the adult canine will go, they wouldn’t have noticed. I think the spring on my archwire helps to camouflage it just a little bit. My adult canine isn’t terribly far into my palate and only slightly diagonal so I’m hoping that it doesn’t take too long to come in even though I’m 34. I’ll post another update after my next ortho appointment in 6 weeks.

[TiltingAtWindmills]

I'm about 2 months post-surgery and the tooth has moved down a bit. It gives me hope that the progress will continue (it's not stuck!), but it's discouraging not to see more progress. Anyone else doing this in their 30s (or beyond) who can share how long it took for the tooth to make appreciable progress?

[elbowz]

I had my impacted canine exposure on August 8th, 2018 for my left canine. Since then I've had a gold chain with elastic tied to the end to pull down my canine. It's been officially one month since then and I really hope this tooth comes down! I'm 21 years old so I would say I'm pretty average in terms of age compared to others getting the same procedure done in this forum.

Anyone had an impacted canine that was in a diagonal position? If so how long did it take you to have the tooth peak at the gums? X-rays here: https://imgur.com/a/PRbW5T9

[MissMeliss]

Hey guys :)

I'm really grateful to have found this forum. I'm in the same position as everyone else it seems! I had my impacted canine surgery on January 5th, 2018 and DAMN am I feeling hopeless about it these days.

I have two impacted canines, both of which have barely budged in the last 9 months. I'm 23 years old so my skull is still maluable enough to bring them down but I just... feel so ugly with these 2 huge gaps. Has anyone else struggled with hardcore self confidence issues during this? I feel like this isn't something I've seen adressed much before but I cant be alone in this!

If anyone has tips on how to feel beautiful when it looks like you've gotten hit in the teeth with a bat i'm all ears! I dont be an for this to sound super self deprecating at all, but it is a real issue that I feel can be neglected on this topic. And I need help lol

Thanks so much!
Melissa

[lish]

Hi

I know exactly how u feeling but your case should be better than mine i have a impacted canine than is coming down in the place of a missing lateral my teeth at the moment looks really bad and i have zero confidence. we just have to look at the bright side when all this is done its not going to be forever. But yeah it sucks and having patience is really not easy

[bracesage42]

So I was on here a while ago .. name was bracesat41.. ha! as you can see I'm 42 now. Progress report .. Braces went on June 2 2017.. exposure for 2 impacted upper canines June 9 2017.. chains on . .. one successfully has been bracketed today!
After 15 months.. the other.. not so much. Decision today to have it pulled and will have to get bone grafting and an implant. I hope that all of that can be done while we focus on the rest of the teeth and the 1 canine that is slowly coming into place.

[bracesage42]

Has anyone been able to get bone grafting and implant while braces on at the same time?

[bracesage42]

And also wondering about wisdom teeth! I have all 4 still that are impacted. My ortho never said anything about having to remove them at all.. anyone able to get their braces and not worry about having to pull those as well - if they aren't causing any issues?

[birdie]

Went to my orthodontist this week (6.5 weeks post op) and he officially activated my impacted canine with an attachment that looks like a spring. The bottom of the canine is just slightly visible in the roof of my mouth and my orthodontist is confident it’ll be out by my next appointment in 8 weeks, when he’ll engage it. Anyone know the difference between activate and engage? I fully expected this visit to be painful, but there was only a tiny bit of soreness for about 12 hours.

How is everyone else’s treatment progressing?

[birdie]

[quote=bracesage42 post_id=504662 time=1537479298 user_id=32407]
And also wondering about wisdom teeth! I have all 4 still that are impacted. My ortho never said anything about having to remove them at all.. anyone able to get their braces and not worry about having to pull those as well - if they aren't causing any issues?
[/quote]

I have 2 impacted wisdom teeth and my orthodontist said they’re fine to leave as long as they don’t cause issues.

[Alliscone]

So it has been over a year and a half since I last posted on here and thought I shall update! I’m still in the same position - canine-less! I had my plate removed ready for the braces April this year. I then had it “reactivated” basically I had the gym flap opened so it would help the tooth move quicker. That was almost a year ago now! I then had more gum removed at my work which seemed to have helped a bit. So now I am where I am today and the tooth is so close but still so far! At one point there was a lot of pressure on the surrounding teeth that the rooots were almost popping out of my bone! So we then decided to put in a TAD (temporary anchorage device) which is essentially a screw that is drilled into the bone between two teeth and now the canine is being pulled off that instead of the braces. I’m hoping this is the push that my big canine needs as I’m getting married March 2020 and I’m worried it won’t be finished by then ! Worst case I could have the braces off beforehand but I really want my braces off ! I’m lucky I’m getting my tooth looked at almost weekly/fortnightly but I then think if I wasn’t how much longer would it have been to get where I am today! Good luck to all! I would like to know what happened to Shelley if you ever had your implant??

[braceace]

I'm also in the canine club! Braces on to hopefully bring down my top right impacted canine. I'm 31, so I'm worried it won't be successful, but they told me if it can't be brought down it will have to be removed anyway eventually, so I figured might as well try.

[birdie]

MY CANINE BROKE THROUGH MY GUMS TODAY!!! 5 months (almost to the day) after my extraction and exposure surgery, it’s finally out! 😁😁😁

[nikkigirl2282]

Mine broke through about 2 weeks ago.

https://impactedcanines.blogspot.com/

[birdie]

HOORAY Nikki! The canine being visible really helps to feel like there’s FINALLY a light at the end of the tunnel.

My orthodontist added a button to the exposed bit of canine at my visit this week and put some more pretty serious pressure on it, still with clear elastic cording. The last couple of visits (all the ones involving increasing the pressure on the canine) have left me with a serious headache for the rest of the day, but it always subsides by the next day. The button placement looks like it should straighten out the slight bit of twist in the tooth and get it into place to hopefully tie in to the arch wire by my next visit in 8 weeks.