IMPACTED CANINES CLUB

[elltee]

[quote=Bracefacebride post_id=507578 time=1558369862 user_id=32799]
Hello!

I’ve been lurking this forum for the last few days, it’s so nice to read other peoples experiences. I’ve read this topic in its almost entirely, since I will probably be having to go through this too.
I only wanted to get the space in front of my two front teeth closed and my right lateral fixed (it’s a peg lateral) but after X-rays we found out I have a impacted canine, honestly didn’t even notice my baby canine before. I’m 33 and getting married next year, so I really wanted to fix my smile and didn’t think all this was so complex.

I am starting to wonder if I should even go through with it. I was told it’s uncommon to have an impacted canine from my new general dentist but from everyone that’s posted I guess it’s very common!

So it seems from all the posts that have been on this board, from page 1-66/67, the 30+ age group has about a 60% chance of failure rate. But it appears to happen more to the folks that have the exposure surgery where the chain is put on and skin placed back over, vs the ones where in the exposure surgery, the gum is either removed with a laser or a hole left open for the canine, leaving the tooth exposed, then activated. It also seems when the chain is only visible so many people have to have re-exposure surgery because their chain breaks. ( I know there is many factors, as I read with tooth positioning, root issues, fusing, etc)

What I want to ask is who here has had the CBCT x-ray?
Isn’t this suppose to help before surgery to see if there is any root damage or any root issues before surgery? And to give the ortho the go ahead to try and just pull the stubborn canine down? I wonder if there is a special X-ray that can display If the tooth is already fused to the bone. You’d think they could with all the advancements these days, instead of just having to go through months/years of blind waiting, surgery and pain/discomfort to find out it’s not possible. Time is what we don’t have, I feel.

I also read that accelerator technology has helped in some cases to activate the canine. I seen one woman post on here about her positive experience but she was also in her twenties. Anyone else try this?

I am just apprehensive of this journey and wish we could all just have these stubborn canines move and come into place!! I considered veneers, but after a mock up decided against it, the whole idea of all my teeth being filed down and replaced with fake teeth creeped me out, and also they looked huge in my mouth!

Sending healthy vibes to all of you!
[/quote]

I had a CBCT X-ray done by the orthodontist before having the braces placed. He was unable to tell if the canine had fused to my palate unfortunately. He's pretty confident that we can get it down with exposure surgery, but warns that I will need an implant if not. I wish there was a more definitive answer!

[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.

Hi there

So final progress report - braces come off June 10! I have had one canine fully come in - the other was removed Feb 1 and bone grafting has been put in. I will have clear retainers with a fake tooth in it until I get my implant, hopefully soon!

[birdie]

Hello! I have had a few orthodontist visits since my last post, and here’s what’s new:

I DON’T HAVE A HOLE IN MY SMILE ANYMORE!!!
(and both of my natural, adult canines are in their proper places!)

I’ve officially passed my original end of treatment date and still have a handful of months to go (hopefully?), but the longest,
hardest part of the process was successful and is out of the way. Now we’re working on minor adjustments and bite correction with elastics. With any luck *knocks on wood* I’ll be brace-free before the end of the year.

[Whimsical]

You either laugh or you cry... (spoiler alert, my default position is crying!)
The tooth that 'replaced' my impacted canine, now looks like it's going to need a root canal at some point, from all the movement it had to do to get in position. Brilliant.
I mean, have I not been through enough?!

[sdavis82]

Update: At the last update my ortho had attached brackets to both canines. They put the one on the right as high as the could get it and it was not centered and the one on the left was put on the side as my tooth came down sideways. The last couple of month we have just been changing the bands letting them move more in line. This visit, both brackets were removed which did not hurt at all. The put the bracket on my right tooth in a better position to get it to come down a little more and straighten up. On the left side, there is a bracket that is on the left side of the front and a button on the right. There is a power chain attached to each one. The button is attached to another button on the back of one of front incisors. The next step will be to get the that tooth turned enough so they can get a wire in the bracket.

[braceace]

It's been 5 months since my ortho started pulling on my impacted canine, and it hasn't budged. Everytime he pulls on it, I feel pressure for 5 minutes, and then it's gone. I almost feel like the elastic he's using to pull just stretches out, and stops pulling. I duno, I'm getting really bummed that I've spent so much money of trying to address this, and it's not working

[sdavis82]

Another update from me. This February will make three years and is also how long my ortho predicted it would take to complete. I do not see these coming off in February. My right canine is down and in place...it's done! But this left one....is taking forever to move. It is still a bit sideways, but it has moved. It does have a bracket but it is not in the wire and is not really in the middle of my tooth either. It's kinda on the side. There are 3 links of power chain attached from it to my 2nd canine. I also have a button on the back of the canine with 3 links of power chain attached to another button on the back of my front tooth. They did this at the last appointment and within two days I could tell that there was more pull on my front tooth as there was a space appearing between my two front teeth. I called the office and they would be closed the next day as this was Thanksgiving week. The sister office however would be open and could see me. They reapplied all the power chains adding another to my front teeth to close that space and also adding a spring to keep the space for the canine. The space is now closed between my front teeth and I think I have seen movement from the canine. I hope we move the bracket again and hopefully get this tooth in a wire as well. Next appointment is Thursday, I will update then.

[RuinedSmile]

Does anyone know of a good orthodontist who knows how to treat ankylosed teeth?

[sdavis82]

As promised, update after visit today. We did not move the bracket, we redid everything from last visit, but she did make the spring a little longer to force more space to turn the canine and we also added bands to move my bite alignment. They feel a little weird and were mildly difficult at first to get on. I have to change these everytime I eat. They hook on the band on my molar on top to a little hook on the bottom canine bracket. This is supposed to move the top forward a little. I am actually happy we are doing this now. I thought we would have to wait until we got my canine all the way in before we started. My ortho feels that next visit we will probably move the canine bracket again. So I hope to have my braces off by Spring.

[braceace]

It's been 5 months since my ortho started pulling on my impacted canine, and it hasn't budged. Everytime he pulls on it, I feel pressure for 5 minutes, and then it's gone. I almost feel like the elastic he's using to pull just stretches out, and stops pulling. I duno, I'm getting really bummed that I've spent so much money of trying to address this, and it's not working

Update! After a year of no movement with my impacted tooth, my ortho suggested I see the oral surgeon again to assess if my tooth could be luxated (professionally wiggled, lol) to stimulate movement. He took super 3D xrays and said it didn't look fused to the jaw bone, so he could go in and try to luxate it. That was in May of last year, and it worked! It's down, and now it's just getting it to align properly. So glad it finally came down

[vampirefangs22]

I'm definitely part of this club. I had 3 impacted canines at one point (2 upper, 1 lower) and I had to have the expose and bond procedure done for all 3 of them. I got lucky because all 3 of my then impacted canines all erupted within 3 months (I've heard it can take a year or more in some cases). The surgery was a breeze, but having the gold chains tightened every 2 weeks until my orthodontist could put regular brackets onto those teeth was painful.

Also, due to a miscommunication between my orthodontist and oral surgeon, I had the surgery done for my upper canines on 10/5/2020 before I had another expose and bond for my lower left canine on 2/24/2022 (also had all 4 of my impacted wisdom teeth removed that day) instead of having the gold chains placed on all 3 canines at the same time in 2020.