I'm a 25-year-old female with crooked teeth/bad crowding, a slight overbite, and a fully impacted/unerupted right top canine... and I finally decided I have had enough of it. I have put off getting braces for over ten years because of fears of the oral surgery required to fix all the drama in my small mouth. I had all 4 impacted wisdom teeth removed when I was 17, and my individual experience with that was such that, at that age, I could never have seen myself doing what I am about to have done.
My new orthodontist told me that I will need to get braces on first - ceramic on top, metal on bottom, and wear these for about 4 months before the oral surgery. At that time, two premolars will be extracted from the bottom, my top right baby canine will be pulled, and there may need to be another normal tooth extraction up there due to crowding.
But the thing I am really concerned about is the impacted canine removal that will also happen during the surgery. My oral surgeon said that he will have to cut through the hard palate bone in the roof of my mouth then dig around for the impacted canine, section it, and remove it, then stitch it all back up. The bone supposedly takes 4 months or so to grow back.
Has anybody else had this procedure done - a fully impacted top canine removed from the back of the teeth / roof of the mouth, going through the hard palate bone? I would like to know about your experience with this, as I tend to think all of this will be much worse than my wisdom extraction was. I will have general anaesthesia for the surgery because when it comes to such procedures, I am very nervous and don't really want to witness potential sounds/pressure/discomfort. This will be interesting in itself because I have a phobia of anaesthesia.
My braces and elastics should take about 27 months, and I am supposed to get separators next Wednesday, then the braces on the Tuesday after. I have no idea what to expect except a lot of pain and discomfort for the next 2+ years. Am I out of my mind to do this, or will I really thank myself for it when I'm older and it's done with?
![Confused :?](./images/smilies/icon_confused.gif)
I'd appreciate any thoughts or comments. Thanks!