Impacted canine advice!!!

[ashleymarie915]

Hello everyone!!

Recently I had to make a decision to either get braces or not. I have an impacted canine on the left side along with the baby tooth still in tact. Instead of doing bone grafting to try and do an implant...I chose to try and save my real tooth by exposing the canine in the gum and bring it into place while using braces. VERY TRAUMATIC! I'm 23. My husband and I want to have a baby soon so this wasn't the best thing for me to be going through right now!! But what can you do!! I've been reading EVERYWHEREER about people not being able to have it brought down, having it take 3 years or more, etc...Was wondering if anyone went through this and what the time frame was like? I only have top braces and my teeth arent really crooked. Right now I'm making a space for the tooth to come in and in October I'm getting my exposure surgery. They said 18 months to 2 years. Any ideas? Also, how painful was the surgery? I am just afraid I'm going to spend all this money to try and bring the tooth in, and it's going to end up not being able to be brought down. Also...my tooth is on the pallate side and its tip is right at my very front tooth(going on a diagonal sort of)...Can anyone relate?! Thanks so much for listening!

[Sunny]

Welcome Ashleymarie!

There's no way of knowing for sure if an impacted tooth will come down or not, but there are stats that support more coming down than not. Plus there are stats to support keeping your impacted tooth, rather than having it removed and replaced with an implant.

I'm one of those who the stats didn't support ... first my impacted canine refused to budge and next it couldn't be removed due to where it's lying, so removing it was also impossible. This has resulted in my treatment going much longer than planned, as the gap has to be closed with all teeth from the first molar having to be 'dragged' forward to full the gap.

Good luck with you going with the stats and your teeth coming down quickly and it all going well.

Take care!

[ashleymarie915]

Thanks for the response!!!! How was your tooth positioned that it wouldn't come down?

[Sunny]

My tooth was lying horizontally which can make it more challenging, but part of it was found to be attached to the bone and it didn't respond to work done to remove the tooth from the bone.

Due to the position of the tooth and it being attached to my jaw, it couldn't be removed. This has extended my treatment by over two years.

I can't wait for my treatment to be over, but I've got to be honest that time has flown and even though I have metal brackets, the people I come into contact with outside of work, never mention my having braces.

[Stee]

Hi there,

I know how you're feeling! I went to the dentist for a simple check-up and she ordered xrays because my baby teeth were still retained. I was upset for weeks because it was so strange to me. Im 17 and have both maxillary canines impacted, my orthodontist has estimated the time frame for over 2 years (possibly 3), which im fine with, i just want a natural smile! I still have both of my baby teeth and im able to keep them in until we see movement in my permanent canines. Im having my top braces put on in January and have no idea about surgery, im on a waiting list. Its only meant to take 3 hours to expose both teeth, and i believe you can chose whether or not to be awake depending on your nerves. My canines are fairly close to the gumline, about 2-3mm in, and are both diagonal. I have high hopes for a successful exposure and re-alignment in my arch. Early treatment is recommended for a high success rate, usually 15 years and under will have high success rates. They also say ages 40+ you should just forget about trying to bring them into your dental arch. Your options, incase you havent been informed, are the treatment youve opted for, and if that doesnt work the impacted tooth/teeth will have to be extracted. In my case, if there is no movement at all in 6 months i'll have my permanent canines and baby canines extracted and have titanium teeth put in to create a proper dental arch.
Have your teeth moved since having surgery?
I'd like to know how your treatment is going

[Sunny]

Good luck with your treatment going well Stee!

We've worked with a few patients over 40 ... and so far I'm the only one who's not had success, but my canine was also lying in the worst position, due to it lyiing horizontally with the jaw bone. The success rate with our adult patients has been mirroring that of our younger ones, so fortunately we don't follow the logic you've been told about. Also in some case, like mine, the impacted canine cannot be removed due to it being fused to the jaw bone. This also means having an implant is out of the question, so the much longer treatment of bringing the premolar (and teeth behind it) forward is the best option ... but it usually does result in treatment extending way past the expected time frame.

It sounds from what you've written, that your canines are barely impacted, which is great for you, as after exposure, they will hopefully move easily into place.

[smylex]

I'm kind of in the same boat. My right maxillary canine never erupted and is sitting diagonally in the palate. I can actually feel the difference in the palate where it's resting. The orthodontist that I spoke with last month said that he could have it exposed and brought into the maxillary arch, but that it would add an additional 2 years in braces, or I can have it removed.

My own choice is just to extract it because if that canine is left there, I'll still have all my teeth, but the orthodontist says that it's going to be difficult to get my midline deviation of about 3-4 mm corrected. I was advised that removing that tooth as well as 3 bicuspids from the other quadrants would result in a esthetic appearance and get things moving quicker.

Personally, I've gone this long without seeing that canine tooth in my mouth, so I don't think I'll miss it if they remove it.

[ashleymarie915]

Hello all!! Just wanted to give an update since I last wrote. I got my braces on in August....and I had my exposure surgery on December 3rd. It was absolutely awful! The surgery took almost 3 times as long as it was supposed to. And of course my insurance benefits were up at the end of the year so I opted to stay awake to save money. The dr. had an awful time getting around my bone to even find my impacted canine. After about an hour and a half...and 2 dr's later they found a smell piece to bond a button to. At that point they were unsure where the tooth was even bonded. And sadly, they are still unsure. I had my chain tightened to pull more force last Wednesday the 10th. The morning of the 11th I was in the most AWFUL pain!! the tooth next to the canine(which is a space; no tooth) it's called the #10 tooth went UP into my gum EXCESSIVELY!! I couldn't even blow my nose....I could see the root of my tooth on the facial part of my gum. After a couple days it got ALITTLE better and decided not to do anything about it. Thankfully I had a scheduled cleaning for Tuesday Feb 16th...when the dentist opened my mouth he immediately had me call my oral surgeon's emergency number. I went in yesterday and she removed ALL force pulling the impacted cuspid and changed all my wiring to thinner flexible and is now working to get my PERFECTLY GOOD TOOTH back to normal without damaging the root and resulting in my losing it. I'm so upset...I've spent thousands...went through surgeries and have spend the past 6 months of my life looking ridiculious with almost an inch gap on the side of my mouth. At this point, I am going back on Monday she wants to see that other tooth is healing. I am thinking about asking her to just stop the process...leave the tooth up there. My dentist, and oral surgeon both are not confident that the tooth will even erupt. They fear its fused to the bone.

Does anyone know the risk of leaving it up there? Now that I've been yanking and pulling on it.....what can happen? I don't want to get dentures when I'm 30. My dentist assured me he can make me a 3 part bridge that would look beautiful and no one could tell it was fake. Im thinking I should have gone that route to begin with.....any advise??????

[Sunny]

Ashleymarie there's no danger in leaving the tooth up there, unless it's 'floating free', which it doesn't sound like your tooth is. An x-ray should help clarify if it's moved at all since the exposure surgery and that should help them know if there's any chance it will move in the future.

Your surgery sounds terrible and we've been fortunate that non of our exposure patients have had to go through something like that. I was terribly disappointed that my canine has had to stay in my gum, but it's not going to budge due to it being attached to my jaw bone ... which also means it can't be removed.

For me this has meant longer treatment and there's no way my midline will be even close, due to having one tooth short on one side and all present on the other. My bite is getting close to working well though, and that's what's important to keeping my jaw joints healthy, so for that I'm very grateful.

Good luck with your appointment with your surgeon.

Your case sounds interesting Smylex, but it's great you're getting reliable advice from your orthodontist who you trust!

Good luck with your treatment!

[annabella]

Hi Ashleymarie,

Actually my daughter has something similar and we are having a hard time deciding next steps. Well consulted several orthos and some were similar My daughter needs braces so we consulted 3 orthos and it has been confusing yet informative. First some historsy on my daughter. She just turned 14 a couple of months ago and all her life her teeth have been on a different schedule. As a baby late teeth and now too. Her teeth are quite straight no real crowding and no real overbite and needs more of an overjet. Her bite not bad but her midline is off to the left. She still has her baby molars(where her permanat premolars would come in) and none of her secondary molars are out. Lower Secondary molars are pushing towards first molars. She has little wisdom buds in the upper and lower jaws.

So first two orthos were similar in prescrition.... said to broaden her arch and correct midline and her bite (overjet adjustment), leave the baby teeth in and wait and watch on premolars possible chains, braces now for 12-18 months. Third /fourth said similar but want the baby teeth out before braced and chain if premolars reluctant to come down and braces for 18-24 months. Fifth ortho stated first need to remove wisdom teeth, put some kinda spring on secondary molars to rotate back so they can come up, remove baby teeth, add chains to premolars to pull down and finally remove muscle tissue inbetween the upper front teeth braces for 20-24 months. Apparently it could cause a gap on her front teeth even after braces. Of course I was in awe of all the oral surgery he was suggesting so I asked what would be the conservative approach he said not to do the latter. Hmmmm!
Okay that seems like a lot of surgery at once. I definielty understanad removing the baby teeth. Plus then maybe the premolars might come down on their own accord. why would one not wait and see? I asked him he said well since your gonna go to the oral surgeon then do it all at once. Which I can see that too. On removal of baby teeth would that need to be an oral surgery or could it be her dentist?

So yeah quite confusing and need to go back and ask orthos 1 & 4 since we liked them the best.

[romy]

Hi!

I'm having 2 impacted canines, too, they are almost horizontal. (Please excuse my English, I'm from Italy). I'm 26.

I got my braces, had my exposure and put out my baby canines in October 2009 (there was enough space). 3 months later the x-rays showed that both canines have already moved, it looks like they will come down. Now, half a year after the exposure my canines are still up in my gum, invisible, but I can see 2 little hills that are moving closer and closer. However, in a few weeks they should break through the gum.

My ortho said that he had lots of patients with this problem and so far there was no canine that did not come down. In Italy, it's amost no discussion whether to get braces and do the exposure or remove the impacted canine. When 3D x-rays and x-ray computed tomography do not show clearly that the tooth is stuck to the bone almost everyone decides to do the orthodontic treatment. It's strange for me to read in this forum that so many people made the experience that the treatment did not work.

By the way, my exposure was not bad at all. It just took about half an hour for both teeth. A few days later my gum looked normal again, even though the doctor had cut it from one baby canine to the other (right behind the teeth). My ortho stuck 2 false teeth on my braces which look like they were normal, true teeth.

If anyone is interested in seeing some pics and x-rays - just write me. I took lots of pictures to document my treatment.

I wish you good luck with your treatment!

Romy

[Sunny]

Fantastic to read that everything is going so well for you! Here's to your canines birthing very soon.

Unfortunately even with the most modern x-ray machines etc, some things do not show up clearly ... especially when 'other' things are in the road and can't be moved. This often happens when working with areas of bone ... and sometimes it's necessary to try, rather than not try ... and sometimes it's necessary to admit defeat, rather than to keep trying and getting no where.

The surgery is usually relatively painfree and recovery should be fast for healthy people. Obviously if the person has other medical issues, things may take a little longer, but hopefully during the healing process extra care is taken to do everything possible to aid the process.

My impacted canine is still lying firmly where it's always been ... except now there's no gap, as the teeth that were behind my baby canine have been moved forward into new positions. Not the number one choice, but better than having a gap.

Good luck with all of your treatment progressing smoothly!

[smylex]

So, since I'm in the same spot, can anyone tell me what the advantages are about trying to bring my right maxillary impacted canine out to join with the other teeth vs. removing it (and possibly other teeth)? And, if I leave it in, does anyone know if this would affect my deviated midline, in so far as properties of function vs. esthetics? It's all very confusing to me as to which way to go on this.

[Sunny]

Our canine teeth play an important role when it comes to how we bite and our bite coming together. This is why ortho's choose to remove pre-molars and not canines when extractions are needed.

Talk to your ortho about what your best optionn would be and it's pros and cons.

Good luck making your decision!

[romy]

My ortho and my aunt who has been working by an (other) ortho all her life both told me that teeth, especially upper canines, are pretty seldom stuck to the bone when you are 25 or younger. They both said that sometimes teeth do not move because they had not been exposed enough or in the right manner. Sometimes the patients have to repeat the exposure and suddenly it works.

I just wanted to say that I have talked to people with a lot of experience, I did a lot of research in the internet about this topic (statistics etc.) and I read in many different forums and I found that most or almost every canine can come down. And now I wonder why I read about so many bad experiences in this forum. It seems like people whose canines come down belong to a lucky minority.

I don't want to say that the affected people here just don't have a good ortho or something. I really feel with them, since I know what it would mean to me if it didn't work (I'm still not really sure if it will). I'm just surprised, that's all!

[Sunny]

Where I work, our surgeons definitely have mostly successes, but any that don't work are a negative that is remembered, as then the plan has to change. We've found young patients with canines that won't come down, plus we've had patients with canines in the roof of the mouth achieve awesome success and one who's canine appeared to amost be in the correct place, refuse to budge. Some like mine have important nerves in difficult places and further exposure surgery is too high risk, as face movement may be affected.

Impacted canines are common ... research is great ... surgeons and ortho's should all be well trained due to the number they may deal with in any years. But ... there should still be discussion between the ortho and the patient, as sometimes the patient can't afford the surgery, or doesn't want it. In these cases they usually have to accept a less than great job, but as long as this is known before treatment is started it shouldn't be an issue. No one can make a person have surgery ... and everyone needs to be well informed and then to make the best decision for them.

[Locomotion.]

Hi Guys!

I have the same thing!

Ever since I was 15 I had this tooth growing behind my lateral incisor on the left. I visited two dentists who said they could not do anything, and one suggested I go to the hospital to have it removed.

Just recently I visited a dentist because my teeth were in pain on the right side of my mouth, from the front tooth to the second premolar. She knew straight away that I had impacted canines. An x-ray showed that under the gum, my right canine was growing horizontally (hence pain in the right side).

Two days ago I had my baby canines (cuspids) removed, and also the crown of the impacted right canine (beneath the gum) has now been exposed. It has putty in the hole which has been stitched to the top of my mouth.

7 days of healing left, getting braces next week. Visiting the Oral Surgeon to check the pack (putty) on the top of my mouth.

I'm in minor pain (just taking anti-inflams and panadol) and the putty is so annoying and sore. The gaps in my mouth don't hurt at all glad for that. Surgery was very quick, only half an hour and no bleeding.

Lets look at costs:
$105 at the dentist = $25 for x-ray and $80 for a deep clean (not needed but felt so good!)
$250 at the ortho = consultation, xrays, moulds, referral.
$115 at the oral surgeon = consultation only.
$1050 at the oral surgeon = surgery (two baby teeth removal + exposure).

so far = $1520.
now braces = $6416.

Ridiculous.

[Sunny]

Fantastic that your treatment has started Locomotion and your impacted canines will soon be journeying to the correct places in your mouth.

Good luck with everything going smoothly!

[bibby51]

Hi Sunny I am over 40 and still have my baby canine tooth. It's wobley but seems ok. My adult canine, i think, is horizontal in the gum, but within the last 5 years or so i can actually see part of the tooth showing through the gum. Do you know of this causing any problems for patients? Could the tooth get decayed within the gum for instance?

[Sunny]

Hi bibby ... the main problem with having a baby canine tooth, is that it usually does become loose and falls out, leaving the person with a gap. The baby canine is usually smaller than the adult canine, which means the adult canine usually won't be able to come into the space without assistance.

I'm not aware of problems related to the impacted canine appearing in the gum. I'm guessing the main issues will relate to oral hygiene and any affect this tooth may have on your bite.

Hopefully your dentist can tell you about how your's is going!

[Danielle]

I'm almost 22 and I had braces put on October 2010 and had my canine exposure surgery April 2011. So far I have had them adjust the chain twice. I did not find the surgery to be all that awful. I mean of course it's uncomfortable but if you've had your wisdom teeth removed it's equal to that pain. The only thing I found to be worse was that the surgery was done on the roof of my mouth making it more difficult to eat. I have not seen any progress. This would make my Orthodontist laugh because he has to remind me I had the surgery a month ago. If you have debating having this done but don't because you're scared of surgery, don't be. The tightening of the chain just feels funny, not painful. What has been the most painful for me is the spring that is making room for my canine 9I swear you could fit two teeth in there!). I hope in the end all of this waiting and pain will be worth it.

[Sunny]

Fantastic Danielle! Here's to your canine moving into place soon and the process continuing to go smoothly for you!

[Chidori1]

I as well had an impacted canine tooth. My ortho performed laser surgery on the tooth and attached a chain from my wire to a bracket on the tooth. Now its two months later and my tooth is now lined up perfectly!

[Ktorres77]

I know this thread was written back in 2009, wow! I hope ashleymarie had great results as well all of you. I wanted to share my input. I am 20 and got braces last may. I had an impacted canine for about 9 years after i fell and busted my lip, my adult tooth grew fully into my gum on the upper right side. My mother never took me to see a dentist so now that i am older, i am tackling this situation now err, however i have to say within 4 months my tooth has moved down into my gums significantly. I had to have 2 teeth pulled to make space. I didnt need extraction as the adult teeth was already "out" and grown. They started me out on the wire and then added elastics. A month later removed the wire, just had an elastic pulling it more into its "position" where the other tooth was pulled. Back now on elastics with the tooth coming down, i am amazed! To anyone out there reading this, Go for it. Get it done. It cant get any worse! Try and keep all of your real teeth, don't laze on by getting the real one pulled and an implant in its place, nothing is like your REAL teeth! All of the pain (and yes, there will be pain) is 10000 percent worth it. I cannot explain the feeling of going into the ortho each month and having seen the progress that has happened, but anticipating what the next month will be. Im keeping a photo diary that i might *maybe* post one day in the future, but thanks for sharing all of your stories and i hope my progress so far helps...someone.

[YippySkippy]

I thought I would share my experience for anyone who comes across this site.
I had one impacted canine my whole life and my baby tooth finally fell out last fall. (I'm 20) I decided that with graduating college in the next two years I really needed to get my teeth fixed. I saw the orthodontist who informed me of my options for my impacted canine. My whole life the orthodontistes I saw wanted to make room for the impacted tooth. I'm very glad I waited until know. My orthodontist now gave me the options of bringing it down which would end up with me having to have jaw surgery because it would creat a bad overbite or to have it removed when they removed my wisdom teeth and then use braces to make all my teeth straight and fill in the hole. I decided to go with removing it because I did not want jaw surgery. So far everything is going well and its been about 6 months since I had it removed. The ortho will shave down another tooth so it will look like a canine but still a normal smile.

[Ktorres77]

I thought I would share my experience for anyone who comes across this site.
I had one impacted canine my whole life and my baby tooth finally fell out last fall. (I'm 20) I decided that with graduating college in the next two years I really needed to get my teeth fixed. I saw the orthodontist who informed me of my options for my impacted canine. My whole life the orthodontistes I saw wanted to make room for the impacted tooth. I'm very glad I waited until know. My orthodontist now gave me the options of bringing it down which would end up with me having to have jaw surgery because it would creat a bad overbite or to have it removed when they removed my wisdom teeth and then use braces to make all my teeth straight and fill in the hole. I decided to go with removing it because I did not want jaw surgery. So far everything is going well and its been about 6 months since I had it removed. The ortho will shave down another tooth so it will look like a canine but still a normal smile.

i dont blame ya! in that situation i would have done the same. I was lucky enough to save the tooth.

[villa16x]

Hi all!

I also want to share my experience. I have both canine impacted in palate. When I started my braces treatment, both canine were inside the palate (left canine is horizontal, right canine is vertical). About 4 months of braces, the right canine started to come down alone without surgical exposure and without braces, alone! (money and pain I save !). At my 8 months of braces, I did the surgical exposure to the left canine impacted, It didn't latest nothing, the surgical took about 5 min. (when I went, I think it would take about 15 min., but no). The maxillofacial also removed me the left baby canine. (the surgical cost 120€ -> 150$)
After a week, I went to the orthodontist, and put me the bracket in both canine. The orthodoncist said me that: "I don't know if the canine will come down, that is something that we'll see with the time, 'cause some impacted teeths are so stick to the bone, but you are young, so we hope it will come down". The orthodoncist said also: "The surgical exposure is perfect! That Dr. it's a genious!"
This is my 3th day after putting the braces on the impacted canines, so It still hasn't moved. I will notice here in a few months.

Bye!

P.D: Sorry for my english, I'm from Spain.

[Melissalolz]

Dear whomever may be reading this,

I have the same issue with my teeth. I'm currently Sixteen years of age with this problem, and got the Dental Exposure done a week from today. Basically, my canine was stuck on the left side of my palate, causing me to have to have done the exposure. I just went to the Orthodontist who put in a bracket on the exposed tip of my canine (which is still in the gums), and there's a wire connected to the bracket, to the wire of my braces. It's quite uncomfortable, and it feels like you got your wire tightened, just in the middle of your mouth, haha. Well, let me share a little experience I had with the surgery procedure of the exposure.

For me, my experience was horrible. They gave me a sedation to calm my nerves, but it still sort of scared me at the fact that they were digging a hole in the roof of my mouth, haha. I saw all of the tools being used, and such. I saw just the utensils, imagine if they showed me exactly what they were doing! I might have fainted at that moment. Well, after the procedure was done, the surgeon put a mould-like putty covering majority of my palate. It tasted minty, and made everything I ate a disgusting flavour. You're supposed to eat soft foods such as soups, oatmeal, noodles, etc.. But my experience with eating oatmeal with that putty in my mouth was horrifying. It honestly tasted like puke, so I wouldn't recommend that you eat Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal when this putty is on the roof of your mouth, aha.

Anyways, after you get the orthodontic bracket placed on the exposed canine, you'll feel some discomfort, and some pressure. I'm a sucker when it comes to pain, so if I could do it, I'm positive you could too.

Good luck to anyone who might have to go through this not-so-pleasant dental experience.


*Melissa ♥.

[Melissalolz]

Dear whomever may be reading this,

I have the same issue with my teeth. I'm currently Sixteen years of age with this problem, and got the Dental Exposure done a week from today. Basically, my canine was stuck on the left side of the palate of the roof of my mouth, causing me to have to have done the exposure. I just went to the Orthodontist who put in a bracket on the exposed tip of my canine (which is still in the gums), and there's a wire connected to the bracket, to the wire of my braces. It's quite uncomfortable, and it feels like you got your wire tightened, just in the middle of your mouth, haha. Well, let me share a little experience I had with the surgery procedure of the exposure.

For me, my experience was horrible. They gave me a sedation to calm my nerves, but it still sort of scared me at the fact that they were digging a hole in the roof of my mouth, haha. I saw all of the tools being used, and such. I saw just the utensils, imagine if they showed me exactly what they were doing! I might have fainted at that moment. Well, after the procedure was done, the surgeon put a mould-like putty covering majority of my palate. It tasted minty, and made everything I ate a disgusting flavour. You're supposed to eat soft foods such as soups, oatmeal, noodles, etc.. But my experience with eating oatmeal with that putty in my mouth was horrifying. It honestly tasted like puke, so I wouldn't recommend that you eat Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal when this putty is on the roof of your mouth, aha.

Anyways, after you get the orthodontic bracket placed on the exposed canine, you'll feel some discomfort, and some pressure. I'm a sucker when it comes to pain, so if I could do it, I'm positive you could too.

Good luck to anyone who might have to go through this not-so-pleasant dental experience.


*Melissa ♥.

Oops. This posted twice. My mistake. :x

[jacklelon]

Good luck for your treatment. Get well man and after treatment when you'll gone fine, plz post the status.

Good luck one's again.

[Efghi]

Hello everybody. I do have problems with my canines too but I haven't gotten my braces yet. I'm turning 21 next mo.

6 years ago i had my teeth x-rayed, and found out that I still have my canines at my palate (I'm not so sure with the terms.) My dentist told me that he needs to take off my "baby" teeth. I ignored doing so since I didn't want to have gaps between with my teeth for a long time, but now that I'm older, I'm disliking my "baby" teeth. I wanted to have them removed but I fear that the permanent canines might not grow. I'll be visiting my dentist next week.

Is it still possible to have my permanent teeth exposed, though? I'm 21, quite older to have it done. I really need a reply. Thank you.

[uhohitsjackie]

Hey! My name is Jaclyn and I'm currently 21 years old and I was literally in the same position as you. I got my braces on last July (when I was 20) and just had my surgery for exposure this past Friday for my one impacted canine (I still have a baby). You definitely are not too old as my orthodontist has told me and I think if you want to do it you should definitely give it a go! I myself was worried about the removal of my baby tooth and the adult one not coming in, so my gum specialist actually left in my baby tooth but still did the procedure so I have my baby one "just in case". I hoped this helped a little in your decision, I know that for myself it's important to have my other canine tooth so my teeth can look symmetrical! Good Luck!

[Aly302]

Okay.
So at the beginning of seventh grade I went to the dentist for my normal cleanings. They also took some xrays, which revealed that both of my upper canines were impacted and probably wouldn't come in. They said I would need to first refer to an orthodontist and from there an oral surgeon. So we went in for a few consultations from some orthodontists and once we decided on an orthodontist, I got a full set of braces on on July 21st before my eighth grade year. They did not put braces on on either of my upper canines.
They wanted me to get the surgery as soon as possible, and there was no risk for the teeth not coming in. I would have my braces on for no longer than 18 months, leaving six months in that for my teeth to come in. So I had the surgery onNovember 17, and I was put to sleep and I believe it took an hour and a half to actually perform the surgery. Painless. They exposed the teeth and put brackets on them with tiny gold chains attached to the bracket and wire. On they put gauze and inside the cut medicated packing so that I was in no pain at all after the surgery. A week later I went back where my surgeon removed the gauze and packing. That's where I was in extreme pain.the teeth were extremely sensitive and hurt when anything touched them.
A month a half later I went back to the orthodontist were they removed the surgeon's brackets and put on their own and attached the to my wire. After a few Weeks or so my teeth gave me no pain but it did make it difficult to eat.
Now only two months later my right tooth has completely came in but my left one not quite. My orthodontist said it is normal but it also pushed my front teeth forward a lot. But just as party if my braces they are easily going to be put back in place.
Hope this may some what help someone.

[Cecelia25]

I am getting the surgery done in April, I only have my upper 6 k9 impacted and I was wondering what they do and what is it like after the surgery in done?

[sfabiano]

Hi all!

I also want to share my experience. I have both canine impacted in palate. When I started my braces treatment, both canine were inside the palate (left canine is horizontal, right canine is vertical). About 4 months of braces, the right canine started to come down alone without surgical exposure and without braces, alone! (money and pain I save !). At my 8 months of braces, I did the surgical exposure to the left canine impacted, It didn't latest nothing, the surgical took about 5 min. (when I went, I think it would take about 15 min., but no). The maxillofacial also removed me the left baby canine. (the surgical cost 120€ -> 150$)
After a week, I went to the orthodontist, and put me the bracket in both canine. The orthodoncist said me that: "I don't know if the canine will come down, that is something that we'll see with the time, 'cause some impacted teeths are so stick to the bone, but you are young, so we hope it will come down". The orthodoncist said also: "The surgical exposure is perfect! That Dr. it's a genious!"
This is my 3th day after putting the braces on the impacted canines, so It still hasn't moved. I will notice here in a few months.

Bye!

P.D: Sorry for my english, I'm from Spain.

This has been great information. I had a question that I'd like to ask those who have had this treatment. My 14-yr old daughter had her tooth exposed back in November, and although the tooth has finally moved and the next link of the chain reached, it is still not breaking through. The doctor mentioned having the gum tissue removed to help it out because the tissue is very strong. Has anyone ever done this? I think it's a good idea, but after reading some posts, I wonder if it is dangerous (hitting a nerve?). We are concerned now because her front teeth (which is where the chain is anchored through - and not the back teeth as in the picture from this quoted posting) are getting distorted and moved around. Her teeth were practically perfect until this point and it is unnerving to see them like this.

Thanks for all the great advice. We'll be seeing an oral surgeon surely by next week.