Extraction gaps.

[Bracesx3]

Hi everyone. I recently had four teeth removed for my braces in December and I was wondering how long does it typically take for the gaps to close? My orthodontist put a power chain on the bottoms, and I have only noticed minimal results. I thought power chains were supposed to close them quickly?

[Sunny]

As a general rule we say that teeth move an average of 1 mm a month. Obviously some move faster and some move slower. 1 mm a month is not much ... but that's the ideal for healthy teeth and gums!

Powerchains will usually work well to close gaps, but if the teeth aren't ready to move, it will take them longer. Also it's important that teeth don't move quikcly, as you risk permanent damage to the roots of your teeth and your gums if they do.

Hopefully your gaps will close as your ortho is expecting.

[Bunny]

Hi bracesx3, I has my upper right premolar removed and power chain applied, it took 2 months to close that gap but then the ortho took it off to let the root catch up with the crown, as the tooth can be pulled to an angle and then applied the power chain again and I am sat here with teeny tiny gap-which is as it should be. The second application of the power chain was to pull the gap closed again as it opened slightly.
It takes a while to "get going" but once it starts the gap close pretty quickly. xxx

[Denise]

I have a gap on the side where I had a tooth pulled. I'm 9 months into my treatment now and it's almost closed up. There is still a little bit of straightening of the tooth next to it to do, once that one is straight the gap will be filled. We are guessing probably another 4-8 weeks and it'll be closed. It's not a fast process. I have a power chain that's supposed to be "helping" too but I don't see where its done much of anything haha. I trust that the ortho says it's helping though!

[Bracesx3]

Thank you for the replies everyone. I know the movement of the teeth is going to be a long process and it'll be worth it in the end but I'm a little bit impatient sometimes!

Also, I've noticed my upper teeth straightening out extremely fast! For the most part they are straight, and it hasn't been a long time. However I haven't noticed much difference on the bottom teeth at all, and that is where most of my crowding is. Is it normal for upper teeth to move faster than the bottoms?

Thanks again!

[stCx86]

I'm in the same boat as you...except i had TWO lower teeth removed...one on each side...it scares because my teeth are pretty much lined up but i still have quite a big gap on one side and i'm wondering how he is going to fix it....i mean the gap is so big to the point that i can't figure out how my ortho is going to close it....=(...but overall i mean I put faith into my ortho because well...we have no other choice...we gotta hope they know what they r doing when they decide to extract teeth....goodluck to u! keep us posted because I wanna know how ur doing...can u post a picture? i'd like to see what urz looks like...

[Sunny]

Bracesx3 sometimes one arch will straighten faster than another. It's important to remember that what we see is the part of the tooth that's out of the gum. There's still roots in the gum and often when the exposed part moves quickly, the root still has work to do. This is why there's often a lot of work to do when there doesn't appear to be anything left.

StCx86 ask your ortho how the remaining gap will close. It's strange how often this happens ... one side closing faster than the other. I don't know the reason ... only that it seems to happen often.

Good luck to you both!

[Anny]

My upper got into shape faster than the bottoms too - don't worry! I had my power chain on for about 6 months. It was a pain but worth it