Exposure of Impacted Teeth
Do You Have Impact Teeth in Wylie, TX?
For most, our upper canine teeth normally erupt at about 11 to 12 years old. Unfortunately, these teeth do not erupt properly and become dislodged and impacted in the roof of the mouth. To expose these teeth and help them come down into position, we can perform exposure surgery, where we simply cut the gum around your impacted teeth to give it room to grow.
Early Recognition and Treatment
The American Association of Orthodontists recommends that a panorex screening x-ray, along with a dental examination, should be performed on all dental patients around the age of seven years to count the teeth and determine if there are problems with eruption of the adult teeth. It is important to determine whether all the adult teeth are present or if some adult teeth are missing.
Early screening can help determine:
- Are there extra teeth present or unusual growths that are blocking the eruption of the eyetooth?
- Is there extreme crowding or too little space available causing an eruption problem with the eyetooth?
Watch our AAOMS video to learn more about impacted canines!
Your initial exam allows us to refer you to an orthodontist if a problem is identified. This way, your orthodontist could place braces to open spaces to allow for proper eruption of the adult teeth. If you need extraction for over-retained baby teeth or selected adult teeth that are blocking the eruption of the important eyeteeth, we can assist. Dr. Ganti is also able to remove any extra teeth (supernumerary teeth) or growths that are blocking the eruption of any of your adult teeth.
What Does The Surgery Involve?
In cases where the canine will not erupt spontaneously, we will work with your orthodontist to get these unerupted canines to erupt. The most common scenario will call for the orthodontist to place braces on the teeth and create space so the impacted canine can be moved into its proper position in the dental arch. If the baby eyetooth has not fallen out already, it is usually left in place until the space for the adult eyetooth is ready. Once the space is ready, your orthodontist will refer back to our team to remove the baby canine tooth and have the impacted adult canine tooth exposed and bracketed.
In this procedure, the gum on top of the impacted tooth will be lifted up to expose the hidden tooth underneath. If there is a baby tooth present, it will be removed at the same time. Once the tooth is exposed, we will bond an orthodontic bracket to the exposed tooth. The bracket will have a small gold chain attached to it and Dr. Ganti will guide the chain back to the orthodontic arch wire where it will be temporarily attached. Sometimes we may choose to leave the exposed impacted tooth completely uncovered by suturing the gum up high above the tooth or making a window in the gum covering the tooth (on selected cases located on the roof of the mouth). However, most of the time, the gum tissue will be returned to its original location and sutured back with only the chain remaining visible as it exits a small hole in the gum.
We recommended seeing your orthodontist within 7-14 days after surgery. Your orthodontist will then attach a rubber band to the chain to put a light eruptive pulling force on the impacted tooth. This will begin the process of moving the tooth into its proper place in the dental arch. This is a carefully controlled, slow process that may take up to a full year to complete.
