DD's dental operation - urgent advice needed

[IndigoApple]

My DD (13) is due to go in for a dental operation next week. She has a tooth growing in the centre of her palate which has damaged the roots of one of her front teeth (second tooth from centre). The plan is to expose the tooth in the palate to allow it to move into the correct position, remove the damaged tooth and then have the next tooth along (canine?) encouraged into the position of the removed tooth and eventually filed down to give more of a normal appearance.

Today the orthodontist?s secretary called me unexpectedly (DD is getting the op at the children's hospital) to say that the hospital won't proceed without a treatment plan from the orthodontist, and that before providing this the orthodontist wants to ensure that myself and DD are aware of the severity of the operation. They also mentioned that DD will need to wear a false tooth for some time. I had no idea about the false tooth or that this was so serious and not a routine procedure.

I don't have long to decide. What on earth do I do? It feels as if I have been given a get-out option because they know it might be unsuccessful. (not to mention extremely painful and unpleasant for DD). It almost seemed as if the secretary was trying to talk me out of it, despite the orthodontist referring us in the first place. We have been advised that if we don?t go through with the operation DD?s teeth could fall out but today the secretary said this might not be for years.

Please can anyone advise me?

guess someone else will have better info but i think you need to organise an appt or telephone consult with the person doing the op , and maybe delay until you get all the info you need to proceed. The secretary shouldnt be giving so much info.

Hope things go well

Thanks for replying idiot55. After I read your post something made me check the orthodondist's website and I think the person I spoke to was actually a dentist within the practice . I don't think she introduced herself though. I think you're right and I should try and speak to the hospital and maybe delay.

Feeling stressed!

Have had very similar surgery.
definitely yes to treatment plan, so that the surgeon knows how the procedure fits into the overall scheme of things, makes sense really. Mine was in the palate and had lateral (sideways) roots which had crossed over other things. One of the dangers of mine was that it could do damage to other nerves and I've had various other oral surgery. The temp was a tooth on something pretty similar to a brace, so didn't make much difference at the time, filling the gap at the front of my mouth was more of a priority, obv! Many years (and more dental surgery) later, I have fab teeth. And crowns. But you'd never know which was which :)

MrsShrek how old were you when you had surgery? How traumatic was it? The crossing over roots thing sounds very similar as does the tooth on a brace. What do you mean about filling the gap at the front being more of a priority? Sorry for all the questions. Glad you are pleased with how your teeth are now :)

the surgery similar to the one you dd is having was when I was a bit older than your dd, think I was about 15 or 16. I had another similar one in my twenties, another 'palatal' tooth growing sideways. then a wisdom tooth turned up around 30 (also sideways, getting to be a habit) and had to be removed, but was trapping one of my facial nerves and there was a big risk of temporary or permanent nerve damage if it got "twanged" or damaged. Thankfully I've got an awesome surgeon and she's done most of the ops I've had in the last 20 years, and no damage to any nerves at all. In my case, the tooth in the palate was just taken out, apparently they get at it by drilling a bit and somehow push it out from behind. As the root of the front tooth was damaged already, I had root treatment (filling) and the tooth was crowned when I was 16. It lasted well over20 years and has recently been replaced with a high tech shiny new one, perfect alignment, precision measuring of every degree in my jaw, and incredible colour matching these days.

sorry didn't answer the "traumatic" bit. For me it wasn't, but I'm honestly a veteran of oral surgery and my first op was at 20 months old.

TBH I have found it far more disturbing to have my own dd have her back teeth out (age 6) than anything I've been through myself.
I had good pain relief and even by my teens knew every trick in the book for feeling better. pm me if it would help :)

My DD had a canine impacted in the palette.

She is just coming to the end of three long years of orthadontic treatment which involved a retainer brace to make room for the bigger adult tooth, removal of the baby tooth and surgery to attach a bracket and chain to the impacted tooth. A fixed full set of braces attached to the chain have gradually pulled the tooth down into place. She also had to have braces on the bottom teeth too so that the teeth would still line up.

The surgery was not as traumatic as we had believed- all the stitches were on the gum and a 48 hour local anaesthetic seemed to deal with most of the pain.

The orthadontist was full of doom and gloom to start with about the lengthy proceedure and how it still might not work. I think they perhaps do this to make sure you are aware of how long the treatment takes and will be committed to sticking with it for the long haul.

It has been worth it though. Two more months and the braces come off and she has a shiny new tooth that will last her a life time rather than a baby tooth which would probably result in a false tooth by the age of 35.

I didn't need surgery but when a teenager,my canine destroyed the roots of one of my incisors, the first we knew was when it wobbled and fell out.
The plan then was exactly the same as your daughter, move the canine over to fill the gap and file its point off.
Only it didn't work, all my incisors were left with gaps between them and the canine never grew down far enough to file off.
I eventually had four veneers fitted which look great, although have widened my teeth a little too much.
I really wish I had had the option of having the original lost incisor replaced with an implant or even a bridging crown.

In all fairness,Que, the reason you still have gaps is because your teeth may not have been crowded in the first place which would have left you deficient of 'tooth' to fill the space. This is not the case with everyone.

As an orthodontist, I agree that we can sometimes sound doom and gloom about these things but in the grand scale of all the treatments we do, this can be one of the lengthiest treatments in braces and people often don't realise the commitment involved.

I think the thing to do would be to see an orthodontist for a definitive treatment plan, discuss your options and make an informed decision. A phone call is not sufficient. Hope you get it sorted OP.

Thanks very much for all the replies, it is really helpful to hear from people who understand

RayofSun I thought we had a treatment plan already as we have been under the care of the orthodontist for over a year, and he referred us to the hospital. The last appointment we had was after we'd been seen (twice) at the hospital so nothing has changed since then. I wasn't expecting to hear from him again until after surgery so it was a bit of a shock to get the call today.

Brigit that is encouraging about your DD, glad her treatment is nearly over. How old is she?

MrsShrek thank you, I will PM you tomorrow.

DD is nearly 17- one of the only VI formers in her school with braces still.

Her initial reaction when the treatment plan was first suggested was- "No way- I will put up with a false tooth when I am older!"

But she very quickly changed her mind and decided to go for it.

We had a bit of a wobble 6 months ago as the tooth had come down beautifully but was at a right angle to where it should be and her "doom and gloom " ortho said it might be ankylosed (fused in the bone) which made us think it had all been a waste of time but a new ortho pulled out all the stops and moved it in a matter of weeks.

how did it go? hope all went well and she's being pampered

Hi BrigitBigKnickers, my 13 yo daughter has just had the exposure and bond surgery for two impacted canines. Like your daughter, she had perfectly straight teeth and we never envisaged anything like this for her. Can you tell me how long it took for your daughter's adult canines to appear and how often you visited the orthodontist to get things adjusted? We are looking at once every eight weeks which makes me think it's going to take ages. Look forward to your reply. Thank you.

My dd has been referred to get a tooth in palate exposed and a couple of adult teeth removed to make space for it. She had a baby tooth removed originally but the adult tooth didn't come in where it should. Sounds like the next stage might take a while then