Impacted Canines
Virginia Beach, VA
 Your teeth must all develop and align properly for them to appear and perform as they ought. If one of your teeth is impacted, this can affect its function along with your overall smile.
What are Impacted Canines?
Your canine teeth can become impacted when one or both of them fail to come into your mouth and instead remain in the alveolar bone (the ridge of bone containing tooth sockets) in an abnormal position.
How do Canine Teeth become Impacted?
Canine teeth can become impacted due to a variety of reasons, including:
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Extra teeth in your mouth can inhibit the natural growth of the canines, and even block their eruption progress
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Overcrowding due to poor alignment of the front teeth
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In rare cases, abnormal growths on the soft tissue of the gum can hinder the eruption of canines
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Genetics
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Removal or early loss of baby teeth
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Teeth with mismatched shapes and sizes
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Problems with the alignment and number of your teeth |
How are Impacted Canines Treated?
Impacted canines put pressure on your surrounding teeth and nerves. This can undermine their structural integrity and cause pain. We have a few options for dealing with this problem.
No Treatment
If this condition is not treated, the impacted teeth will remain buried and could end up not causing any problems. However, the canines could also continue to grow behind other teeth and as they could damage nearby teeth as they look for a path to grow. Impacted canines can also start to eat away at the root of a nearby tooth. If a baby canine is lost and the adult one stays impacted, you can close the gap with a false tooth, bridge or denture. Cysts can also develop around the crown of the impacted tooth moving the surrounding teeth out of their natural position.
Exposing the Impacted Tooth
We can also decide to uncover the buried tooth and bring it into its correct space in the mouth. This procedure is undertaken under general anesthesia. We make a small cut in your palate to expose the crown of the impacted canine. We may also have to extract the adjacent teeth and introduce an orthodontic device, depending on how much space the canine has left to grow.
Braces or a similar appliance will help align your teeth in the proper position. By exposing and aligning the impacted canine, we can prevent future impairments and improve the appearance of your smile.
Removing the Buried Tooth
We usually have to remove impacted teeth when they are embedded in a position where they are extremely difficult to realign and causing problems for the surrounding teeth. We usually perform this procedure under local or general anesthesia. We’ll use a denture or bridge to cover a gap if one remains after the tooth is taken out.
Transplanting the Impacted Tooth to its Proper Position
Shaun B. Rai DMD recommends this procedure when a surgical exposure is unsuitable, and the patient has enough space between their teeth. We start by removing the baby canine and the impacted permanent canine, and then we place the permanent tooth in its proper position. The transplanted tooth is usually braced for two to three weeks so that it can set in well.
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