Impacted teeth don’t have to negatively impact a child’s smile.
It’s exciting when your child’s permanent teeth come in. But sometimes things don’t go as nature planned. When a tooth fails to “erupt” through the bone and gums (usually one of the upper canines), it’s considered “impacted.” And that can be trouble.
It’s important to take care of impacted teeth before they erupt in a way that damages neighboring teeth or becomes infected. In some cases, impacted teeth have been known to form cysts. So don’t delay treatment.
Working closely with your child’s orthodontist, we “expose” the impacted tooth and guide it into place
The procedure:
First we numb the area. Then make a small incision to push back the gums to reveal the impacted tooth. In certain cases, we use a laser to stop the bleeding before we attach an orthodontic bracket to the tooth. In some cases the tooth remains “exposed.” If necessary, the wound is closed with sutures. And, sometimes we cover the surgical site with a special Band-Aid to help with post-operative discomfort.
The area may be tender for 4 to 5 days, but shouldn’t prevent your child from attending school as soon as the day after surgery. For more information, click here.