CAN ORTHODONTICS BE USED TO REDUCE THE RISKS OF WISDOM TOOTH REMOVAL?

There was an article in our journal in August 2019, from a Chinese source studying the use of orthodontic traction to help erupt wisdom teeth that have a high risk of nerve injury. (J Oral Maxillofac Surg 77:1575.e1-1575.e6, 2019)

There are certain cases where I feel this could be used and I would be happy to provide this care and coordinate this care. Having said that, there are three important points to consider; 1.) In our practice we take care of many patients with a high risk for nerve injury. We rarely have problems with this as we use advanced imaging to localize the risk ahead of time, and we are careful and gentile in our technique. 2.) The cost of treatment will be significant using the orthodontic technique as there will necessarily be at least two surgical procedures (one to locate and attach the appliance and one to ultimately remove the tooth as it is erupted) and there will be orthodontic fees. 3.) There are no guarantees that the procedure will work. As with any orthodontic eruption procedure – there are a number of variables that we do not control that can interfere with success.

If you are interested in pursuing this care for impacted wisdom teeth we would be happy to discuss it at your consult.

Posted by richardwagner262 on Nov 5th, 2019 8:06 am
Filed under Oral Surgery, Wisdom Teeth, Wisdom Tooth Extracton . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.