my canine is high do i need an extraction?

Q. Dear Dr, I have relatively straight teeth apart from one canine which never quite had enough room to come down properly. I am 26 and now am ready to do something about it. Do u think extracting this tooth is the option? NB It is quite high in my mouth if this makes sense. Would I need braces aswell? Thanks R

A. Dear R,

It all depends on just how high up in your mouth your canine is- and is it on the lip or palate side. The canine is a very important tooth when it comes to how your teeth function together and ideally should be kept if possible. However if it is very high the extraction route is a possible option. From a cosmetic point of view the premolar next to a canine has a profile that looks similar to a canine and can be a good cosmetic substitute for a canine. If the canine was to be saved a fixed brace would be required to allow enough space and to move the canine into this space.

Regards

Dr Julian Caplan BDS
Aviva Cosmetic Dentistry
Director on the board of the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry

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Tags: braces, canine, tooth extraction

This post was published on Sunday, February 10th, 2008 at 1:15 amand is filed under Dr Caplan's Answers, Experts Answers, Q. Missing teeth, Q. Orthodontics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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