Front Flipper Question

[Hey Man]

Greetings,

I had to get a front flipper a while back due to knocking out a portion of the tooth when I was kid and decades later the tooth just started to deteriorate and become loose - so it had to be removed.

Now since I work from home, I admittedly did not wear it often and I think some of front teeth have shifted a bit. The flipper still fits, but there are slight gaps with the surrounding teeth.

My dentist said that if I wear the flipper consistently, it should push the teeth back. My question is: is this accurate or is my dentist humoring me more or less to get me to wear the flipper which I know I should be doing anyway?

Thank you very much.

HM

 

[MattKW]

So it sounds like your teeth are moving apart. Wearing the flipper won't stop that because it rests on the inside of your teeth, and has no way of pulling your teeth inwards, viz., not wearing it makes no difference in this sense.

 

[Hey Man]

So it sounds like your teeth are moving apart. Wearing the flipper won't stop that because it rests on the inside of your teeth, and has no way of pulling your teeth inwards, viz., not wearing it makes no difference in this sense.

Thanks for getting back to me. I guess my dentist was suggesting that the tooth portion of the flipper would push back the tooth next to it over time especially if the tooth has nowhere to go now with the fake tooth in it's way like if the real tooth was still there.

I was told initially that teeth can potentially shift over if there is a huge gap there now from a missing tooth and as I said - I wasn't wearing it, so that is certainly my fault. This wasn't a problem otherwise.

If the flipper won't do anything - what does modern dentistry offer to just fix slight gaps. A retainer of sorts for like two or three teeth? I am assuming if someone wanted to fix a front top teeth middle gap, you don't need the works just for that - both cost wise and whatever device you need to wear.

Appreciate your feedback.

Thank you,

HM

 

[MattKW]

1-3 teeth could be a simple acrylic denture as the cheapest option.

 

[Hey Man]

1-3 teeth could be a simple acrylic denture as the cheapest option.

Do you mean to straighten the teeth - can you show me a photo of what this looks like? I certainly don't want to pull the teeth. Just the cheapest straightening options for one to two teeth. I assumed some kind of retainer that would only be a few hundred dollars.

Thank you.

 

[MattKW]

How about you give us a few photos of your teeth? From front and underneath.

 

[Hey Man]

How about you give us a few photos of your teeth? From front and underneath.

I will post photos, but I am kind of shocked that pulling the teeth was the conclusion here, when the issue is straitening ala a retainer, invisalign, etc. and the teeth are fine more or less otherwise outside of my gum issues I told you about before.

Pulling teeth is typically the absolute final move you make after you have tried 10 other things first to save the tooth and I am not there yet. I just wanted to see what you would recommend. I live in Canada and so my dentist may not utilize some options that your practice does and that I could ask them about.