Metal Mouth Message Board

I understand you can get braces fitted whether there is missing teeth or not, but this tooth is a premolar that the end of the wire connects to with that bracket on it. It was removed by my dad's friend who is not a licensed dentist in my Country, and he basically drilled the top of that healthy tooth to get food stuck inside a small hole. It wasn't abscessed. It wasn't fractured, but he drilled it and it just borke to pieces the coming days.

I have an overbite that I will now need to get braces fitted to correct it, but missing that tooth for leverage.

You can get braces with missing teeth. People regularly get extractions followed by braces, and the braces close the spaces.

You situation sounds a little different, though. Teeth are composed of two parts: The part you can see is called the crown. It's the white part that would have fallen off. Another piece, called the root, is below your gumline in your jaw bone. You can't see it, but it's very much a part of the tooth. When a tooth is extracted by a dentist, the whole thing, crown and root, is removed. From the way you describe what happened to you, the root might still be in the jaw bone even though the crown has fallen out.

If this is the case, braces will not work until you get the root removed. In order for braces to work, they have to move the teeth around. They do this by attaching to the crown, but the root is also moved. Those roots take up space, and they have to have somewhere to go. If your root from your broken tooth is still present, the teeth near it will have nowhere to go. Nor can the root be moved in the absence of the its crown. The orthodontist also will not be able to close the space between your remaining teeth.

Of course, I am not a dentist and don't speak from a clinical perspective. I suggest you talk to an orthodontist about it. He can tell you if it really will be a problem, and he can refer you to the appropriate specialist to remove the root if necessary.

yes you can.

Yes definitely you can go for the braces even after missing teeth. Recently I got my braces for which initially my dentist removed two teeths as there was no space for the teeth to move and get in shape. Just only make sure that you are getting it done by experienced dentist. For more details have a look at http://www.mysmilekeeper.com/