Post braces gaps!!!

[metalliKa]

On 5/24, I got my braces off. The next day, I went in for a cleaning. To my horror, the hygienist said I have quite a bit of plaque build up. She drilled away and I swear, my mouth became a pool of blood. Anyways, after my cleaning, I noticed I have black triangles on my lower front teeth between the canines. At my debracing the day before, my ortho told me to wear my clear retainers only at night. However, after the cleaning and the discovery of the small black triangles, I decided to wear my retainers a few hours during the day as well as full time at night hoping to close those black triangles. It's been a week and they are still there! I'm sure no one notices them except me, but they are driving me bonkers! One is quite noticeable if I pull my lower lip down and if my mouth is free of saliva. It's the size of a sesame seed!

I searched the forum and read that maybe a wrap around hawley can possibly correct small gaps.

Any thoughts to help ease my mind or should I just pick up the phone and make a call to the ortho? I do have a follow up appointment on the 24th, which is three weeks away.

[Aspiring]

To my entirely untrained eye, it looks like there are no gaps. You appear to have full contact on your teeth, closer to the incisal. Looks like gingival recession to me.

Maybe the triangles could be reduced by a bit of IPR and then closing those gaps. I'd definitely talk with a general dentist (much less invested in any one approach, vs ortho is going to think ortho, perio is going to think perio ...) before committing to anything.

[metalliKa]

To my entirely untrained eye, it looks like there are no gaps. You appear to have full contact on your teeth, closer to the incisal. Looks like gingival recession to me.

Maybe the triangles could be reduced by a bit of IPR and then closing those gaps. I'd definitely talk with a general dentist (much less invested in any one approach, vs ortho is going to think ortho, perio is going to think perio ...) before committing to anything.

I was thinking maybe my gums have receded somewhat, but they were in full contact even at the gums while braces were still on. FYI, I do have a missing 1st molar on the lower right. My teeth may have moved after the braces came off due to that huge gap. Not sure why the ortho didn't think of putting a permanent retainer there on the lower 6th teeth.

[sandiego88]

These are black triangles. They happen with teeth that were very overlapped before starting treatment. I had very overlapped bottom front teeth before I started treatment and I have the same black triangles in two places on my bottom teeth. The gums may grow back with time after the teeth have settled. I think the only thing that can be done is IPR to reduce the triangle shape of the front teeth then using a power chain to close the gap.