Fig.4	Fig.5

Four weeks after surgery, the wound heals (Fig.4).  The orthodontist uses a small rubber band to tie the gold chain (blue arrowhead) to the metal wire above (white arrowhead) to facilitate the eruption of the impacted 2nd molar.  Another six months later, Michael returns for cleaning.  The impacted 2nd molar almost makes its appearance.  You can see a bulging area (Fig.5 black arrowheads), just like a flower almost blossoming.  Another hint of the tooth coming out is that the gold chain is shorter in Fig.5 than that in Fig.4 (blue arrowhead). The thicker wire above is bent (compare Fig.4,5 white arrowhead), suggesting that it has a lot of tension and tries to pull the impacted tooth upward with the help of elastic (rubber band). Return to main article

Xin Wei, DDS, PhD, MS 1st edition 07/31/2011, last revision 07/31/2011