A woman made an appointment to have her teeth cleaned by the dentist because it was beginning to bother her the plaque building up around the bottom of the teeth. The appointment was made for Wed and Tuesday night was going to be the lyl tevillah. Is there any problem in terms of the plaque being a chatzitzah now that she has decided to remove it the day after the tevillah?
Answer:
I saw that Shiurei Shevet Ha-Levi writes that plaque is not considered a chatzitzah, and the Chut Shani adds that this applies even when an appointment with the dentist has been made to remove it.
The reason is apparently that even when an appointment has been made, there is no full kepeidah at the time of the tevilah. True, she prefers it removed, but she’s happy to stay with it until the appointment, and therefore it does not constitute a chatzitzah.
Note that several poskim have addressed the question of a woman with braces on her teeth, but this is slightly different from the question of plaque.
Seemingly the ikkar savarah was also that since it’s part of the body like a wart and needs a professional to take off therefore not a problem. A simple question however I was curious to know if there would be any cholkim. Possible to say this is similar to the case of the Chasam Sofer about a kallah that plans on cutting off her hair right after the wedding if it’s a chatitzah before. Even there he paskens that it’s not a chatzitzah.
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