Metal Mouth Message Board

I agree 100% with every word of thanks - thank you for your endless support of everyone on this board - it has meant a lot to me personally to read your words of encouragement!

I had gum grafts done using my own tissue but I was talking to my boss one day and found out he had grafts done with donor tissue - but he called it - hold on to your stomachs people - cadaver tissue - yuck!!! But as gross as it sounds, he said it was SO easy to get done because the experts say that...

I understand exactly how you feel. When I first got my braces on I felt like my lips were sticking way out - people kept telling me they didn't but I know they did - I kept saying, "I can see that they are sticking out!". But I suppose other people weren't staring obsessively in the mirror...

Please don't beat up on me for saying this but...everyone that is saying "I'll wear my retainer 24 hours a day!" doesn't have a retainer yet. I do and I don't want to scare anyone but the reason people end up not wearing it much is that IT IS AWFUL! I'm not kidding folks - it's awful! I ha...

My front teeth flared out at the bottom even more before the bonding. When I got the teeth on either side of the fronts bonded, my dentist shaved the fronts a little bit but they still bother me - I'm a little worried about it, actually. I thought my ortho would shape them right after the braces cam...

Well, I am almost there - I just got my top braces off and I will get the bottom ones off in a couple of months. I'm attempting to post pictures - I think you can click on them to see a bigger image - I hope it works - if not, I'll try again. Now, my teeth appear very yellow in the second picture bu...

My otho said no to popcorn too but after about 6 months of braces I decided to try it. And honestly, it was fine! I really don't see what the big no-no is...you just have to be careful but with braces, we have to be careful with everything we eat so what's the big deal? It's kind of a hassle to clea...

I always took my elastics out to eat - I know some people can leave them in and they are just fine but I never could. I was obsessed about putting them back in immediately though - I can only think of twice in the 4 months or so that I wore them that I allowed an hour or so to go by after eating bef...

I don't have a picture yet but just to let you know - once my ortho made enough room on the top around the small teeth (so that I had big gaps around each tooth - this involved repeated trips to the dentist to see if there was enough space - he kept saying he needed a little bit more room so back to...

I just got the two teeth on either side of my front teeth bonded - they were really small and now they are about the same size as the rest of my teeth. My question is this - how strong is the bonding? I am afraid to bite into ANYTHING. My dentist told me not to do anything like bite into an apple. W...

I am settling for less than perfect, mainly because of time, money and age. Look, I'm 41 - my teeth are not going to look perfect unless I spend thousands of dollars (in addition to the thousands I have already spent!), have surgery and have some major cosmetic work done. I had crooked teeth - now I...

What do they do - they correct your bite. How often do you get them changed by your ortho - your ortho will put them on during your visit and give you probably 2 bags of them to take home with you. From then on, you will change them several times a day, probably when you first get up, each time afte...

Today the ortho said that he would take my top braces off at my next appointment on June 15th - he wants to keep the bottom ones on for another couple of months to do some tweaking. I can't even explain the feeling - hearing that news might be even more exciting than actualy getting it done! He took...

Hang in there! Gosh, everytime I go to my ortho I pray he will say "You're done with elastics!" but everytime I get an even worse configuration than the last! I know it's helping but I feel your pain...it's the pits!

I'm sorry the replies are slow coming - I DO wish you well but...gosh, your smile looks so beautiful that it's hard not to be incredibly jealous! Honestly, your teeth are beautiful! But I know bite problems are serious and braces suck no matter why you have them. Good luck to you!