Metal Mouth Message Board

From what I've observed, self ligating brackets have hooks like standard brackets to enable you to use elastics.

Certainly not the only one! Happens to me all the time. I wake up in the middle of the night with everything stuck together. I have to kind of peel my cheeks off the brackets by opening my mouth wide but very slowly while shifting things from side to side to get it all unstuck. One of the things I d...

Even if your teeth look great there can still be bite issues that need adjusting and that usually takes much longer than making things pretty. I'd say mine have looked great since about 6-8 months in and I'm getting close to the 18 month mark and still having fine tuning tweaks done. These last appo...

Dumbest idea ever...having an appointment the day before I leave on a trip. A couple of new bends, some steel ties, and stronger elastics mean traveling pain! Good news is I'm getting so close, just very minor tweaking to get everything to fit just right. They've ordered the fitting for their drill ...

Every time I get a new set of powerchains they feel bulkier than the ones that just came off. Like my lips struggle to cover them, but they really don't. In a day or two they'll just feel like regular braces again. I've had power chains since my second appointment so I'm used to them. They actually ...

I think I'm going to miss having someone look at my teeth and tell me how amazing they're looking every month when I go for an appointment. It's a nice confidence boost.

I don't have any bands around any of my back molars. I have all ceramic except the back brackets are metal. As long as they get the wire fitted properly and trimmed flush with the bracket you shouldn't have anything poking you. Bands won't prevent that anyway, the end of the wire still has to fit so...

I didn't have any brackets on my four back molars for most of my treatment either. My ortho said they like to leave those alone if possible because your bite is so sensitive to any tweaking of those teeth and they can be a pain to get perfect. I did end up needing the lowers bonded with brackets bec...

I got elastics at my first 6 week appointment and have worn them in some configuration or another for my entire treatment. Wear them as directed and in a couple of days they shouldn't hurt as much. I was advised to remove them for eating, you could probably do the same as long as you put them back i...

I had a feeling today wasn't going to be de-bracing day. Got two new bends in my lower wire near my right and left incisors, and a small wire tweak near my upper left canine to rotate it just a fraction of a millimeter more because to me it looks more on edge than the other one. Appointment in 4 wee...

Totally normal for spaces to open up where they didn't exist before. Things will get shoved around into those spaces and they will eventually close up. I had tons of space open up between all my lower incisors and I was pretty freaked out for a bit. Now, either 24 hours or just a couple of weeks awa...

I couldn't tell you exactly what they are doing beyond "moving your teeth and aligning your bite". I've had both sides class 2, then the same configuration you've got now, and now I've got both sides in an upright triangle. With the addition of a midline elastic overnight. Chances are you'...

More patient, use wax. I didn't get far back molars brackets until well into my treatment and they're just on the bottom. Took a while to get used to them, and even now I'll still have a day here and there that I'll need wax. They're just so close to the back jaw muscles that it's almost impossible ...

That seems very long unless you have self ligating braces. I'd be worried that issues would arise in that time span and if you aren't seen more regularly they may go unaddressed. I'd call your ortho office and ask about why they're so far apart. I was going every 6 weeks and for the last few it's be...

I don't regret it one bit. My brushing habits were fine as a kid, but even if they weren't it wouldn't have made any difference in needing braces now as an adult. My teeth just weren't bad enough as a kid to justify that much money and that was back n the day when insurance usually didn't cover it. ...