Metal Mouth Message Board

YRhino wrote:I may be a total freak but I can't wait until I start to wear elastics. In my mind, the sooner the elastics go on, the sooner my teeth will be straight and I will have a beautiful smile! I don't care if the elastics are in the shape of a chinese checker board, bring it on!! Ha ha!

HAHA! I am the same way!! I cannot wait to be in elastics and to finally have a normal bite! I had trauma to my lower jaw when I was 3 years old, that caused my jaw to move backwards cause me to have an overbite. I am just praying elastics will be able to bring it forward again.

My little hooks on my brackets just waiting to be used!

Ive had elastics for almost 2 months , and unfortunately for me(sigh), theyve hurt the entire time. i only use them at night cause i cant talk w/ them or even slghtly open my mouth... THEYRE THE WORST THING IN THE ENTIRE TREATMENT!!! dont u think so?

Yesterday was my LAST day in elastics... (I HOPE hahaha)


I think my hubby hated them more than me, because of how goofy they looked. I wore elastics for 11 months, 24-7!!!! buh-byeee, so-long!!!

On my last day in elastics I went to see Sex and the City movie. Laughing at Charlotte, I snapped and broke my triangle config and it flew out of my mouth and hit my sister in the face.

sigh, oooooh , the good times....

I second what Mareyaten said.... If I left my elastics off at any time during my 24-7 treatment (which almost never happened) I would be in WORSE pain and I found I would get an almost immediate wicked headache.

The elastics apply force gradually all day long, then when you take them out the tooth would want to move back to its original spot. back and forth all day long? OUCH!! NO THANKS!

Try to stick to the prescribed time as much as possible... Otherwise you will just be prolonging the torture! Elastics hurt, but they do the job if you do yours : )

I started elastics today (June 5) and so far so good. It was odd to brush with them and also eat with them as well.
http://bracesafter40.blogspot.com/2008_ ... chive.html
I have to wear them 24/7 so it will be interesting.

I was told to take 'em out when brushing and eating

Meryaten wrote:Probably part of the reason they continue to hurt is because you are not wearing them round the clock. Is this night only wear per yur ortho's instructions or just your choice?

i wear mine 24/7 and exchange bands when i feel they are loose or i change them out after eating something

every couple of days i get some minor pain (nothing big) but it worries me that i dont have constant low pain every day.. (its like every 3-4 days i get a little bit of pain)

i have elastics from my bottom lowers to the teeth right next to the "two front teeth"

I have been in elastics for 6 months now. I started with light elastics and I have been in 5/16 moose bands for about 4 months now. I used to take the bands out to eat and brush, but I kept forgetting to but them back in. I eat with the bands in ( not an easy task, but it does help ease the pain from wearing them). Wearing the bands 24/7 has decreased my time in braces by 3 1/2 months . I learned the hard way by not wearing them properly, and now I can say I am very proud of the movement I have seen with them.

Sweet L wrote:I've heard you were looking for the Rainbow Passage... I didn't know where to post it, so I put it here.

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act like a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colours. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

I took it from a post of KK
Good Luck

Those words remind me of my quad helix. i used to say that over and over

I got elastics 5 days ago (7 1/2 months into treatment) and they only hurt for a couple of days. Only problem is now my molars don't settle properly (crossbite elastics from inside upper left 1st molar to outside lower). It's just one band. I also have a powerchain that i got the same visit on my "upper 6" to close gaps that have formed. The problem is now that I'm experiencing some jaw discomfort (just in the joint), especially on the right side. I'm guessing that's because that one crossbite band is pulling my lower jaw a bit to the right constantly. Hopefully that's just a normal phase w/ crossbite elastics and will go away. Anyone else experience jaw stiffness and aching with crossbite elastics? Hopefully it doesn't start really hurting. Thanks in advance.

Hey artroxu,

I also have a crossbite and have been in elastics since day one. For the last couple of months, I have been feeling jaw discomfort and headaches as well. The ortho told me to stop wearing them but if I dont wear them, I feel really weird and put them back on.
I only wear a crossbite elastic on my right ( I used to wear them in both, but the left side is fixed)

I will say it is normal, the pressure of the elastics I guess. I noticed my jaw lowe jaw has been moving to the right since the elastics which feels very odd.

Take a some tylenol, advil etc, that helps me sometimes.

Flaka,

Thanks for the reply. Looks like we've been metal mouths for almost the same amount of time!

I've been braced for about 13 months now, and I started with elastics after about 6 months. I was full-time in a triangle (back 2 top molars to lower back molar) for about 2 months and I have to admit that I didn't find that too bad. Then I went to the same configuration just at night, and I actually found that more painful than the full-time. It was like the teeth were continually being "shocked" into moving. I am now in a box configuration full-time (top canine and 1st premolar to bottom 1st premolar and 1st molar - 2nd premolar was extracted) and they are really tight (1/8th" elastic). I've had this for less than a week and they are getting easier each day, although I can't eat with them. However, my ortho is so pleased with my "compliance" that he's not worried if I take them out to eat, as he knows I'll put them straight back in again. And you really do have to do that. You know, even after wearing these for a few days I can feel that my bite has improved. Perhaps I am imaging things because I want them to work, but it does seem easier to chew food.

I've been braced for almost exactly one year. I knew elastics were in my future, and the future arrived this morning. I have a triangle on both sides from upper canine to lower canine and premolar. (This will be the first, I'm sure, of many configurations.) I was told to wear them unless brushing or eating.

Are there any singers out there? Were you able to sing (eventually) with elastics in your mouth, or did you always to need remove them?

Granted these things have been in my mouth all of one hour, and I know it gets better, but at this point I can't imagine having these things in my mouth and singing properly.

Deleted.