Metal Mouth Message Board

I currently have 8 molar bands installed. Has anyone else had this many before? Also my Ortho said she will install 4 eyelets ( I think that's what they were called) does anyone have any experience on those? I get nervous at the orthodontist office and forget to ask more questions sometimes :(

I have 8 molar bands. My ortho doesn't like using them, but my maxillofacial surgeon requested them. I felt sorry for the assistant who had to place them. She missed almost all of her lunch break because the bands took quite a long time to place. My surgeon prefers that molar bands be placed on the molars because a lot of pressure is applied to the areas where the molars are during surgery, and molar bands are less likely to detach than brackets. The bands are very difficult to clean, and I am yet to be able to floss between teeth with bands. I just use my Waterpik. But I actually like having them because I'm able to chew harder foods using my molars without worrying too much.

Did your ortho mention why she installed 8 molar bands? It's not really standard procedure.

Ravenclaw wrote:I have 8 molar bands. My ortho doesn't like using them, but my maxillofacial surgeon requested them. I felt sorry for the assistant who had to place them. She missed almost all of her lunch break because the bands took quite a long time to place. My surgeon prefers that molar bands be placed on the molars because a lot of pressure is applied to the areas where the molars are during surgery, and molar bands are less likely to detach than brackets. The bands are very difficult to clean, and I am yet to be able to floss between teeth with bands. I just use my Waterpik. But I actually like having them because I'm able to chew harder foods using my molars without worrying too much.

Did your ortho mention why she installed 8 molar bands? It's not really standard procedure.

She said she had them installed because I have a tooth on both the left and right that are tilted in and kept breaking wires I think. I just never have heard of 8 molar bands before! My sister and brother and a few friends all said they only ever needed 4 and some of their teeth were worse than mine.... so I don't know

Be thankful you "only" have eight - LOL! When I had braces for the first time at age 13 or so, I had bands on every tooth...that's just how they did 'em back then in the dark ages (1970s). Very unattractive and a painful installation (lots of spacers).

I'm hoping for no molar bands this time around. My last brackets are all on crowned teeth, and three of them have popped off and had to be reglued. If any pop off a second time, the tech. has told me that I will have to have them banded.

I have nine bands; all eight of my molars have bands, plus one lower cuspid where the tooth above it kept biting off the bracket.

My orthodontist routinely bands the molars, I’m told, for reasons of anchorage as well as the fact they’re more likely to stay put than brackets while chewing hard foods.

Like Ravenclaw, I can floss between them. They don’t bother me much, except for when I first got banded, when the cleats on the lingual side of the bands dug into my tongue. My doctor refused to grind them off in case they needed to be used for elastics down the road.