Metal Mouth Message Board

Hey all! Just thought I'd stop by after being inactive for over a year. Admittedly, since I'm in that boring "bite correction" phase of treatment, there hasn't been much going on visually in ye' olde mouth. It's so boring that even my ortho stopped taking pictures after getting shots for S...

I have had molar build-ups of varying height for the past 18 months, so I understand the annoyance/hassle they can pose. May I add to the list: - Scrambled eggs (with some sharp cheddar cheese or chili pepper to mix things up). Eggs are still a great standby dinner if your teeth are sore, especially...

My understanding is if they're loaded right away (ie. connected to elastics, spring, etc.) there's less of a chance of them failing. If you're concerned, you could always ask your ortho if you can come in right after having them put in so you can start putting them to use right away. Also, I've had ...

If there was a lot of drilling and whatnot going on with the tooth that was filled, the ligaments holding it in place may be slightly irritated and, I would imagine, having braces just makes it worse. My dentist and endodontist have gone as long as waiting six weeks to see if I'd need a root canal (...

Dry socket usually develops within 48 hours (basically, your pain gets worse rather than staying the same or getting better, so you'll have a pretty clear idea if it's a problem). I don't think flying will cause it -- the clot would probably have failed to form already. If you do develop while you'r...

Honestly, I don't think anybody cares that I have braces, and nobody but me and the dentists that I saw as an adult cared about me needing braces. If somebody did care that I had crooked teeth, they never brought it up. One thing, though: Since orthodontic treatment is widely understood, accessible,...

If I recall, I only started posting pre-braces pics once I got my braces on because I felt like I was doing something about it and, in some sense, couldn't be "judged" for having janky teeth anymore.

My understanding is that your jaw doesn't stop growing until around age 23. At very least, you could give the palate expander a shot now and see what happens. The only risk I can think of is your teeth tipping, which doesn't happen overnight and something that you can see happening.

Actually, regarding taking pain killers before the extraction... check with your oral surgeon. Some medications can inhibit clotting, which may lead to dry socket. Also, regarding the curved root, that sucks. :/ I guess preemptively removing the crown leads for more control, compared to having the r...

I poofed up like a chipmunk when I had my wisdom teeth removed, but no swelling from the premolar extraction several years later. Maybe it's because they have to dig around soft tissue to get those wisdom teeth out sometimes. And yeah, I couldn't tolerate half a vicodin, so I took advil. Oddly, I ha...

If you had your wisdom teeth plus premolars removed, I can understand why you might be in a lot of pain. However, if it gets worse rather than staying the same or diminishing, you may be developing dry socket or have other issues you should get checked out.

Regarding clear elastics, the latex-free elastics are clear. They tend to break more easily than the latex ones, though. I only know this because I thought I had an allergy, but it turned out that any elastics caused irritation when I first had them. I ended up using the latex ones since few things ...

When the tooth without the spring was finally bonded to a bracket, the next day, I heard this loud popping noise. I thought my bracket popped off, but it turns out it was just the tooth moving a few mms to the left at one time.

Looking at the website in that very detailed report, it looks like they only accept kids under the age of 10. Frankly, I don't see many differences between this system and invisalign, but maybe I'm missing something. In any case, actual action against doctors/dentists seems so rare that I personally...

Springs can be used, among other things, to either push teeth together or move them apart. I had a spring between two teeth early in my treatment. You can see a comparison of when it was placed compared to the day before it was removed (six weeks later) here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30505369@N0...