Metal Mouth Message Board

magarosecrim, Congratulations on your progress. I understand your desire to preserve the half of your bite that’s been corrected. However, you’re rolling the dice by wearing more elastics than your orthodontist has instructed. An orthodontist worth his salt will overcorrect a bite before stopping el...

Has anyone here has experience with orofacial myology treatment? I've found only a couple of older posts on here with one person recommending it, and my search has yielded only one journal article on the subject, which provided inconclusive results on orofacial myology's efficacy in regards to ortho...

It seems that I'm not the only one dealing with wayward molars. My orthodontist said the molars turned because of the power chain I'd been wearing for three months (due to the office shutting down because of COVID-19) instead of the month it was intended to stay on there. She "stepped" dow...

I hope everyone is healthy and safe. Next week I have my first ortho appointment since early March. I'm curious what it's been like for other bracees who have had a COVID-forced break in their treatments. When you were able to see your orthodontist again, did you find that everything was okay? Or ar...

Hi, Pineapple. It seems to me that your teeth are doing exactly what they should be doing right now--moving. Unless you have severe pain or discomfort, you likely don't have anything to worry about. Fixing one's bite involves the teeth doing a lot of bumping and grinding on their way to their proper...

I can’t speak to how common it is, but I have buildups on my upper canines. I got them about halfway through my treatment to protect some repositioned lower brackets as well as some spikes on the backs of my incisors that are there to discourage tongue thrusting.

Hi. It's been awhile, but this was so unexpected that I thought I'd share it and I'd love to hear your thoughts. A little more than a week ago, I went in for a routine adjustment and got a power chain across my lower arch that was so powerful, the assistant had trouble putting it on. (The power chai...

For the past week, I've been laid up with a nasty bout of the flu I got for Christmas, enduring a raging fever and pounding headaches. Before my illness, for seven months now, I've worn anterior box elastics to help close a significant open bite (without much progress so far, despite diligent wear o...

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....

djspeece, You make a good point. During adjustments, I'm lucky if I get to see the doctor for more than 60 seconds, so I haven't discussed headgear with her. She has a very experienced assistant who told me the doctor doesn't like to use headgear on adults, but the assistant didn't know why the doct...

Yes, I'm sure many of you think I'm crazy, but please bear with me. A little background: I'm in braces for a third time. I had braces as a young kid, then again eight years ago for a clenching problem. This time, seems a heretofore untreated tongue issue pushed my teeth back out of line and gave me ...

You're not alone. I'm definitely in the "things-will-get-worse-before-they-get-better" category. I got my (third round of) braces in late October to deal with an open bite, because I can't bite anything with my front teeth. Since I got the braces, my bite has opened even more. My molars on...

Just about everyone who has braces will wear elastics at one point or another (though I have met someone who went almost two years with braces and never had to wear them). They can be a bit of a bugger right when you first get them, but consistency is key. Wear them, and wear them as much as you can...

Did you just get the bands recently? My understanding is the "glue" used on bands is different than the bonding agent for regular brackets. In my case, not all the glue got wiped off the rest of the tooth when one of my (many) bands was placed, so I could taste it for a bit. It wasn't horr...

Hey, everyone. A little more than a month ago, my orthodontist installed a fixed tongue crib to help curb a tongue thrust issue and allow my front teeth to be aligned. The tongue crib is held in place by thick wires soldered to two upper molar bands. Over the last couple of weeks, my front teeth hav...