Metal Mouth Message Board

My teeth stain easily and no amount of brushing will remove the stains. It's very frustrating. I get my teeth cleaned every 4 months now. The hygienist uses a special tool that sprays baking soda and water on my teeth to clean stains off of them. It's like a mini-sand blaster for teeth. My teeth are...

Hi tdm, I suffered from bruxism before braces. I was also concerned about this (I chewed through one night guard and cracked 2 teeth despite the night guard) and my orthodontist said that the bruxing would stop once my teeth started moving from the braces. Somehow the sensation of teeth moving short...

I've noticed a huge improvement in breathing through my nose. I had upper jaw surgery a month ago (4 piece Le Fort - entire upper jaw was advanced by 1-2mm, my pre-molars and molars were impacted 5mm, and my canines and incisors were brought down 1mm)

I had braces in the mid-80's and received the same advice you did: wear your retainers full time for a year, at night only for a year, and then never again. That was the standard advice given to people back then - I think orthodontists just didn't know that it was needed. Unfortunately, my teeth mov...

Is it possible that they made a "relieving incision" in the roof of your mouth along one of the split lines? My surgeon says that sometimes, when they need to stretch further than a solid piece of tissue will allow, they can make a small incision that allows them to stretch it further.

I haven't had my surgery yet, but based on what I am expecting recovery-wise, I would not want to go through jaw surgery again. I understand your frustration at having canted jaws when you expected perfect results the first time, but if your bite is perfect, I would leave your jaws alone and only co...

I'm not sure how they do things in Australia, but in the US it's standard practice for orthodontists to have patients sign a release form stating that they are not liable for anything that goes wrong and that there are no guarantees that things will turn out well/as planned. The intention is to prot...

They did sand it and used some super strong adhesive and the bracket popped off anyway. I was told I would probably need a new crown when my treatment is over because of how they prepped the surface, which is a double whammy - a perfectly good crown was ruined and the tooth is banded, anyway.

One of my molars has a porcelain crown and the ortho banded that one right off the bat. I also have 2 premolars with porcelain crowns as well and he bonded brackets to those. One is still bonded but the other one popped off twice (after a year!) and has been replaced by a band. Grr.

I had a gap between my upper front teeth that will NOT stay closed without the powerchain on. Every time my ortho removes the powerchain, the gap reappears within a day. I feel your frustration!

I agree with Crafter. If they are disorganized and unresponsive now, while they're trying to earn your business, what incentive do they have to improve once they have your business? None.

RUN!

I can totally understand your hesitation to get lower jaw surgery - I would not want it for myself due to the risk of nerve damage. Since you've gotten 2 differing opinions already, it might be worth getting a third surgeon's opinion to either break the tie or propose something new entirely. Perhaps...

If your bite is correct right now (which I am assuming it is), you will not be able to just do upper jaw surgery to improve aesthetics. Moving just the upper jaw would cause your bite to be "off" so you would need upper and lower jaw surgery to get everything back together properly and hav...

Depending on the case, some surgeons perform SARPE first to widen the upper jaw (involves an expander device that needs to be turned after the surgery to accomplish the expansion), and then follow it with upper/lower jaw surgery later to fix the overall jaw alignment (this is done when a large amoun...

Seems crazy to me that they can do something so invasive and send you home a few hours later....but I hate hospitals and I know I'll get better care at home. My surgeon is very optimistic about recovery - said I should be back to work in a week. I'm not sure how realistic that is (I talk on the phon...