Metal Mouth Message Board

If one of my wires is poking, I just get my mini wire cutters, pour some rubbing alcohol on them and clip the little bugger myself. Considering my ortho is four hours drive away, I don't think suffering for the month is an option. Never had a problem doing this and although my ortho was shocked when...

It does get easier and you'll adjust quickly. Your saliva will reduce to normal in about a week (but that varies). You'll probably find the most annoyance is the damage it will do to your tongue initially before your tongue toughens. Sorry to say this, but you got off easy. Some folks have it way wo...

Hello Badbites. That looks like a good rate of expansion on your upper arch; hopefully the lower will follow suit. How long will you need to keep your expanders? They must be a lot to contend with on top of fixed braces and elastics. How has your speech been with all these appliances? Good luck wit...

Nothing excuses the poor communication or the refusal to answer the phone. Any questions that are unanswered or concerns that aren't explained are a huge red flag to me. A substantial portion of an orthodontist's job is to make people feel at ease. A large part of the success that is achieved during...

Just did my latest wire change and my upper arch is finally expanded enough to start the long, tedious road that is elastics. My bottom still needs a fair bit of time to upright the teeth (as it was started much later). The front pic only shows half of the elastics...there is another triangle on eac...

I'm in a similar boat as you. I've had my upper fixed acrylic expander in since last March, upper braces since April and lower fixed acrylic expander and bottom braces since August. The upper expander will be in for another six months or so, at which time I'll still have to wear it 24/7, but it will...

The current guesstimation is 48-54 more months...my mouth isn't being very cooperative. Expansion is going much slower than originally planned and the elastic portion of my treatment is going to take forever, as my roots are incredibly deep.

Sigh...

I rarely forget about my mouthful of hardware, but I have significantly more hardware in my mouth than most people (full metal braces with upper and lower fixed acrylic expanders). There are occasions that its not immediatly front and center in my mind, mainly when I'm not doing much with my mouth, ...

One of the main goals of my treatment is to expand my narrow upper arch to give my tongue the proper amount of space and to correct an underbite. It'll also upright my teeth, which are canted inwards. My ortho is using a fixed acrylic expander in my upper jaw to start, with an upper brace to close t...

I have one as well (upper)...only turn once a week though.

In 2-3 months, I'll be getting a lower as well, in addition to a bottom brace.

Sorry to hear of your continual troubles...must be very miserable.:( I can't imagine the aching I've had in the last two days being continual...would be very demoralizing. Did your ortho tell you what size wire he's using on you? I just got my first wire a few days ago and my ortho told me they alwa...

Impressive results!! Don't forget to wear your retainers, as you wouldn't want to lose such a nice smile!!

Seeing results like this encourage the rest of us to persevere and look forward to our own debrace days (even when those days are like mine and way into the distant future);)

I'd go for option 2 myself...maybe something can be suggested to push the band back on (or even fully remove it if feasible) and have it properly reinstalled at your next appointment.

My $0.02...

Welcome! I've recently started a similar journey. http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=41750 My teeth are decently straight, but I have many bite issues (hence my username) which will mean a lengthy treatment time.:( Are you simply straightening or do you have bite issues also? A...

I'm in a similar boat to yourself, although I don't yet have the bottom expander and bottom brace installed (will be in 2-3 months when hopefully the crossbite has cleared). My thread: http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=41750 I'm pretty much used to the upper appliance and I'm ...