Metal Mouth Message Board

I had braces for just over a year and a half, primarily to correct a bite problem and to correct some minor crowding in my bottom teeth. The braces came off mid-July of last year and I've been wearing a Hawley retainer religiously since, now arriving at the 6-month mark next week. If I have the reta...

I had no more 'room' in my mouth for fixing my midline, that is, the ortho doesn't leave gaps or anything like that for fixing that sort of thing. As I understand it the midline elastic rotates both arches sideways until the teeth in the middle match up. The YouTube video above is a great demonstrat...

Obviously I'm not familiar with your particular case but in mine, my midline was off by about the same amount (maybe a little less) and it was fixed with a midline elastic. I had to wear it for about 3-4 months and my orthodontist actually overcorrected it, that way upon removing the braces it settl...

I would definitely talk with the orthodontist so that you can be reassured that it's all part of the long-term plan. At the onset of my treatment I was warned repeatedly that things would get worse before they got better. I started with a cross bite on the sides and an edge-to-edge bite in the front...

It's hard to tell from the head-on angle of your photo, but if I am correct that your bottom teeth are slightly ahead of your top teeth, then yes that is an underbite. I had something very similar to start--an edge-to-edge bite in the front, an overbite on my right side, and an underbite on the left...

Stains on the lingual side only is very lucky. In my case I looked like I had severe periodontitis and bone loss at spots where the teeth meet the gums as well as staining around the brackets so it seemed like I'd had a few teeth knocked out at certain angles. I had to attend a wedding with my teeth...

I had the same issue with a mouthwash (provided through my ortho's office when I started treatment no less) causing brown stains on my teeth. Over the course of 2 months I developed staining that was so severe that from certain angles it looked like I was missing teeth. Ironic when you have metal co...

Yes as everyone is saying, the techs spend more time with you than the orthodontist during the course of your treatment. When you do your consultation you meet with the ortho and make a lot of your decision based on him/her and what you're told, but the truth is that you end up working more with the...

When I first got braces I started clenching my teeth. Going into braces I had an edge-to-edge bite and I could close my teeth. When I got braces I got bumpers in my back molars, making it impossible for me to bite down all the way. I think this is what messed with me the most, because for the first ...

Yes it really does ebb and flow. When I first got braces it hurt to chew soup or brush my teeth. I thought I was going to be like that for 1.5 - 2 years. I actually cried the first day because I couldn't eat steamed white rice. It slowly got better and as the pain went away, I also learned to eat no...

Yes definitely I hear you. This is the only time I've questioned and been concerned about something she's told me to do. I just can't help but wonder if I'd still be in the old configuration if I hadn't said anything, wasting precious months of time and adding to the overall amount of time I'm in br...

I'm over a year into a year-and-a-half sentence to resolve some mild crowding and a crossbite, including an edge-to-edge bite in the front. The bite issues are skeletal and ideally I need surgery to correct 100% but I didn't want to go that far. Therefore I'm in braces and so far it's been fine for ...

I'm currently on month 14 of a roughly 18-month sentence. Lately I've been starting to wonder just how capable and competent the assistants at my orthodontist office are. We do our due diligence to talk to orthodontists, get second opinions, etc. but what about their teams? There's one assistant who...

Yes indeed midline I understand but I'm referring to the aches moving back and forth after having had elastics. In my case the class III elastics have brought my top teeth out about 1mm ahead of and on top of my bottom teeth, and so if that relapses at all, then I'm basically back where I started wh...

Hi everybody I'm here with another elastics question. Hopefully some of you can share your experiences and advice. I got braces one year ago and for the first 6 months my ortho corrected some slight crowding on my bottom teeth. The next 6 months to the present she added class III elastics to correct...