Metal Mouth Message Board

I see you guys go on and on about Hawley and Essix. My ortho gave me retainers with different names. They look sort of Hawley-ish. One is called a Begg retainer, and the other I've forgotten the name of, but I've decided to call it Donna

Has anyone heard of either of these?

I'm still a bit tender to be eating the hard stuff I avoided during braces. But to be honest, the first real thrill I had was brushing my teeth - it was so easy without braces, and the brush just glided over my teeth after the polishing.

I felt my teeth held me back a great deal, mostly because I let it. I didn't like having a large gap in my front teeth and I was never terribly fond of it in other people either. So I stopped smiling broadly in photos and I was terribly self-conscious in public. I got quite depressed in my late teen...

Expected was 18 months, actual is 14 months. Was almost ready at 12 months but there was a tiny bit of finishing work to do.

Thank you all. The time is really racing by - I've just realised it is Thursday, so only 12 days to go now! It's not a perfect result by any means, but I now only have a tiny little imperfection with my front teeth that I may well correct with bonding or veneers anyway. I guess I will see what cosme...

I had a 5mm gap between my front teeth. My ortho waited several months until I had strong rectangular wires in place, as he was concerned that my teeth would tip in together. As it turns out, that sort of happened anyway - I had springs on to close a molar gap, but once the gap closed, the force con...

That is a really dramatic change, Rose! I'm so pleased for you. I can't remember how long it took for my teeth to come into line like that, but once it did, I loved the straight edge too!

That is a really dramatic change, Rose! I'm so pleased for you. I can't remember how long it took for my teeth to come into line like that, but once it did, I loved the straight edge too!

Debanding Date! September 4. So that means my total braces time will have been 14 months.

So pumped ... when my braces come off, I'm going to get a piece of square white bread and take a nice even bite out of it

Summer de-bandings! Or winter de-bandings for us Antipodeans Oh my poor cold naked teeth <g>

Thanks everyone, lots of love to you all.

Epyx

Ooh, are we all finishing around the same time, Linda?

Karen - thanks so much for all your info and support over the past year. I'm amazed I'm going to be finishing up with braces so quickly! I was really in this for the full 18 months, so it's huge coming out of it about 5 months early. Meryaten - thanks and congrats on your debanding. Hope the job get...

Had my most recent adjustment on Monday, where I received wonderful news: my next checkup in 8 weeks may well be the end of my treatment! That's when I heard the magic words that I had long been waiting for: de-banding! Yay! When I come back in at the end of July, if all is well, we will make the de...

Thanks guys, your discussion above has helped me to confirm the answer about these strange steel ligatures: What are the important points that we should pay attention to during levelling and aligning? Please explain the significance of lace-backs in particular. During the stage of levelling and alig...

Got what my ortho says could be my final wire - a solid steel archwire on my upper row. No give in it at all apparently, and boy do my teeth ache! Only a few teeth ached this morning, but now it's the whole lot. I couldn't even eat a Filet-o-Fish tonight :( He also put some weird twisted wire thing ...