Metal Mouth Message Board

I agree about the every-three-month visits to the hygienist. I did this and the ortho unfailingly complimented me on how clean my teeth were. I figured it was part of the price of doing braces properly. But I'm not so sure about brushing until it stops bleeding. Won't that just irritate the area mor...

Bee yoo ti fullll!!! Congratulations!

It can be hard to believe at first, but you do get used to braces. You'll forget you even have them on. And what a great thing that you will have the experience and understanding when your son gets his braces. Distractions do help, as does taking extra good care of yourself and pampering yourself wh...

OK all, it's been two years, two months, and four days of braces, and now I'm free!!!! Here's where I started in February of 2005: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/jellowb/before.jpg And here's the brilliant result: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/jellowb/teethaftercopy2.jpg I am so happy! ...

HJ, I'm so happy for you! You have put up with that (your choice of words here!) headgear for so long and have been so responsible and patient. You have been of such great help to the rest of us who have struggled with headgear that this news just makes my day. Congratulations!

I believe one of the reasons salt is so helpful is that it is alkaline, and so neutralizes some of the acids in your mouth that can add to irritation. In any case, it works. I love that and I love wax, also a nice low tech problem solver!

I usually take them out before eating, which makes things a lot simpler -- especially when you have a LOT of elastics. Meanwhile, however, I do find elastics have somehow traveled to all parts of my house . . .

Good ideas! I think I've come up with another one. Since it will be April, I think I'll get seed packets and gardening gloves, with several seed packets going to each person so they can trade if they want to. That could be fun. But I have three weeks yet (only three weeks! yessss!) so I'm still thin...

Hi all, I'm happy to say that I'm nearly done with braces and will be moving on to retainers in mid-April. Hooray! I am now trying to think of how best to thank the many wonderful assistants in my ortho's office. Has anyone else here done this, and what did you give as a thank you gift?

In the course of my treatment I have had "slenderizing" done on almost every tooth. I've had exactly zero problems because of that procedure. Of course it must be done carefully, but I'm grateful that it's enabled me to keep all my teeth. I would've had extractions if I'd needed them, but ...

Fantastic news and fantastic results! You have gone through so much to get here . . . many congratulations. Enjoy your fabulous new smile!

The one thing in your original post that gave me great pause was that your orthodontist only had two types of elastics. That makes no sense. Elastics are easy to come by in a wide variety of sizes and weights. This alone tells me you should definitely get at least one additional professional opinion...

No contest for me, I've got all metal. I did consider ceramics, but was told that metal was smaller, cheaper, faster, and easier to remove. The clincher was that my ortho prefers working with metal brackets. I figure I will get better results if I go with the material the ortho likes best.

Parents may have a bit of guilt over not being able to help you out with this earlier in your life. They may also just want to protect you from any kind of discomfort. But the technology has changed so much since you were younger, and since THEY were younger, that they may not be aware that it's not...

Thanks, everyone. And I just realized that that photo was taken when I got home from the ortho, and they hadn't added in the chipmunks! Those are two triangles, each off a lateral and connected to the two teeth below it. As of Feb 8 I've had braces on for two years. I'm told that one of front teeth ...