Metal Mouth Message Board

You will get very good care at an orthodontic school, but the appointments themselves might be a little longer. The residents are learning, so there is some discussion about your teeth, too.

If you are brushing compulsively and flossing and using a flouride rinse, I would be surprised if you are developing white spots. Is it possible that you had a few white spots on your teeth before starting treatment? Sometimes people don't notice them until they are looking closely at their teeth (a...

Hi everyone, i am new to this concept of jaw surgery. at my consult w/ my ortho a year ago (for a clear retainer similar to invisalign to correct only one crooked tooth-the rest were straight) my ortho brought up the option of jaw surgery but i ignored it. now i realize why i need it. my upper and ...

The first and second premolars are actually pretty close in size usually. If you have a lot of crowding in the front part of your arch, it is usually best to have first premolars removed. "Burning anchorage" is really not a big deal in my opinion, it just means moving your back teeth forwa...

I would seek a second opinion from an Orthodontist if I were you. Talk to the dentist doing your work and explain your concerns, too.

There are many ways to tackle the problem of closing space, and the ones you mentioned can all work well. Unfortunately, some people's teeth move more slowly than others. I would talk to your orthodontist about your concerns, and hopefully he can explain the process he is using. If you are unhappy w...

Hopefully your orthodontist can clarify why he is so insistent that you have them removed. It seems that he was concerned about them, referred you to a specialist for an evaluation and that specialist didn't see a need for treatment. Maybe you can ask the orthodontist to call the oral surgeon to cla...

It's funny, some people like to keep their braces when we take them off, others would rather we just throw them out. We don't recycle braces for sure, and I've never heard of an orthodontist doing that, but there are things that we sterilize and use again. The instruments are an obvious example. We ...

"Oral and maxilofacial surgeon" is just the official name, there is not a specific subspecialty, although some surgeons do prefer to handle some more complicated surgeries such as orthognathic surgery (jaw surgery) or extensive reconstructive surgery. The specialty of orthodontics is actua...

Elmo, I left you a personal message.

I've never heard this one before, and I can tell you it's not true. During treatment, your teeth can appear smaller, but that's just because the braces cover a portion of your tooth. If you don't brush well, the gums can become inflamed and cover a portion of the tooth that was not covered before, b...

Scorpette, Congrats on getting started improving your smile! Don't you think now is a great time to work on improving your general health by quitting your smoking habit? Smoking can do a lot of damage to your teeth, gums, and mouth. It stains your teeth, can cause serious periodontal disease and the...

Teeth can go in directions you don't want them to, they obey the laws of physics that dictate there are equal and opposite forces. The trick is to minimize the unwanted movement and to favor the movements you want to see.

If your top teeth hit the ceramic brackets on your lower teeth, this will wear the top teeth down because the ceramic material is harder than the enamel on your teeth. This is not a problem with the metal brackets because that material is softer than your teeth. You can still have ceramic brackets o...

Those problems are all pretty normal, the pain should subside in 4-5 days, although maybeup to a week or two for some people.