This is the place to post general questions and comments about all areas of orthodontic treatment. Before you post a question, use the forum's SEARCH tool to see if your question has already been answered!
New Members: YOU MUST MAKE A POST WITHIN 24 HOURS OF REGISTERING OR YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED. In other words, don't sign up unless you plan to actively participate in the message board immediately. This is necessary to keep out spammers and lurkers with bad intentions. Of course, you can read most forums on the board without registering.
DO NOT POST FULL-FACE PHOTOS or personal contact information on this website. We have had problems with people re-posting members' photos on fetish websites. Please only post photos of your teeth, not your whole face. Keep your email and your personal information private. Thank you.
Hi, firstly although I'd love to take a photo to show everyone what I am talking about, I only have my phone's camera and at close range it is just one big blur.
Anyway, I'm 25, male and have In-Ovation C braces, installed yesterday, painfull... yes... for now.
I chose In-Ovation C because they are less visible (ceramic) but on my top archwire I have two small silver cylinder shaped tubes either side of the bracket on my front tooth and one on the bottom archwire, again at the front.
Having these small cylinder tubes make the braces much more noticable... my question is this.... what are they and do they need to be there of all places??
Anyway wish me luck on my year and a half journey to a super smile!
They're there to keep the arch wire centralized, in other words, to stop the wire sliding in the brackets from one side (of your mouth) to the other.
Unfortunately the best place for them to accomplish this is for them to be crimped on to the arch wire somewhere close to the middle (front).
No worries. the one thing I failed to mention is that the thicker wires (later in treatment) don't need these for centralizing as they're much stiffer and less likely to migrate around your arch, the only drawback is that the heavier wires are thicker and thus more noticeable themselves.
I was just going to post the exact same thing. I had my third adjustment yesterday (oh, the pain!) and came home to find these things on my archwires. Good to know what they're for, but wondering why I need them now as I've been braced for 3 months....
thanks!