Metal Mouth Message Board

Nice alliteration, huh?

So this has been going on and off, but getting progressively worse. I should have asked my ortho about it the last two times I saw him, but I keep forgetting. I also should have asked the dentist, but I was afraid the dentist would just say that I should ask the ortho. Anyway, I'll ask the ortho in two weeks when I go for my next adjustment...

There's maybe 1/4 inch of palate (less than 1cm for you metric folks) exposed between my nance and the back of my front teeth. It takes the brunt of the forces when I bite into things. Like if you eat a sandwich... when you bite into it, the piece you are biting off touches/scrapes against your palate just behind your front teeth. So it's all getting concentrated in that little area. Plus, I keep nailing it with pointy hard things when I'm chewing, like pretzels and toast and chips. Even when I bite the pretzels with my molars and chew them with my molars.

I have an old impression from before I got the nance, and I did start out with a bit of a bump in the midline of the palate there. This bump has just become horribly inflamed and painful. Sometimes it's worse than others. I just realized today how swollen it is, though.

I've tried sucking on cold stuff, like ice cream, but that hurts my teeth to have it there for that long.

Here's what I'm talking about...



Any suggestions until I see the ortho (and after, since the nance is with me until I close these gaps... 6-12 more months).

Yup... I definitely chew with my molars, far away from there. Unfortunately, my extraction gaps severely limit my useful biting range. I'm pretty much stuck with using those front teeth if I want to do any real damage to anything.

I've been doing some salt water rinses, but I could add some more.

My ortho did "see" it on Monday. I was in there getting a molar band fixed. It was certainly there to be seen. He didn't say anything, though. And I was focused on getting the molar band fixed correctly.

I guess I'll have to switch to some softer foods for a little while, at least.

The other disturbing thought is that there are nerves and blood vessels that travel through a hole in the bone right around that spot. I hope it's nothing serious dealing with those, but just a soft tissue irritation. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incisive_foramen for the general idea.)

I wonder if perhaps your Nance is a little tight, Cowlypso, and so that piece of gum is getting pinched and therby inflamed. My nance isn't as far forward as yours, but the leading edge of it can irritate my palate sometimes.
I'd definitely give your ortho a call. There might be something he can do to relieve the pressure and inflammation.

Good luck!