Oh! the pain - elastics

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Maria83
Posts: 53
Joined: Fri May 01, 2009 1:47 am

Oh! the pain - elastics

#1 Post by Maria83 »

So I need to vent about one of the most popular subjects in this forum - elastics! I was given class III elastics today along with a thing that is supposedly a power chain but it seems to be shorter than those I have seen here and metal. Anyway the pain is brutal, does it really wear off? Since you renew the elastics then I suppose that the pain is also renewed. My ortho told me to change the elastics once every 24 hours but I am thinking of changing them every 12 - this is inadvisable isn't it ? :oops:
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TigerLily
Posts: 269
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2007 4:48 am
Location: London

#2 Post by TigerLily »

Poor you, elastics are hard to get used to.

Power chains can be quite short. My ortho cuts them from a roll on the odd occasion I have one.

I was told to change my elastics every 24 hours, but I have always changed every time I take them off. My ortho, when I told her, said I didn't 'need to' but she didn't seem to have any objections. I was wearing 3 different types at one time - so it was just easier for me to put new ones in (than lay them out in an order so I knew which one to put where).

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BRACEYOURSELF!
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 2:34 am
Location: Australia, Sydney

#3 Post by BRACEYOURSELF! »

Tell me about it, today I tightened my teeth and was given new thicker smaller and tighter elastics. To add to that I now had to put down around brackets that were further back, oh the pain I can barely open my mouth. :?
I am Jack's smirking revenge.

jxds
Posts: 271
Joined: Mon Sep 29, 2008 12:53 am
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#4 Post by jxds »

In my experience, the elastics pain does get better but unlike most other things in orthodontics, it does not disappear completely. I've been wearing elastics for several months already, and every time I change them I still feel the pressure and some mild to moderate soreness in the teeth involved. The rubber bands exert continuous pressure on your teeth and therefore you can hardly forget about them. However, you get used to the feeling and eventually you'll get to a point in which you will feel weird without your elastics in :D
braced 07/02/08, braces off january 2010
sentence: 18 months, upper and lower damons + elastics
Bonded+essix retainers
My story: http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=28298

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