clear ceramic braces vs metal

[cara041083]

Good Morning. I am getting braces in a month. I wanted to bet the clear ceramic braces, but now I am hearing things about staining. I am a big coffee drinker and I wanted to ask opinions on the clear ceramic braces vs getting metal.

[plugnickel69]

The ceramic brackets don't stain, the rubber ligatures do, especially the clear ones. They can use steel ligatures to tie in the wire to the brackets if staining becomes a concern.

[ashgerg]

I have the ceramic ones and I am a BIG coffee drinker as well. I just drink mine with a straw and it isn't really an issue. Yeah, the ligatures are what stains. I get the 'pearl' colored ones, and they don't stain AS BAD as the clear ones. The day before my 1st adjustment (when they were stained the worst due to it being 6 weeks) you couldn't really tell they were stained unless you were really close to me. My fiance said he could only tell if he was looking for it.

If you are worried about it, try the pearl or clear ones they would usually use first and you can always change to the wire ties or even a color, if you would like. I've heard some people use the 'smoke' colored ones with the clear brackets as well.

Good Luck!

[sirwired]

There are also self-ligating ceramic braces available. 3M (Clarity SL), Ormco (Damon), and I'm sure others, have them. No ligs, no staining.

From what I've seen here, it isn't coffee that you have to worry about... the one everybody complains about being insta-stain is curry powder. I'm going to make a guess that you also want to avoid Tumeric. (It's the bright yellow spice that makes yellow mustard eye-popping yellow, and is in other spice mixtures.)

Beverages high in tannins (hot tea and red wine) may also be a problem.

[cara041083]

Thank you everyone! I am so ready to start this process. I just want to make the best of the two years I have to ware them.

[Uglybetty1]

I have ceramic on the top and metal on the bottom and I'm a big tea drinker. The wire that connects all my brackets together stains yellow quite quickly, but it's a very faint yellow colour. I keep away from currys!

Does anyone have any ideas for non staining food? My diets really boring now!

[jaime]

I have ceramic braces on my "social 6" teeth and get the clear ligs for them.

I drink black coffee like it's going out of style and I don't bother with a straw. Of course the ligs are stained, but they will stain whether you drink coffee or not. I personally don't understand what everyone is talking about with noticeable staining, that has not been my experience at all. The only thing I could see that was stained was the bonding glue, so I had the ortho assistant drill off what they could.

I eat and drink all sorts of dyed and/or dark foods and I don't think my ceramic braces look any different from the day I got them. Maybe my experience isn't the norm, but I don't think there's anything to worry about.

[bjohnson207]

I have ceramic on all top and metal on bottom. I always get Pearl ligs. Staining has never been a problem really for me. I think I am the only one who notices the discoloration. I have drank coffee every single day some weeks I use a straw some I don't and I cant really tell the difference. Usually I can see some staining on the sides where I chew but that will happen no matter what. Most people don't even notice that I have braces at all so I quite worrying about staining.

When im in the bathroom with my face three inches from the mirror with the bright lights on......... we all do it...... they yes may look a bit yellow.... but no one other than me will be three inches away from my mouth examining my brackets for staining..... hubby has ulterior motives when he is that close...

[NeilH]

I went for metal brackets top and bottom and haven't regretted it for a second. Staining can occur with any elastics, it's just less noticeable with metal brackets.

[Namaste]

Awesome! Congrats! I have the traditional metal braces as well. Had them for 2 weeks and a day. Happy to hear your on your way to a beautiful smile!

[touchofhiddencharm]

I chose ceramic on top and metal on the bottom. No one noticed I got braces. I had to tell everyone. That's what I like. And they're pretty much invisible in all of my selfies. Lol. I get staining on my bands when I eat teriyaki, honey mustard, and soy sauce (all look light yellow). Ketchup and spaghetti sauce and bbq sauce don't have much effect especially when I brush after. I get pearls also. And if your ortho is close they should change them no problem if you have a big event or holiday coming up

Oh and Ive gotten colored ones on my clear before and it looks kind of cool too whatever floats your boat

[nnaatt]

I'm leaning toward ceramic on top and metal on bottom. This made me feel better about the potential staining!

[Felina Grimm]

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one here with an all-metal set. I'm having too much fun with picking lig colors every month. I wouldn't wear white nor clear ones as I love my coffee and dark foods.

[nw6504]

I have ceramic braces on the top front 8, and metal on the rest of the top and metal on the bottom. I like getting the "smoke" rubber bands, they don't stain that bad. I drink coffee regularly. You can tell a difference when the new rubber rings are on, they look cleaner but I don't see it as a big deal, pretty much only you are going to notice. I go in every 6-8 weeks. I can't wait to get them off though!

[MrsCharisma]

I have used pearl ligs nearly every visit; but I go every 4 weeks. So it was never TOO bad. Now that I've been going every 2 weeks I have just been throwing caution to the wind!

The only thing that I worried was ACTUALLY staining my brackets is when I tried to sneak and eat a Twizzler! I know, I shouldn't be eating that anyway. So I never tried to eat another one