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I went to the orthodontist on Monday and had my archwires changed. For some reason the tech left the top left wire too long and didn't ask me if I noticed anything poking the inside of my cheeks, and I didn't notice until I got home that she'd left that one long. After tearing up my cheek on that side for a couple of days, especially when eating, I asked my husband if he might be able to trim and re-bend the wire, since he has a ton of tools and is really handy. My ortho's office is quite a distance away, so I hated to go back for something so quick.
My husband sterilized his wire cutter and needle nose pliers and was able to cut the wire to match the length of the one on the right side that wasn't rubbing and bend the wire towards the tooth as well, so it wouldn't rub. I am so happy! Now to let my cheek heal...
Having a handy hubby really pays off...but next visit I will not leave without making sure the tech trims the wire!
Awesome! I am glad you weren't afraid to try to fix the problem yourself! My office was also two hours away. And due to traveling frequently for work and having at one time 12 temporary Anchorage device mini screw implants I was always traveling with medical Tools. In my kit I always carry a sewing needle tweezers hemostat power chain ligatures you name it. The one thing I never was able to do was clip my arch wire because it was always so huge so I ended up covering it with wax which was a good thing anyway because it was my finishing wire!
jfriend33 wrote:Awesome! I am glad you weren't afraid to try to fix the problem yourself! My office was also two hours away. And due to traveling frequently for work and having at one time 12 temporary Anchorage device mini screw implants I was always traveling with medical Tools. In my kit I always carry a sewing needle tweezers hemostat power chain ligatures you name it. The one thing I never was able to do was clip my arch wire because it was always so huge so I ended up covering it with wax which was a good thing anyway because it was my finishing wire!
Sounds like you are well prepared for most orthodontic emergencies. Excellent!
I used wax on the too-long archwire for a few days, but it was tearing up my cheek when eating, because I took the wax off to eat -- didn't want to accidentally dislodge and swallow the wax. It's great since hubby cut it for me and avoided an hour trip to the ortho!
I've done that to myself more than once, using fine side-cutting pliers. No biggie... The hardest part is to see what I'm doing since I'm braced all the all back.
