What Do Springs Do??

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#1 Post by **signingsunflower** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 8:30 pm

I got braced last week and the same day I bit off one of my upper brackets because I have a lower tooth that was hitting it. Anyway, I went back to the ortho today and he took the bracket off my wire and put a spring on. What does the spring do?

Here's a picture of what I mean:

#2 Post by **DireWire** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 8:42 am

As an engineer, I'd say they can either push or pull.

Pulling teeth together doesn't seem to make any sense in your case and can be achieved simpler and cheaper through elastics, so I guess the springs push the teeth apart to create space.

Is it related to the tooth below that is not biting in correctly? He'll need to find some place in the upper arch when he goes in line.

DireWire

#3 Post by **dimeech** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 12:14 pm

he coil/spring is there to move the teeth on either side to create more space so that upper tooth can be re-aligned (and also so that the bracket can be put back on when that happens so the bottoms don't knock it off again).

#4 Post by **funshine** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 12:26 pm

Springs work really fast too. You'll be surprised at the quick progress!

#5 Post by **signingsunflower** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 7:23 pm

Thank you for helping me understand. I bet you are right...he is probably trying to make room so he can put a molar band around that tooth and then re-attach a bracket.

And man....you are kidding about it speeding things along. Tonight I feel a TON of pressure in between those two teeth where the spring is out. I have TMJ pretty bad so it's making my jaw on that side crazy!

At least I know it's working though!