Metal Mouth Message Board

Update: The positioner appears to be working after 12 hours of use. There is a slight change already! I can commit to 3 hours a day, often more, of wearing this positioner... so I will. I suppose I should take some before/after photos too.

The one issue is that it's wreaking havoc on my gums.

It's been 7.5 years since I had my braces off (and 7.5 years since I logged onto this board... can't believe I remembered name and password). I wear my Hawley retainer faithfully, almost nightly. There has been a gradual shift of my upper teeth such that I'm beginning to become unhappy with my smile...

cindygal wrote:they look great! What is the positioner like?

It's like a big mouthguard, similar to a sports mouthguard but larger and tighter. It's annoying but now I'm only wearing it one hour a day so it's bearable.

He says that I can practice swallowing the "adult way" by pressing the tip of my tongue to the front end of the roof of my mouth and then swallow without letting my tongue press forward to my teeth. ITS HARD!!! I Oh my goodness I can't even DO that! I just tried and I dribbled tea all ove...

Joney, thanks for that. I did a bit of research and I don't at all fit the tongue thrust profile. I don't breathe through my mouth, snore, drink copious amounts of liquids with meals to wash the food down, etc., but I did have an open bite so that probably was caused by a tongue thrust. I'm going to...

Elastics actually didn't work for me at first. My crossbite was quite resistant- the ortho gave me some hardcore "extra heavy" elastics to get it moving because it wasn't budging, even with constant annoying elastic wear (from inside top molar to outside bottom, way in the back). Then I de...

I've had my braces off for two weeks. Today I went to get my retainer, and the office manager went over my retention plan with me. I was shocked when she said, "Now the Dr. wants you to keep wearing your positioner (huge mouthguard thing) for an hour a day because of your severe tongue thrust. ...

Almost 2 naked weeks... I've been whitening when I can and my teeth are starting to look better. I'm wearing my positioner at night, and for one hour during the day, per ortho's orders. Boy was that thing painful last night! I don't usually notice it, but last night all of my front teeth were aching...

Wow, I am shocked. I've been following everyone's stories here for the past year and a half. I've noticed that AttaGirl2's ortho seemed to have the same treatment opinions as my ortho... So we just figured out: Attagirl and I BOTH HAVE THE SAME ORTHODONTIST!!!!!!!! I'm just amazed, because I've been...

Your profile is so different now! I love it- very cute! The teeth are a bit hard to see as the pic is so tiny, but your profile... wow!

Also, how much does the gum contouring cost?

My ortho does it as part of my treatment, so there's no additional cost. That was part of my reason for choosing him, that he was certified in that.

Thanks for the cat compliment! Yeah, I don't know what was going on with my gums, doesn't even make sense why they'd bleed like that. It was just a bit frustrating- I was so excited to show off my naked teeth. But people would come up to me and say, "Oh, your teeth are so straight... wait, what...

My damon 3's have been off for 1 week! Total treatment time: 16 months Retention: Currently wearing a POSITIONER at night- a big huge mouthguard thing. It's not too bad... I will get a Hawley retainer next Monday. Pictures: Before front: http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y204/yimp2000/FrontFirst.jpg ...

My damon 3's have been off for 1 week! Total treatment time: 16 months Retention: Currently wearing a POSITIONER at night- a big huge mouthguard thing. It's not too bad... I will get a Hawley retainer next Monday. Pictures: Before front: http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y204/yimp2000/FrontFirst.jpg ...

Attagirl I get my braces off this monday (October 2) and I get a positioner immediately. I'll let you know how it goes... they were really serious about the molds they made for it!