Metal Mouth Message Board

Is this a rapid palate expander? Mine are a bit different (lightweight wire), but my bottom one fits through brackets that are mounted to my molars on rings. My experience with losing the rings has been that the cement does not adhere as long to my porcelain crowns as it would to real teeth, so occa...

In June I went on an overseas work trip and lost my top retainer. That was a real bummer as my lightweight palate expander ended up being $400 to replace. The dentist took new impressions, the lab made new models and I received my new retainer. The upside is that the new one is slightly sturdier and...

It has been awhile since I posted an update. Ever since I had my appliances installed, I go in every few weeks and my dentist uses a pair of pliers to widen the rings in the appliances which makes them larger. It has been pretty uneventful. On the bottom appliance, which is just the lightweight wire...

I do not envy your tongue crib. When my appliance was brand new, I felt like every other letter I tried to form would come to a dead stop at the roof of my mouth. My dentist cut some of the bulk off of mine, which helped a ton. Do you have any little kids? I find reading books to my son is very help...

Whether it got bent somehow or your teeth moved, a quick few minutes in the ortho chair and he/she should be able to adjust it so it lays across the palate without digging. It is worth a visit if it is causing you pain or if you are having to change your routine. I got a big blister on the roof of m...

Here is a photo of my top appliance, palate expander/bite plate. The bottom one is far less interesting and hard to get a photo of, since it is fixed in place already.

I just got my bottom palate expander today, which is a fixed appliance. Now that I've read this food thread, I feel like I am at a huge advantage having a 15 month old, I just have to eat like him, he has 8 teeth and I have limited access to mine :) Some of our kid friendly favorites: Asian style me...

I finally got my bottom appliance today! This is a more traditional looking appliance, it is all wire, affixes to each of my bottom second molars and runs around the inside of my gum line. There are three loops to make it larger as the arch widens. It's funny how my natural instinct is to get undern...

Wow, I was feeling quite low yesterday. Sores are no longer bothering me (I did take some very long breaks from retainer wear yesterday) and all the ligatures are tightened and trimmed. They are working! I have a rubber band holding a spot in one place because the ligature did the job. Also, I notic...

I am sick to death of brass ligatures. On one side they are nice and tight and they only shift around when I eat coarse food. The ones on the other side are quite loose and they spin around and poke me all day long. Tomorrow she is supposed to tighten them all, so that should be good. I will be real...

I posted something yesterday and I don't know what happened to it! Oh well, just a few updates: Ellabelle - I will post a pic of my appliance when my name turns green. Monday they swapped out my rubber band spacers for brass ligatures and boy are they painful when they first go in. They also have po...

I had all of my spacers chewed up by the end of Tuesday, so I got them back on Thursday and I have been very very careful. So far I am doing ok, one has a tiny rip. I'm definitely getting used to them, but at first they gave me a headache. I have 4 total, they are on each side of my second molars. I...

I have spent an obscene amount of time in the dentist chair over the years and recently I have started my very first ortho journey at age 31. I didn’t get braces at a young age because I didn’t want them and no one made me. Our family dentist was pretty bad. I am now on a 2.5 year journey which will...