Metal Mouth Message Board

My braces are being done gratis. A very reputable local office agreed to do them at no change for me. My insurance did not cover any adult orthodontics and I could not afford braces. I am a stay at home mom but am very self conscious of my smile and my open bite interfered with eating. My total trea...

Thank you futurefbi07! You brought up some great things. This is actually my 2nd round of braces since the first time I was much younger and didn't take it seriously. I NEVER wore the elastics or the retainers and my teeth shifted back after a few years. So this time I am giving it my full cooperati...

When I went for my ortho consult he was adamant that he could make my teeth look better, but that I should never expect my open bite to completely close without surgery because it was due to a skeletal issue. For me, any improvement was better than how my teeth currently were... But only 3 months in...

Thank you everyone for all the kind words of encouragement! It's been a little while since I posted about my experience with elastics. Since then I've had another adjustment which only included adding a third elastic in an upside down V configuration and the good news that my estimated treatment tim...

Thank you everyone! So far day two is much better. I don't have the immediate desire to crawl under a rock and hide all day. Lol. My total sentence is 15 to 24 months braced. So far all I know is 5 weeks of current elactic configuration. It will depend on my cooperation and how well my teeth respond...

That is exactly how I felt this morning when I woke up. Had my first adjustment yesterday which included a new archwire and elastics. My top front two teeth are tied together to prevent a gap that the elastics can cause. The wire is 0.16 but was custom bent by the orthodontist. The elastics run from...

My first adjustment is on Feb 10th! But unfortunately I will be going back in on Thursday (was supposed to go yesterday but my son has the flu and it's snowing pretty good today) to get another bracket fixed. The first one spontaneously popped off by itself, but this one was an accident. My daughter...

Well, I didn't even have my braces on for 48 hours and I had a bracket pop off. So while I had my appt to get it fixed I asked about the brackets I have. I was told the office uses the BEGG technique. After the initial soft archwire, the doctors custom bend archwires during treatment and the bracket...

I did ask what kind they were and can not remember what they said :/ the archwire goes into a slot and a pin resembling a small railroad spike goes into a tube and holds the archwire in and is then bent around the bracket. So far they have been really easy to keep clean and haven't trapped much food...

I wasn't offered the surgery by my orthodontist but he showed me my xray and explained that my open bite is skeletal and that i shouldnt expect perfect results, but it will be better than without treatment.

Thank you! I really wish I had fully understood the importance of following your orthos directions the first time I had braces. I had a rapid palatal expander for 6 months when I was 15 and then wore braces for 3 years. I never got the results intended because I didn't wear elastics as instructed an...

Wow, awesome progress! It's seeing pictures like these that make me feel confident that I can achieve good results for an open bite without surgery also. I was given an estimate of 15-24 months and told not to expect perfect results but that it would be better than it currently is.

Wanted to share some photos. The before was taken right before going into orthos office and the after was taken a few hours after they were put on. Not going to lie... These things HURT! Taking it one day at a time and hoping i adjust to them soon! *edit- need to edit photos and will try to post aga...