Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi legallykourt, I’m 25 too and starting my journey in a few weeks, how are you finding life with braces? Hope all is well with you I'm already out the other side with retainers, two years in braces. You get used to it pretty quick and hardly anybody notices, unless you tell them. Ibuprofen and den...

I really don't think you should worry about this. Most of us are way more conscious about our braces, wires, bands and so on then those around us.

Stupid questions are usually what an orthodontist does best. While orthodontics is both art and science, your ortho should be able to explain why they are doing what they are doing with some element of simplicity. I don't know if you are paying a set fee for your braces or by the appointment, but I ...

Here's another thumbs up for ibuprofen and sensodyne. Ibuprofen was my best friend through my braces adventure.

Exact same problem here. The issue is that to open the bracket they are pulling on your tooth and to close the bracket they are pushing on it. I asked my ortho if there was a better tool to do this and they said no. What they need is something that levers the bracket open, and a pliers that curves a...

l would do my best to fix it and then call your ortho. I had a power chain break and didn't notice it. Instead of pulling my teeth together it pulled half of them one way and half the other which opened a gap. Not saying this will happen to you, but if it's easy to get to your ortho I would let them...

Well, this is a new one on me. You might try some mouthwash especially made for braces. Most of these things come and go.

I had self-legating ceramics on the top front teeth and self legating brackets on all the rest. Worked out great although it was often uncomfortable when they had to open and close those little doors that hold the wire in place. And, yes, I was really nervous before I started my journey but I'm real...

Okay, braces are off and I'm in a clear retainer. Right now I'm supposed to wear the retainer for 12 hours each day, 8 hours of sleep plus 4 hours. When I get up in the morning and remove my retainer my front teeth are together, but by the end of the day, when it's time to put the retainer back in, ...

So sorry you are going through all this. I'm wondering if some of the things you are describing are due to stress and anxiety. Tensing up can make your jaw, and other parts of your body really, really achy. Stress and anxiety will often cause weight loss which can lead to some of the things you are ...

Power chains are the worst. I used Ibuprofen and it worked well for me. Also, when I first got my braces I had a lot of sensitivity and started using Sensodyne which also worked well for me.

After they first put my braces on I thought I was going to be eating smoothies for the rest of my sentence. Ibuprofen became my best friend and soon my braces became the norm. Just go about your life and try to forget about them. Soon you actually will forget about them.

Got mine at 68. Now I'm at the retainer stage and I'm glad I did it. All I can say is it was a bizarre adventure.

Just got my braces off and I'm looking to do a little whitening. My ortho gave me some bleach to put in my retainers but the stuff is really irritating. I'm now using that charcoal powder everybody is raving about but I'm wondering if the stuff is bad for you, although the reviews on Amazon are grea...

Your ortho may not place your elastics evenly, depending on what they are trying to accomplish. Towards the end of my treatment my bands were offset so one side was showing and the other side was not. People kept asking if I screwed up but my ortho assured me that was what he wanted. I thought it wa...