Metal Mouth Message Board

That seems to be true in my case too--about 6 months. I had 4 bicuspids taken out and have been in braces 3 weeks now with no sign of closure yet. I would think 6 months would do it though.

Wow! That really is good news! Getting braces off sooner than expected is one of the best things that could ever happen! Congratulations!

Thank you guys! I guess I won't worry about it then. It sure is nice to use this thing to blast away at whatever I may have missed while brushing and flossing!

Brandy: Most of the people working in the office I go to seem to have, or had braces too. Who knows, maybe it a requirement for working there! :D They certainly wouldn't be able to have the same empathy for their patients if they didn't have the experience, that's for sure. Lin: My ortho asst. bent ...

For those who own an oral irrigator, Is it safe to run it until it runs out of water? That means it will run for a second or two dry until I can shut it off. I notice that the motor speeds up when the water runs out and I'm not sure if I'm doing any damage by doing it this way. I just put about a 3/...

Well Dawn, I have a Interplak water irrigator by Conair that I bought at Wal-Mart. I've been braced for a little over 2 weeks now and I use mine after brushing at night. It's kind of like those hoses that let you use pressure at a self-serve carwash, only this is for your teeth. It uses high water p...

nvcarissa: No problem! Actually, I guess you could say I was "testing the waters." I had something happen and wanted to put it out here to see how others reacted, and to see whether or not it happened on a regular basis. I'm just one person (a guy, by the way) and only have my own experien...

Betharoo:

I've heard orthodontics is like bodybuilding; it uses the law of diminishing returns. That means that at the beginning is when you'll see the biggest changes and then things start to taper off. That's why the latter 75% of your treatment may not be as exciting as the first 6 months.

My ortho said to change it every month. I've had my braces just over 2 weeks and my brush is showing wear already. The assistant gave me a special "braces" brush and said I wouldn't be able to buy them in the store. I asked if the ortho's office would supply them, and she said "no&quo...

I just don't like to trouble the waters until I really have to. And admittedly, I can be a little too sensitive about things. I think I drive my dentist crazy too. He thinks I'm too jumpy at every sign of pain! I don't know if that's true or not. And in the case of the ortho assistant, maybe they'll...

My ortho is Ok, but there's a guy who takes his place sometimes when he's gone, and I like him better. He's very gentle when he looks around in my mouth. My original ortho however, is really rough. Once, I explained about a bone fragment that I had sticking out of my gum after an extraction, and he ...

Whew! It sounds overwhelmingly like I should say something. OK, at the next appointment, which is in early April for an adjustment, I'll see how things go and will be more likely to say something to someone and I'll be as polite as I possibly can, depending on how bad the situation is. If I had to d...

I hope you're right about them probably being rude to other people too. That's why I'd like to know if anyone else has had problems like this because it seems rather strange to me, but maybe it's more commonplace than I think it is.

Well, that kind of brings me to something else. If I do call to complain to someone, I fear that the assistant will either get yelled at, and then I'll feel comfortable going there knowing that she, and/or her friends (the other assistants don't like me very much, ya know what I mean? I'm afraid it ...

I had another incident while at the ortho yesterday, the 2nd one in a week. They put in a second set of 4 molar bands last week, (something the assistant surprised me with, the receptionist said was rarely needed, then another assistant said was commonplace with most of their patients), and I was as...