Metal Mouth Message Board

Thank you everyone for backing me up on this! I'm not sure exactly what she meant by her comment to me. But I think one of the reasons children don't say as much is possibly because their parents tell them that they have to go through with this whole braces thing whether they like it or not and they...

While getting my cavity filled at the dentist yesterday, he had to take off part of the archwire in order to get to it. He was also examining how my teeth were moving. I made mention of the fact that I'm only able to chew with my back teeth because they're the only ones that come together now, and h...

Is having teeth filed the same thing as tooth shaping? My ortho said something about doing that with me next time I see him, but I thought I've heard that it means taking enamel off the tooth. That's something that I'm not too thrilled about. That's like damaging the tooth just to make it look bette...

So how often are panoramic x-rays done normally? I had one at the beginning of my treatment, but nothing was said about if or when it would be done again.

Aha! That explains it! My dentist may have told me that, but I don't remember.

At my last cleaning/exam, my dentist wouldn't even do an x-ray, even though I was scheduled for one. He said that it wouldn't be able to show anything because of all the metal of the braces! Seems strange to me!

Thank you for asking! Actually, my cleaning appointment didn't reveal anything, except that I have developed a group of 3 cavities. Yikes! And another thing is that he wouldn't take x-rays because he said that braces just mess up the whole picture and don't allow anything to be revealed because of a...

I don't think so. My ortho told me to stay away from gum that sticks to braces. He recommends Carefree Koolers mainly. I personally don't chew gum anymore because chewing isn't that much fun for me anymore, but I don't think it would do any damage at all.

What's the word on Listerine? Good? Bad? My hygeinist recommended it when my gums were red and tender. Now I have a different hygeniest in the same dentist office and she's telling me that it dries out the gum tissue, so it's NOT good. The dentist himself agrees with that, however, he has a bottle o...

They use devices with the braces to close up the gaps by pulling the teeth on each side towards each other. They are called "chains", which are elastic bands that run along the archwire. I had 4 bicuspid teeth removed prior to being braced. 2.5 months later and those spaces are really clos...

After my adjustment a little over a week ago, I've had a bad pain in my gums on the top and bottom of the left side. I first had it when I took a drink from the drinking fountain at the ortho's office after my first adjustment. It felt terrible! Very temperature sensitive! Since then, the pain comes...

Thanks for the replies guys! Today is the day, and now it's done! They removed ALL of them! I certainly recommend to anyone who is having trouble with their cleats to ask their ortho if they will be needed. If he says "no", then ask for them to be taken out. It makes all the difference in ...

Tomorrow, my tongue will no longer be tormented (hopefully) by my upper front cleats, which have been really tearing up my tongue after the lower ones were removed. Tomorrow at 9:50AM is when they will be coming out. I'll still have the top and bottoms on the rear molars. I hope they don't act up ne...

Kirst1583: If the inside edges are slightly rough, then the cleats were probably there and were ground off when the bands were put on. That's how mine feel right now that were ground off. I wish my ortho had just done that at the beginning instead of making me wait so long. I want to go back and hav...

Thank you so much everyone for the suggestions and sympathy! I think it really is the top cleats that are causing the problem now. It's kind of embarrasing since I just had the ortho grind off the bottom ones. I thought they were the culprit because it's the bottom of my tongue that is sore. I've si...