Metal Mouth Message Board

I've had the positioner a few days and it does not hurt anymore. It's just uncomfortable because it's hard to close my lips over it and I drool. :) It also rubs my gums in some spots, which my ortho told me about beforehand and he said to come it to get it shaved down or something, but I think I'm g...

Towards the end of my treatment I was in all sorts of elastic configurations and my bite kept opening up on the sides and back. Eventually my ortho gave up and took off my braces and put me in a positioner. He said it would work much better than the elastics at this point. Good luck!

I just got my braces off this morning and am now wearing a positioner. I hate it!!! It hurts so bad. It feels like the very beginning of braces, when all your teeth are moving at once and it just hurts everywhere. Ugh, I hope it gets better in a couple of days. I have to wear it for five hours/day a...

Oh, ok. I have zigzag elastics right now, too, closing my bite up. The go up and down across three teeth on top and bottom, both sides. Good to know I'm almost done! And good luck with yours!

Congrats! I think I'm on my last month too. Can I ask you what you mean by "finishing elastics"? What are they supposed to do? My ortho said something about a finishing wire for me when I go in next week. Is this the same idea?

I was 23 when I got braced... I've always had teeth that embarrassed me, but my parents didn't want to do it when I was younger and as I got older I just figured I'd live the way I was, even though I hated smiling and taking pictures. Well, last May I had a baby and for the first few months everythi...

I've seen other adults in braces, but my only experience actually talking to someone came the other day. I was in the restroom at a restaurant and the only sinks were the ones lined up on the wall, so I couldn't discreetly pick and brush and swish in a private stall. So anyway, here I am, brushing a...

I just had braces put on this week and had ceramic in front. My ortho was really talking up neoclips during our consultations and that's what I was supposed to get. But when he started putting them on, they kept breaking and he only managed to get one on and the rest he used wire ties. So now I have...

So I had my two extractions done and am now wearing this retainer... Ouch! I hate it. It's not so bad when it's in, just a little uncomfortable on my gums, but when I have to take it out, it kills me. The tray has to come off all your teeth at once, which would be fine if all your teeth were reasona...

A couple weeks ago I posted that my ortho said he used recycled braces sometimes and I asked you all if that was okay and got various responses. So today when I saw him, I asked about it again, and he said that he only used recycled brackets if someone popped a bracket off and he needed to replace i...

Well, thanks for your advice. I'm not sure what to do. I really want to stick with this guy, but if I tell him I want new, not recycled braces, how will I know that's what I'm getting? I mean, I doubt they'd look any different so he could just tell me they're new when they're not. I'll have to have ...

So I've been investigating braces and orthodontists for several months now, and I've finally chosen the ortho I want to go with. The only thing is that during my last consult when I asked him if he recycled braces (which I'd read on several websites was bad to do), he said yes, sometimes. He says as...

Thanks, Dr. J. If using braces without extractions can cause the teeth to tilt out and come out of the bone, shouldn't this doctor have known that? Why would she suggest something potentially harmful? And do you have any comment on the tongue tie thing? I know you can't see my mouth, but maybe you'v...

Well, I saw my last two orthos this week. The first was a woman whom I liked very much and was very interested in my entire oral history, even asking questions about a scar on my cheek, thinking it might be somehow related to my teeth (it's not). She was very in-depth and took pictures and x-rays at...

That's funny, Kim. That is actually how I felt hearing this, too. I just want straight teeth, and now I have to have tongue surgery and weeks of speech therapy to correct my speaking habits. But a chiropractor is an even stranger person to be sent to by your orthodontist than a mouth surgeon. I don'...