Metal Mouth Message Board

I had four extractions prior to braces (premolars). All the gaps were closed, and I had great alignment while in braces with powerchains. Whenever the powerchains were taken off, the gaps would open up a few millimeters within a day. When the powerchains were put back on, the gaps would close within...

I went in yesterday and got my Nance taken out. I was a little nervous about the molar bands coming off, but that wasn't bad. She took the Nance out, and it felt like I had a huge crater in my palate. She assured me that there was no depression, just some ridges where the skin had grown over the edg...

For me, the scariest part about it was the fact that I was getting perfectly good teeth taken out. I got really drugged up for the procedure, and it went just fine. I got the gas, and then they numbed me. You'd also be fine just being numbed up, but I was so nervous that there's no way they would ha...

From what I've seen, the TPA needs some sort of special molar bands to be anchored to. So that's why I get new bands. Which is good, because I've had a gap in one of my bands since I got my braces, and I've been really paranoid about getting a cavity there. Maybe I'll have him x-ray that tooth while...

Well, after almost a year, I'm parting with my beloved Nance. So sad. :roll: Gosh, it's been forever since I've posted. Right now we've been working on closing extraction gaps. The gaps in the lower arch are almost closed. I've got about 1mm on the right and 2 on the left. It's hard to believe that ...

X-rays will not affect your braces. However, dental x-rays are often of little use because the brackets obscure the view. So dentists generally don't take any routine x-rays while you are in braces because they wouldn't be able to see anything. Likewise, a head CT may be affected by metal braces sho...

The black marker on my upper archwire simply isn't going anywhere. I think it's permanent. I got this wire at my first adjustment, which must have been sometime in February... Now it's July, and it's still there. Oh well. She actually used it at my last adjustment, since my archwire had slid around ...

The lump is definitely smaller. It's hard to tell if all the swelling is gone or not, since there was a bit of a lump there before, just because the palate is bumpy (I have an old cast that they took, and I can see a bump there). But it does feel better. Actually, my mouth felt great today. I fell a...

Well, I had my adjustment today. I complained about the big irritated bump I've got from my nance. The ortho thinks that it's because the front teeth are moving back and pretty much squishing the skin between the teeth and the nance. So his solution is to stop moving all of the front teeth back for ...

I get cat hair caught in my braces sometimes. It's a big pain to get out.

Happy to have you here!

Check out the "How do I...?" forum above for help on posting pictures.

They just take a probe (not sharp on the end, but very thin) and put it in between your tooth and gum and see how far it goes down. It shouldn't go down too far... If it goes down a ways, it's called "pockets" and it's an indication of gum disease. Here's the general idea: http://i32.photo...

Yup... I definitely chew with my molars, far away from there. Unfortunately, my extraction gaps severely limit my useful biting range. I'm pretty much stuck with using those front teeth if I want to do any real damage to anything. I've been doing some salt water rinses, but I could add some more. My...

I used to be absolutely terrified of needles. They would have to chase me around the exam room, I ran out on a couple of phlebotomists, and I always had to have my dad hold my hand. My freshman year of college I went to get a flu shot and took my roommate to hold my hand. The thing that did it for m...

Nice alliteration, huh? :lol: So this has been going on and off, but getting progressively worse. I should have asked my ortho about it the last two times I saw him, but I keep forgetting. I also should have asked the dentist, but I was afraid the dentist would just say that I should ask the ortho. ...