spacers

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#1 Post by **lemonlyme** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 9:59 am

I got my spacers in last week, i have to wear them for 3 weeks, doesn't that seem like a long time?! I guess it's because i'm getting an rpe and it has to be made. The thing is, my spacers still bother me SO much. I thought i was going to go crazy and rip them out last night

. Any tips on how to deal with these things another week and a half?

#2 Post by **OneTime** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 11:05 am

PAIN killers.. Yes, they are annoying but hang in there. I had them mine for 14 days and they were the worst in my treatment.

#3 Post by **mmadigan** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 11:06 am

I completely feel your pain! I had 12 spacers in for about 2 weeks and was going nuts with them too. They seemd to stick up above my teeth and if I tried to bite down then they pushed into my gums. A waterpick with warm water seemed to help a bit because they felt more flexible. I did blast one of the buggars out 2 days before they were due to come out just because I hated them so much. The day I went in to get them removed the assistant wanted to leave them in until she put my top and bottom brackets on. She decided to take them out right then and there after I told her how bad they felt.
The good part was that I have not had any pain so far with the braces. No wax, no salt water rinses.
You might try to get your bands on earlier if you cannot stand the wait, or try metal spacers. The one metal spacer that I had was the only one that did not bother me.
Hope things go better for you soon.

#4 Post by **WeezieGirl25** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 2:29 pm

Hi Lemon,

Three weeks does seem a bit lengthy to me. Why do you need them in that long? I just got my spacers put in today and I'm very apprehensive about the discomfort that's lurking on the horizon! The assistant who put them in told me that most people say the spacers are the worst part!! Not good news for me. Anyways, I have heard from a couple of people that gargling warm salt water helps?? I haven't tried it yet but I'm sure I'll be giving it a try soon enough! Sorry to hear about your pain but at least it's only a few weeks! Take it one day at a time : )

#5 Post by **SDFD TSchott** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 5:27 pm

Wow from what I was told spacers are the most painful part in the entire orthodontic treatment, other then that there wasn't much else said. After went to the orthodontist office to set up my appointment to officially get braces put on, on Sept 5th the orthodontist told me that I will not need spacers so I guess I got lucky.

I think one reason I may not need spacers was the fact I had four molars pulled. What do you think?

SDFD TSchott

#6 Post by **WeezieGirl25** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:25 pm

You may be right SDFD, I got them put in between two molars on either side of my uppers because I am getting one of those palate expander thingys for my upper arch, apparently my upper arch is to narrow and it has to be widened. Hope that doesn't hurt too much!! So far so good with the spacers, prob tomorrow and the day after I will really start feeling the achiness!

#7 Post by **SDFD TSchott** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:44 pm

Well I sure hope you won't be in so much pain with it all.
I'm being told by my cousin and a friend of mine I'm lucky that I'm not getting spacers, oh well I don't complain I just go with the flow!

SDFD TSchott

#8 Post by **SDFD TSchott** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:15 pm

These fourms are so awesome, looks like its time to set up my blogging page so that way I can show the process of my ortho treatment. I will keep posting here as this site is awesome and I will continue keeping you all up to date!

SDFD TSchott

YES WARM SALTWATER Will help out alot in healing process and so on.

#9 Post by **ladygal** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:15 pm

Yeah spaces are the worst. I'd rather deal with the braces any day than rather deal with another spacer again.

My advice...pain killers, soft foods, and don't rip them out...and most important try to ignore them. If you keep on bothering them, you'll just drive yourself even crazier. It is possible to put them back in but your teeth move very quickly once they're free and you really have to ram them into your gum line to put them back in(I know I popped three of them out because they driving me crazy, but putting them back in just made my gums, which had finally healed from placing them the first time, sore all over again. It wasn't worth it. Also one I left out about 18 hours and I had an awful time getting it back in. I used two peices of floss to stretch the spacers out and pull it back in place. I was really afraid I was going to break it because I had to stretch and pull so hard, and then I would have been found out.)

I had mine two weeks and it almost wasn't long enough. I had to endure some rough bracket placement because my teeth didn't move like they thought they would. I hope it all goes well

Endure to the end...it is truly worth it then

#10 Post by **Kimber** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 10:09 pm

I had to endure some rough bracket placement because my teeth didn't move like they thought they would.

Yep -- the spacers are there so there's room around your teeth for them to put the bands on -- and when you're sitting in that chair with that wonderful lip expander thing while they're pushing bands on your molars and you've got the awesome taste of the adhesive in your mouth, you'll be very thankfull for those annoying little spacers because the easier those bands slip on, the less time you're in that chair!

#11 Post by **SDFD TSchott** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:15 pm

Less time in that chair and less time having to deal with the cheek retractors

SDFD TSchott

#12 Post by **WeezieGirl25** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 3:47 am

AHHH already in pain! When does the pain start subsiding??

#13 Post by **SDFD TSchott** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 6:24 am

WeezieGirl25 wrote:AHHH already in pain! When does the pain start subsiding??

I Haven't had to go through spacers but from all the information I've read it usually subsides in about a few days.

SDFD TSchott

#14 Post by **wiredkitty** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 8:38 pm

I had spacers for one week and hated every minute of it. Distraction is the key - keep busy to stop thinking about it. Eat soft foods and have protein shakes if the chewing gets too painful - I couldn't bit down from day 2 of the spacers. It did ease a bit after a few more days but still felt horrible.

I tried the sugar free chewing gum on the first day but because the spacers were sticking up between the teeth, the gum stuck too them so that didn't work very well at all.

Just remember they are temporary and soon you'll have a whole different beast to deal with! oh the joy of it all...

#15 Post by **WeezieGirl25** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 3:08 pm

I am freaking dying over here! If I didn't have my advil I really think I would die! Spacers sucks and to top everything off I can't chew a thing!! I am starving!!!

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