Spacers (who had them/ who didnt)

Message

#1 Post by **Bellita** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 2:39 pm

I just got spacers to make space for the bands. Those of you who didnt use spacers didnt use bands either? what did you have instead?
does any one have pictures of what braces with and without bands look like?

Thanks for any help

#2 Post by **Carolinahigh12** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 2:47 pm

i dont have any photos yet of braces with molar bands, but if you use either "our braces story" thread or read the braces for newbies articles that Lynn has posted, then there are some photos of users with bands and tubes.

#3 Post by **Lisa65** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 2:54 pm

Some orthos prefer to use bands and some just use direct bonded tubes, and some use a combination of both.

This is a pic of my back teeth. I have a band on the first molar and a bonded tube on the 2nd which you can just about see in this pic. Hope this helps.

#4 Post by **Bellita** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:01 pm

wow that was great. Thank you both for your help, and thanks Lisa for your picture, that really cleared things up for me.

I wonder why orthos go for one or the other (bands or direct bonded tubes)

#5 Post by **oceanblue** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:41 pm

Hey. Yeah, I don't have bands or tube holding brackets or ANYTHING at all. Weird huh? I had bands on my molars the first time I had braces, but this time around - nothing as far as that goes.

Here is a pic (click on it to make it bigger):

#6 Post by **joney** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 4:43 pm

No spacers for me either thankfully, I have those tubes. Most people seem to have bands on the back teeth and need the spacers inserted to make room for the bands.

#7 Post by **Milk n Cereal** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:24 am

I have spacers in to make room for molar bands as well Bellita. Are they hurting yet? Mine sure are

Does anyone know how long it takes to get the bands on?

#8 Post by **Lisa65** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:40 am

I think my ortho fitted 4 bands on me in about 10 minutes tops. He took the spacers out and then tried a couple of different bands on to get the right size, once he had the size right he put cement on them and pushed them onto the teeth. I had to bite down on a stick thing in order to seat them properly. There's a bit of pushing and tugging involved, but it didn't hurt. It was just a relief to get those spacers out!

#9 Post by **platinum** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 11:17 am

I had six spacers up before I got my upper braces. Well, the did not put molar bands at all. Just molar tubes

All that suffering with spacers and then no molar bands. I got also one molar tube on my lower second molar. My lower first molars have molar bands. So I have mixture of bands and tubes. I was afraid of those molar bands, because when they put my lowers it was quite scary... But luckily I got tubes

#10 Post by **SnowSara** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 4:28 pm

No bands or spacers for me, just buccal tubes. I have a photo around here somewhere... I will dig it up or take a new one and edit this post.

#11 Post by **DaisyMay66** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:37 pm

I had buccal tubes bonded to my molars at the onset of my treatment, so that meant no spacers. However, at the 3 year mark, my ortho wanted to do some IPR on my lowers and placed 6 spacers to create some space. These were in place for a month and were uncomfortable to say the least.
So, even though your treatment may not include molar bands, spacers may still be used for other purposes. Orthos have a funny sense of humor sometimes!!

#12 Post by **LuvBug26** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 8:18 am

I had six spacers in for a week before i got braced...hurt like a mug!!!

but when i went in to get braced my teeth were still too tight so i kept my bottom spacers in and got the silver molar bands on the top. I went back and had my lower spacers out the next week and the molar bands put on them as well. My lowers were still too tight but he forced the bands on and that hurt a little but not too bad. It was just a reliefe to get those spacers out!!!

#13 Post by **bracesafter40** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 12:33 pm

No spacers here as my Ortho hates bands, so there was no need for them. I have brackets on my molars and they have the elastic hooks on them and not a hook to hold a headgear.

I thought I was going to get one band as I had a bracket that fell off three times, but she just roughened the surface of the tooth and placed the bracket lower down the tooth.

#14 Post by **Sistermadly** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:01 pm

No spacers or bands for me, either.

Sat Jul 28, 2007 11:45 am

I definitely had those spacers!! They gave me the worst pain..I only had them on for about a week. Honestly, I think that the spacers were the worst part of this treatment for me.