This is the place to post general questions and comments about all areas of orthodontic treatment. Before you post a question, use the forum's SEARCH tool to see if your question has already been answered!
New Members: YOU MUST MAKE A POST WITHIN 24 HOURS OF REGISTERING OR YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED. In other words, don't sign up unless you plan to actively participate in the message board immediately. This is necessary to keep out spammers and lurkers with bad intentions. Of course, you can read most forums on the board without registering.
DO NOT POST FULL-FACE PHOTOS or personal contact information on this website. We have had problems with people re-posting members' photos on fetish websites. Please only post photos of your teeth, not your whole face. Keep your email and your personal information private. Thank you.
i am due to go in next week to get my braces fitted and initially i was thinking of doing ceramic at the top and metal lowers, but after reading some info about this i am not so sure anymore & considering going all metal i am mainly worried about the fact the ceramic brackets do seem larger than the metal brackets & might catch on my lip more as i have an overbite.. i had a search through some of the old posts but had trouble finding what i was after, so asking here.
any advice from people that have had to make this same choice would be very appreciated. thankyou
i am 25 but i figure either way they will be noticeable so that doesnt bother me all that much.. and also we are planning our wedding for march 2014 & had heard metal works a little bit faster than the ceramic so that would be a bit of an advantage for me too.
i have all metal, initially was going to have ceramic on top, but yes they are bigger than the metal and my ortho said they cant take as much torque/loading as the metal.
thanks for that huggypillow the more i think about it the more i am leaning towards just going all metal. Ceramic at the top for me will be extra money too (about $500-600 australian dollars) so that is a bit of a difference too.
I have tried both - upper and lower ceramics, which I found extremely uncomfortable and impractical followed by metal.
Well, the ceramics did live up to their promise of looking great but as far as ease of treatment and comfort goes the all metal have been a walk in the park by comparison. Just my personal experience.
I have the Damon full metal jacket--the brackets are very small and comfortable, from the very beginning, and they are self ligating which means no ligs to stain. No ligs means no color though until you get power chains.
Now, I can say that the hooks and tubes are not cool, but you get those with either type...
(Oh ya, I really didn't have a choice, the ortho told me the ceramic were not strong enough for my overjet, and that they are more brittle than the metal...)
I had the same dilemma and my ortho saw I was really struggling with it. So she said let's do the top front 6 or 8 ceramic and see how it goes. If I start cracking them or my treatment's too slow she'll switch to all metal.
By the way the ceramic brackets she uses are the same size as the metal ones and they're much smaller than I imagined (she uses small metal ones but they're not 'mini'). The price is the same for me regardless what happens.
She did say there's less torque, and they are harder to get off but she takes ceramic brackets off people every day and has never had an issue
That's my decision making experience if it helps! They go on Nov 1st!
Honestly you can't go wrong with all metal. They look fine in my opinion and its not like the ceramics are invisible anyway. After a month you won't even care, but the advantages of metal like no staining and less bulk will still matter.
I have ceramics on the top and metal on the bottom and there isn't any difference to me in regards to comfort or anything. I like the look of the ceramics much better, and had less mouth irritation from the ceramics. The metal seem to rub more, but it doesn't last more than a few days after getting them on so it's not too big a deal. Good luck!
thanks for all the advice, i will be taking it all on board and of course i think seeing which one the ortho prefers to work with is a good idea too. Hopefully i can decide on the day and i will ask if they can show me the ceramic vs the metal so i can see size/profile difference. If there isnt much size difference i will probably go ceramic on the top 6 and metal the rest. I did read on their website they use Damon and In-ovation in both metal and ceramic.
Hmm, I don't think there is a size difference.. although, I feel my metal ones more than the ceramic ones. It's possible since the metal is on the bottom and the ceramic is on the top. Literally, I could forget about my top braces all together, but my bottom teeth have always been noticiable to me in feeling. Might have more movement on the bottoms..
Forgot to add that mine were self ligating too which were great at first but for my last 3 months I was given clear powerchains which stained like crazy even though I avoided most staining foods.
I have ceramic on the top and metal on the bottom. I didn't really notice a size difference but due to having a overbite/overjet, I felt my ceramics more for the first month or some because of the way my teeth bucked out. Now that my overjet has moved in some, I don't really feel the ceramics at all.
i am mainly worried about the fact the ceramic brackets do seem larger than the metal brackets & might catch on my lip more as i have an overbite.. i had a search through some of the old posts but had trouble finding what i was after, so asking here.
the more i think about it the more i am leaning towards just going all metal. Ceramic at the top for me will be extra money too (about $500-600 australian dollars) so that is a bit of a difference too.
