SPACERS

[wmills]

Hello! New to the forum and the "archwired" world. I had my first 8 spacers placed last week and get them replaced this week. Braces go on next week :) YAY!! My question is, is there supposed to be this much pain just with spacers? And it feels like my bite is REALLY off now.

[Givemeariesen]

Welcome! I've had braces over 5 weeks. I had spacers put in with my braces, so it's a little difficult to separate the pain resulting from each. My bite is constantly shifting, so that may be something you just have to try to adjust to. The spacers caused pain on the surface of my molars from biting down on an uneven surface. The pain from the braces is different because for me it's more inside my teeth and my pain shifts around nearly daily. The worst part for me was the pain caused by the brackets. The metal sliced up my tongue and wax wouldn't stay on, so I just had to wait for the sides of my tongue to scar up. It took about a week to get used to the bands. Good luck with your braces!

[Nozzelnut]

The spacers were the worst part of the whole process for me. Extremely tender when chewing anything harder than mac-n-cheese.

[oimysizex]

Spacers were absolutely the WORST part of the process, was so so so painful. I've had surgery 7 weeks ago on my jaw which wasn't as painful as spacers.

[stephcsun]

spacers for me were the worse..I could not bite down or eat at all. And they hurt the entire time I had them since I accidentally moved them everytime I brushed... braces are not as bad luckily

[wmills]

Well, second round of spacers are on and braces next week.. This time they feel different. I can actually feel it all the way up to my nose. Weird. Right now they dont hurt, but that's what I said last time. Maybe they wont hurt in the morning...crossing fingers.

[EWUgal15]

I've had a total of 15 spacers...8 before braces (which were the worst), 2 more 5 weeks in because they couldn't fit one of my bands at my initial bracing appointment...on March 26, I had 4 more placed for the rear molars to be banded and managed to swallow one over the weekend so I had it replaced the last Monday (after removing a different one and flossing it back into place). Got them out yesterday when my new bands went in. The new bands (and longer, thicker wires that came with them) are brutal on my lower arch as we've started active gap closing from the extractions I had to have prior to braces. I think right now I would go back to separators pretty willingly.

[MoonSwan]

I got my spacers put in 5 days ago. I luckily only have 4 - 2 on both sides of my upper teeth - to make room for the metal bands that will hold my expander in place. I wouldn't say that they are the worst pain I have ever felt, but they hurt a lot and I can't eat hardly anything. I thought I would have more time to enjoy foods that I won't be able to eat once I get braced on April 23, but apparently not haha. So far spaghetti has been the easiest thing for me to eat, but even that I couldn't bite and chew completely into.

I've heard that for a lot of people the spacers pain/discomfort is worse than the actual braces, so I'm really hoping that's the case for me too.

Question: Has anyone with spacers noticed any of their teeth moving? I swear that my one front tooth has moved just a little bit and caused my upper lip to become irritated.

[FoxyFaye25]

Yes! I have noticed my teeth have shifted with the spacers. My bite is not the same and my front teeth are pushed a little bit forward because my top teeth were so tight. I got extractions on the bottom so those has plenty of space and if they moved it wasn't noticeable. Spacers suck! I still have 4 on top but my bottom molar bands are cemented on now. I am waiting for my expander to be made and get that and braces on on Thursday. I had my spacers for 1.5 wks and the spacer made so much space I thought fell out and my ortho said it probably wouldn't stay in when they did the expander molds and band fitting but it was shoved so far up it grew into my gums and then was rejected by them. PAINFUL I went to the dentist to get it taken out because my ortho was closed for spring break and they showed me how to put the spacers in if they fall out and gave me a few extra because I had a week and a half to go waiting for my expander and braces. So I am hitting the 3 week mark with top spacers and I honestly don't notice them anymore. When one is bothering me I pull it out, brush my teeth, and put a new one in. You can try taking it out and putting the same one back out after cleaning it if you are confident enough in getting it back in. They get so much food and plaque caught in them I think thats what starts to irritate me. They were bothering me for at least the first week with chewing and pain and a few of my front teeth killed from not having enough space and they were shifting but after 2 weeks I am used to them. I feel like I've been through everything with spacers! 4 days left and they will be gone!!

[PhDGuy]

I got 8 metal spacers put on last Thursday on either side of my top and bottom first molars in preparation for my appointment tomorrow morning. My teeth are very tight and I said as such to the assistant at the Orthodontist's who did my records. She was like, oh no big deal, I have done this a million times before, and that's when the fun started.

She tried for around 10 - 15 minutes to put the rubber spacers in with a variety of tools with the same outcome - broken spacers! She destroyed around 7 or 8 spacers in the process and finally got frustrated and went and got the Orthodontist. Now it's the Ortho's turn to take up the challenge and she didn't fare much better either. She got one rubber spacer in and broke around 4 more in the process. Finally, the orthodontist just asked the assistant to get the metal spacers, which surprisingly went in without any problems. As I was leaving, they wished me luck and said, take lots of ibuprofen and let's hope these work over the next few days and we don't have to follow these up with rubber spacers to create more space ! I guess I will find out tomorrow.

The first couple of days I didn't really feel much pain, but ever since I got them, I haven't been able to bite down on my molars, thus restricting my diet to foods that i can mash up in my mouth and swallow. Yesterday was the first day with some serious pain and it continues in to today, but nothing that can't be handled with ibuprofen. Although, even touching my teeth together causes discomfort now and they feel very tender, so I have given up on eating anything solid. Hooray, weight loss!

The worst part about these metal spacers is that they keep poking my tongue causing canker sores all over the place, grr I can't wait to get them out tomorrow and I seriously hope that the bands don't have any attachments on the inner surfaces. My bite does feel very off though and I can tell that my top teeth have moved a little further out and appear kind of flared up.

[PhDGuy]

It was an eventful day at the Orthodontist's. I have my top and bottom damon 3mx braces on along with molar buildups on the bottom first molars. They were able to band my first molars on both the top and the bottom jaw but my ortho also wants to band my second molars. Unfortunately, the 8 metal spacers I had over the last 4 days didn't create enough space to be able to band both the first and the second molars, so towards the end, they fit 4 more metal spacers behind the bands on the first molars. I got back on Thursday to get the second molars banded. I hope Thursday's visit is it for now, phew!

[EWUgal15]

It was an eventful day at the Orthodontist's. I have my top and bottom damon 3mx braces on along with molar buildups on the bottom first molars. They were able to band my first molars on both the top and the bottom jaw but my ortho also wants to band my second molars. Unfortunately, the 8 metal spacers I had over the last 4 days didn't create enough space to be able to band both the first and the second molars, so towards the end, they fit 4 more metal spacers behind the bands on the first molars. I got back on Thursday to get the second molars banded. I hope Thursday's visit is it for now, phew!

I don't know what metal spacers are like, that sounds rough. I hope you have enough time to open up that space for more bands this week. I had 5 months between banding the first molars and banding the second ones, so I can't really imagine being rushed like that! Good luck

[PhDGuy]

It was an eventful day at the Orthodontist's. I have my top and bottom damon 3mx braces on along with molar buildups on the bottom first molars. They were able to band my first molars on both the top and the bottom jaw but my ortho also wants to band my second molars. Unfortunately, the 8 metal spacers I had over the last 4 days didn't create enough space to be able to band both the first and the second molars, so towards the end, they fit 4 more metal spacers behind the bands on the first molars. I got back on Thursday to get the second molars banded. I hope Thursday's visit is it for now, phew!

I don't know what metal spacers are like, that sounds rough. I hope you have enough time to open up that space for more bands this week. I had 5 months between banding the first molars and banding the second ones, so I can't really imagine being rushed like that! Good luck

Thanks EWUgal15! I hope that tomorrow they will be able to band my second molars although we will see. The combination of spacers from last week and metal braces from this week have cut up my tongue and cheek pretty bad. I feel that my mouth is quite swollen especially where the bands on the first molars sit possibly due to all those attachments on the bands. My tongue also feel quite sore and a bit swollen thanks to the metal spacers poking at it constantly. Fortunately, there's salt water rinses, wax, and Orajel!

I am not sure if swapping the spacers for bands is going to be any relief in the short term but I feel like nothing can be worse than these spacers. I swear these metal spacers were invented in the medieval times as torture devices. By the way, here's what they look like!

[EWUgal15]

Those do look like torture devices. Having the bands put on definitely gave me relief right away, but I'm lucky enough that I don't have too many attachments...just normal brackets and wires.

[007Jaws]

Spacers aren't very fun. I think they can be more uncomfortable depending on how tight your contacts are. For me, the metal molar bands were more annoying before my braces were put on, because they cut up my cheeks.