Metal Mouth Message Board

Back from my 2nd adjustment and my ortho didn't have the smoke nor the light gray ligs!! I was so disappointed. I end up getting the the bone-colored ones, which I think will still stain like mad. My next adjustment is not until 9 weeks later, so I will have a tough time maintaining the ligs to be stained-free.

So about three months into my treatment I had the ortho remove the ceramics and went all metal.

Just wondering if your ortho charged you to have the ceramic brackets changed to metal.

I was going absolutely crazy trying to keep the clear ligs.....clear. The answer is....you can't. There's no way to keep them from staining. I was brushing 4-5 times a day, many times using peroxide and baking soda. I was even eyeing the bottle of clorox in the laundry room....hey, desperation makes you do very crazy things. Like you, I drink dark coffee. But not only does dark coffee stain the ligs, so does red wine, mustard, cranberry juice, orange juice, egg yolk..... the hygenist told me today (because I was in such a bad mood about it) that even if I didn't indulge in those things, the ligs would stain anyway.....which didn't make me feel better about the situation. Long story short, I was going to insist on having the dentist replace the ceramics with metal. I just couldn't see myself being so unhappy & disgusted.

My dentist understood that I didn't want "bold" colored ligs. He gently suggested that I try silver/grey for a few days and assured me that they wouldn't stain. We also agreed that if after a few days I was still unhappy, he would switch the brackets to metal. I have to say that even though I've barely had them for 4 hours (upper & lower) I LOVE THEM. They are very subtle, with a hint of shimmery color, very complimentary with the metal wire. I can now enjoy & savor my coffee, instead of feeling guilty knowing that I'd have to pay a price later. The real test will come in the next couple of days, to see exactly how the coffee will affect the powerchain & ligs.

Hope this helps...........

I strongly recommend 'wire ties'. They come in white and wont stain at all, and i know because i'm a smoker (i know... bad!)

Well, after having ceramic brackets for 15 months and getting the pearl-coloured ligs every time, I finally lashed out at my last adjustment and got aqua on the bottom. It's nice!!

I've decided that I'll go for a fully coloured mouth at my final adjustment. I just don't think I could do it all the time... no-one would take me seriously!