Metal Mouth Message Board

WOW, Lexy! That's awesome progress! They look great. I probably missed it, but what are your elastics for?

Thank you so much. I am very proud of my chompers now.

The elastics are going to correct my deep overbite. What are yours for?

EDIT: Nevermind, I referred to your earlier posts and saw you got them to correct your midline! Sorry I missed that. Reading comprehension is awesome.

Lucyloop wrote:Hi Echo... Sorry to hear you're suffering a bit. I'm guessing I might need elastics at some point as I've got some hooks on my brackets!! LUCY xxx

Oh, crap! Is that what that means? I just got my braces two weeks ago. I thought those hooks were standard equipment! Now I just noticed that my front ones don't have them but the back ones do!!

I've had elastics for almost a month now. Triangular config. on both sides to correct midline. Anyway, I hardly notice them at all now. But I do have a bad habit of taking them out to eat and forgetting to put them back in. Hang in there it gets much better!

Amy
Damon 2's top and bottom
braced 12-16-04

I got my first elastic (a Roger) in a triangular formation about 3 weeks ago. That was the first time that the pain from the braces (not counting the oral surgery) was so bad that it hurt no matter what I did. Before my teeth only hurt if I bit down on them or tried to eat. And the fact that I could remove the elastic and everything quit hurting made it really hard for me to keep the darn thing in. It finally stopped hurting after a couple of days, but then after two weeks they changed it to a Fred. I'm pretty used to it now except if I wait too long to put it back in, then it hurts when I tug on it. Now, I even forget about it and yawn....snap! Those three teeth are really lose though.

They put mine on because all of a sudden I my left molars weren't touching. The elastics fixed that in like one day.

Lexy, you have beautiful teeth!

Lexy: Your progress is hecka incredible! I'm so jealous! I haven't even had half as much progress in almost 22 months! Congratulations!

I was really hoping I would get elastics at my last adjustment, as my bite is way out of wack. BUt I guess I'll end up waiting for some more pain which isn't all bad!

Hope everyone who is in a lot of pain over their elastics will quickly adjust!


-Hannah




Top braces: 4/28/04
Bottom braces: 11/16/05
Next Adjustment is 2/1/06 where they will bond a bracket to my cuspid which was impacted!!!!

Well, it's the end of day two with elastics for me. Today wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. I took some Advil and it really helped. This is way worse than getting an adjustment ever was. I like taking them out to eat, but must force myself to put them back in. Anyway, I think I'll survive and I thank everyone for the words of encouragement and comments! Oh yeah, everyone at work felt sorry for me today, it was kinda nice!

lets here some positve elastics comments (PLEASE) i am going to be wearing them for most of my treatment, though i dont know when i will get them
chris

At this point with my elastics (3rd day) I can't imagine anything positive. Although, just like with first getting braces, I know it will get better. At least now my whole head doesn't hurt. My teeth are incredibly sore though, and I never experienced that with just regular adjustments. I think after the soreness goes away, it won't be a big deal at all.

Mine are actually doing much better. The teeth slowly and painfully being pulled out of my head feeling has finally gone away. They're just a tad sore now and most of the awful strain has left too. It's getting better.

Hope it gets better for you too, Echo!

Totally agreed CHrisd!

I'll be having elastics for quite a while just don't know quite when he'll start me on them! My ortho pretty much believes elastics can fix just about anything! ANd I have a lot of problems that need fixing!

-Hannah




Top braces: 4/28/04
Bottom braces: 11/16/05
Next Adjustment is 2/1/06 where they will bond a bracket to my cuspid which was impacted!!!!

Elastics are really not bad at all. I enjoyed having them because it was something new!!!
My 1st configuration was front top to back bottom (1 elastic on either side)... sorry i'm still really bad with the teeth names. That was for my overbite. It was painful at 1st but like anything you get used to them. I never had to take them out to eat either. I was told to leave them in if I could.. and it was fine.
Now I have 4 elastics horizontally. One top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right and thats to speed up the closing of the extraction gaps (which are almost gone)...
I like elastics and the results they produce - definitely worth a bit of temporary pain

I totally feel everyone's pain on this post! I'm wearing 4 at a time now-2 out of the 4 are behind the teeth elastics which are extremely difficult to put on. They do work though-when they say "all the time" they really do mean all of the time. I've been wearing 4 for a week now and the pain is still difficult. I also notice when I put new ones on it really intensifies the pain. Renee

I know how you feel! I've been wearing two elastics since Dec 23rd and it hurt so bad at first! I didn't want to eat or talk at all. But trust me, it WILL get better. And you'll begin to not feel any pain after replacing them too. And the improvement is really worth it. I wish I had taken pictures before I got them so I could show you before/after pics, but the progress in just a month is amazing. Hang in there!

ren wrote: I'm wearing 4 at a time now-2 out of the 4 are behind the teeth elastics which are extremely difficult to put on.

What do the behind the teeth ones do?
Also, how are they kept on?
I'm interested by this as i've never heard of it before.