Metal Mouth Message Board

Taste the rainbow

I just got these installed yesterday (bottom only). I didn't have an adjustment but was at the clinic for some molar band work, though I asked for new ligs while I was there. I ended up with the hygienist who I consider the most difficult. She asked me what color ligs I wanted and I asked her if she could put one of each. WIthout blinking an eye she said "sure" and knew exactly how to do it, as if she got this request every day. She did it fast and it took maybe about 20 seconds. 10 different colors, 11 if you include the top.

they look great

About a week ago, I got the upper ligs changed to "smoke"
I don't really like this color. Too dark, & boring.




My favorite so far is orange on top, and blue on bottom. In my opinion orange is the least conspicuous color and makes the braces look the smallest, at least for me, since for better or for worse it more or less matches my tooth color.
Then maybe gray which makes braces look humongous but I like the metallic look.
Also I like sky blue & fuchsia as in my avatar.

I just had an adjustment today, I got yellow ligs on top and pink ligs on bottom.
I also got a full cleaning (with wires & ligatures removed) so this is as clean as my teeth will ever be.

The photo was taken at the ortho clinic. As soon as I told the assistant I wanted to take a photo, she already knew what I was going to ask for next (put back on cheek retractors).
The astute viewer will notice one of the bottom ligatures wasn't installed, which I didn't notice until after the photo. They fixed it, but I didn't want to trouble them for another photo with the whole cheek retractor setup.

pink frost wrote:

Dellyfish wrote:I want rainbow ligs. Like, a different color for every bracket, or at least nearly so. Will they do that, or will the nurse want to punch me?

Haha.. Ahh...you're so lucky you can actually get different coloured ligs! In 20 days, I shall be getting boring old silver braces put on my top teeth. It's a shame my ortho doesn't do colours. Ahh, well...

Many people here have metal braces with colored ligs. Is it because your ortho doesn't have any colors available? Or, are you getting self-ligating (SL) braces? I have SL, but he said I could still get colored ligs if I wanted to. I figured it's not worth the hassle, as they're just another thing to try to keep clean, and I spend enough time just keeping my teeth (and now this darn extraction gap) clean! LOL!

-Cathy

Colored ligs definitely can stain especially the bright colors which fade by the time they get taken off at least the way I drink (lots of cola).

I met somebody with SL brackets a couple of days ago (the first time I've actually seen them in person installed in somebody's mouth), and she told me she was able to put colored ligs (and chains) as she pleased. She didn't actually have ligs but said she could whenever she wanted just like regular braces. Anybody have a photo of this? I'm curious how it would look.

My ortho also told me I could get them if I wanted, too. Not sure if I will, though, as this last adjustment with a bigger wire was a bit more discomfort than I expected, and I'm sure it would be even more uncomfortable with unnecessary ligs on there.

However, I'm sure I'll eventually have to get a powerchain, so I may do the color thing there. If I do, I will definitely post pics.

I don't know if i should ask this here..but i just came from the orthodontist a few hours ago and just i noticed that the lady only put ligs on my bottom row on teeth and none on the top row. Is this normal or did she forget to put them on? Thanks!

Did she also put a wire on the top row of brackets? If so, she should have put ligs on them to hold the wire in. Unless she put self-ligating brackets on the top, in which case you would not need ligs. Though, I don't know why she would use SL on top and non-SL on the bottom.

I was out in the Dominican Republic last week, and couldn't resist popping into a dentist office to get my ligatures changed. She pulled out a huge box of every color possible (the biggest selection I'd every seen before), and picked out metallic blue (which I'd never seen before at the normal dentist offices which I frequent) and sky blue combination. Although I hate regular blue ligatures, blue in general is my favorite color, and the metallic blue and sky blue ligature combination is probably my favorite so far.

She charged me $20.00 for this service (tourist rip-off price??) As you can see she messed up the color alternation and there is one place where there are sky blue matching. Sorry for the photo do not do the colors justice, very hard to get a photo with the colors right.



A few notes about ligature colors and braces in general, in the Dominican Republic:

1. Most people told me that they get their ligatures changed every week, or every two weeks, and others "whenever they feel like it". Nobody seemed to be on the standard monthly or bimonthly schedule. Despite this MOST had boring ligature colors (pink, gray, red, etc.... occasional cyan which seems to get popular around this time of the year internationally)

2. Some people told me that they had braces only as a status symbol, and some others told me that most people who had braces (women & men in their 20's, 30's, and 40's) have them as status symbols and not for need. Some people thought I had braces as a status symbol, and one person even checked to see if I had molar bands to see if they were just for a status symbol or for actual need (an interesting litmus test, I thought).

3. While out with a friend in an upscale disco (where roughly half of the people - both guys and ladies - had braces, all metallic of course), we met a lady with ceramic braces (interestingly she had metallic ligatures though). Bought her a drink and ended up she was not from Dominican Republic but Venezuela. I asked her why she had ceramic braces and not metallic ones, and she said, "Ceramic braces are for the upper class. Metallic braces are for people from the ghetto". End of conversation - I try not to associate with people with ceramic braces.

Hey everyone its been a while since I've posted!!!

I'm getting damon brackets in 10 days and my ortho told me that I can still have colors with the damons? Anyone experience this?

tsmurfenator wrote: 3. While out with a friend in an upscale disco (where roughly half of the people - both guys and ladies - had braces, all metallic of course), we met a lady with ceramic braces (interestingly she had metallic ligatures though). Bought her a drink and ended up she was not from Dominican Republic but Venezuela. I asked her why she had ceramic braces and not metallic ones, and she said, "Ceramic braces are for the upper class. Metallic braces are for people from the ghetto". End of conversation - I try not to associate with people with ceramic braces.

LMAO......Funniest comment ever!

tsmurfenator, I had to share your comment...sooooo funny!!!

Here's a much better photo of my blue ...
Sadly I get these changed tomorrow, but I love this color!!




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I got braced 2 days ago and last night I had curry quinoa. My teeth were hurting (although I mentioned in another thread that I was not feeling any pain - WRONG!!!!) and so I chewed on one side of my mouth only. This morning I discovered that the right side of my braces was stained neon yellow and the other half is still nice and clear. It looks funny. I'm going to have to eat more curry and stain the other side to even it out!

Before being braced I read up a lot on lig colours and was going to ask for silver or light purple to reduce staining but I didn't even realise that they had put the clear ligs on until it was too late. I think they assumed I wanted clear ones since I have ceramics. I'm going to try the light purple next.