Metal Mouth Message Board

I used a bit of wax when I first had my braces, then I had quite a long phase where I didn't need to use wax at all. Now though, and for about the last 2 weeks, the braces are rubbing in all sorts of different places. The wires seem to have poked out of the back bracket, upper and lower, on my right-hand side. About 3 brackets at the lower front are chafing like mad, and from time to time an upper bracket on the incisor (? dunno if thats the right name?) on each side is rubbing!

So, why all of a sudden are they rubbing like this? With the wire getting longer, I thought maybe my teeth are straightening out and the wire has less distance to travel round my teeth hence there is excess wire now. But I could be wrong. Teeth are looking great though, so it is so worth it!!!

Salt water is my friend, LOL!

I agree, Same thing happened with mine. on my 1st adjustment this past week my ortho said there was a lot of positive movement!

I'm having the same "trouble" too after 2 months or so in braces. At first a lot of wax then not so much then not at all. In the last couple weeks I've have sore tongue, sore cheeks (I'm biting them on the right side), and a pokey wire (which I went in & had them clip) so I wax when & where I need it. I agree it is movement. It's the only thing that makes sense plus I really, really, really need to believe things are moving in there!!

I've been having the same problem. In May, it will be a year since I was braced, and all of a sudden, I am getting sore spots on the inside of my bottom lip. I've never had the problem of the wires starting to poke out of the back molars though. Probably because my teeth weren't crooked to begin with. For about a week now though, I have had the sore bottom lip and have had to use wax.

me too...i think for me that as my teeth get straighter, they are pushing out farther (instead of being back and in all different spots) so there is one horribly painful spot where the braces and the archwire are constantly digging into the inside of my cheek. ugh!

Thanks for all the replies, it makes sense what you guys are all saying!

Movement = exciting

Try using the eraser end of a pencil to gently press the pointy edges in a bit. My ortho told me I could do that without damaging the wires. I do this and also use the wax, and it works for me.